Looking to pick a fight with MicroSoft!!

[Guest twsimfan]

I have always been pretty much Pro-MS... like their products... I sometimes have some complaints... but in general I like them.I have been on XP Home Edition for about 8 months now. I have many small complaints... mostly related to how hard they make it to find things that I have been using for years... but in general it is a stable operating system.I live in Colorado... we have a law here that protects me from telephone solicitors... on top of that I pay an extra $7.00 a month to add an additional layer of that protection.Since I upgraded to this system and have been on XP I get an endless procession of unsolicited adds poping up on my screen... it is called Windows Messenger... it has no ON/OFF switch! These things can ruin a good FS session or take apart a good online race. In other words this "feature" degrades the very hobby that caused me to upgrade to this system to begin with... simming.I spent a couple of hours poking around the MS site and can find no good way to send them e-mail. I managed to find one place to put in a "feedback" message... but that was more about the support staff than any actual product. I put in a message there but have yet to receive any response... I doubt I will.To get to my point (finally) I want to know if anybody knows how to get to MS... to get their attention. They have no right to force users to endure these solicitation messages. They need to build in a simple way to retire Windows Messenger pronto! They also need to make a big time public appology for this misuse of their customers.Any and all help will be much appreciated.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

How the heck do you blame Microsoft for this? Come on!There are millions of hackers looking for features to exploit in Windows. Do we get rid of Visual Basic to get rid of vbs viruses? Do we get rid of Outlook to get rid of spam?The messenger pop-ups you see are the fruits of the labor of some offshore hackers, who found a way to exploit it for spam. And yes, you can turn it off, by disabling the service. These are the steps: 1. Click on the Start button and open the Control Panel.2. Open the Performance and Maintenance link and go to Administrative Tools.3. Now double-click on Services, then choose Messenger.4. Double-click Messenger and click Stop to stop the service.5. Change the Startup Type to Disable and click Apply at the bottom.6. Click OK to exit.Windows Messenger is a great tool--meant for WAN admins like me to broadcasts messages quickly to users, such as the time one of my branches had to be evacuated during the Los Alamos fires. I don't want Microsoft to ditch this tool 'coz some hackers have had their fun with it. People just need to learn to research first, learn what a service is and how to disable it, before slamming every hack in the world on Microsoft.'nuff said-John

[Guest LeoL]

These Pro/Anti M$ posts always give me a chuckle. I must admit, I've been the author of a couple myself.>People just need to learn>to research first, learn what a service is and how to disable>it, before slamming every hack in the world on Microsoft.John, you can't blame Tom for M$ leaving holes for hackers to exploit? Nor can you blame him for not being an experienced admin like you. :-rollSheesh, lighten up dude...you on the M$ payroll or someth'n? :-lol :-beerchugDOWN WITH M$...LONG LIVE PEGUINS! :-bat Cheers all,-Leo

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Nope--I'm not on the MS payroll "Dude".... He's the one who came in here bashing Microsoft, all guns a blazing' And considering he's a forum moderator, I would have hoped he had shown more responsibility.I deal with my share of security holes in MS software--but that didn't seem to be the aim of his post. His post seemed to think MS made the popups part of XP--and if I misunderstood, shame on me! Unless you've been in a cave, or studying poetry in Tibet, most have heard by now of the MS Messenger Pop-up spam. There is at least a thread a week on the subject, and you don't have to be an experienced "anything" to read them.BTW, r u on the Red Hat payroll? Seriously--if you look up my ID, you'll see I land on both sides of the fence where Microsoft is concerned. But it's just a name.... Within, there's some pretty cool people working there, who work their butts off to deliver a pretty solid sim....

[Guest]

Just because some of their customers don't want to or are intellectually incapable of using their products correctly doesn't mean Microsoft is a bad company...And as to messenger spam, I got that the first time around 1998 when using ICQ (now owned by AOHell) before Microsoft even thought about the Internet.

[wsieffert 0]

My daughter installed AOL Instant Messenger on my computer one evening. She let it become the Instant Messenger primary receiver. After grilling here for using my computer and loading this program, I removed AOL Instant Messenger from my computer.One of the nice things was that AOL IM stopped MS Messenger from loading each time I open Outlook Express. Somewhere in the registry AOL IM turn a switch on install and didn't turn it back the other way when I uninstalled AOL IM.I am happy not to have to close MS Messenger each time.I don't know if this will help your situation but just a thought.

[Guest twsimfan]

John,"How the heck do you blame Microsoft for this? Come on!"Easy... they have not provided a clearcut way to disable the thing. And I have not trashed MS... I pointed out that I like the company... I was even defending them when they were under attack from the Clinton Administration. I find it annoying when people refer to them as "M$"."There are millions of hackers looking for features to exploit in Windows. Do we get rid of Visual Basic to get rid of vbs viruses? Do we get rid of Outlook to get rid of spam?I never suggested that Windows Messenger should be done away with... only that a easy way to turn it on and off should be provided. I will add to that... they should ask if you want the function at initial startup."And yes, you can turn it off, by disabling the service. These are the steps:"Thank you. There still needs to be a more straightforward way of doing this... but I do appreciate the help."Windows Messenger is a great tool--meant for WAN admins like me to..."I am pleased that it works well for you."I don't want Microsoft to ditch this tool..."Nor do I."People just need to learn to research first, learn what a service is and how to disable it, before slamming every hack in the world on Microsoft."I researched this on the MS site. I found 3 ways to disable Messenger. The first said that it would only work with XP Pro and was not to be used for the Home Edition like I have... the second I did and it didn't help... the third involved editing the registry... a process that I am not comfy with. Again I thank you for providing me with a fourth method.I do not consider it slamming MS to hold them responsible for not having provided a easy straightforward way to turn Windows Messenger on or off... there has been plenty of time... and XP is supposed to be a user friendly operating system.I still think that MS owes it's user base a major appology.I will not be suprised when you don't agree with me... you are entitled to your opinion... so am I. Thanks again for the fix. :)

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Actually, if I understand your reply (and it was well done), I agree with you, and I misunderstood the direction of your first post.Microsoft can and could have come out with a utility to turn the service on and off with the click of an icon for the home user. Since most XP users use Windows Update and have always on connections, it could have been seamless. I believe they didn't because, annoying as the pop-ups are, they didn't see it as a high threat. I don't agree, as my daughter, just learning to read, often sits on my lap when I fly. And, when I fly, I download. Having a hole exploited in a core service is not what I expected XP to deliver, considering the issues we had with '2000. And take buffer overruns....Well, now I'm getting worked up--see what you did :)

[Guest twsimfan]

John,Well I'm glad that we seem to be getting on better. Anyone who understands Windows as well as you obviously do I would much rather have as a friend than an enemy! ;-) Thanks again for the fix. :)

[Guest twsimfan]

Interesting. At insistence of a friend I installed AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) just 2 or 3 days ago. We had hoped to be able to do voice conferencing during online races but so far have not been able to get it to work in that context. It did not affect Windows Messenger at all... it was set to be "primary receiver"... but John's fix does work.

[Naji 5]

Tom, I symphasize here, for it drove me crazy for about a week, and at the time I got a bit upset with my other half because I thought she inadvertently installed it ;-). It took me another week to find out how to disable the thing and thereafter the popups stopped. And I agree that for the Home edition of XP, which I'm using, it should have been clearer how to do that!

[Guest IanP]

I think there's a little breakdown in communication here that had better be cleared up before anything else happens...MS Messenger Service and MSN Messenger application are *not the same thing*. ;-)The Messenger Service, that pops up the spam adverts, is part of Windows that MS recommend you don't stop, because it can prevent Windows delivering "important system messages" (like "Unable to connect to network drive", for example.)MSN Messenger Application is a chat program that has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows Messenger Service.I actually had this problem on a Windows 2000 box, before I installed Norton Internet Security, which blocks it by default. I found a useful little tool called "Stop Messenger Spam" which provides a one-button stop/start for the Messenger Service and runs in the background, which stopped the problem dead.Worth looking for, if anyone doesn't want to keep stopping and starting services on Windows manually. I'll find out more details when I get home. :-)Ian P.

[Guest]

The messenger spam isn't as much an exploit as an unintended use.If someone is stupid enough to leave NETBIOS enabled on an open internet connection anyone can send him messages using it.But as there's no way for the OS to determine whether your connection is an open internet connection or a connection to a large LAN where NETBIOS messaging is often used to pass legitimate network messages they can't filter in the OS.

[Guest]

Some versions of AIM affect the settings for MSN Messenger.People are confusing MSN Messenger with Windows NETBIOS messaging functionality I think (which is the protocol I think was originally meant).

[Guest]

Just turn off NETBIOS in your network settings for your internet connection (and IPX as well for good measure) and you're rid of it also while still having it on your LAN or for internal use by Windows.