posted
If you are sick of those pop ups that want to sell you a service to block their own pop ups, a solution follows below.
These pop-up schemes work by infiltrating what is called Messenger Service, a feature designed to allow network administrators to send messages to individual computers using systems called NetBIOS and UDP.
Some anti virus programs also use this service to notify you of updates. You may have to manually go to your AV site to download updates if you change these settings. I have the AV update location on my "Favorites" list and visit it daily so these changes did not affect my AV software.
Instant Messenger and similar programs are not affected by these changed settings. You will still be able to IM your friends.
- Windows 2000--Click Start then Settings and Control Panel and then Administrative Tools and Services. Right-click the line for Messenger and pick Properties. Click Stop and then select either Disable or Manual in the scroll bar you will find. Click OK and it's done.
- Windows XP Professional--Follow the same steps to get to the Control Panel and Administrative Tools and Services. Scroll down to Messenger, then follow the prompts to first stop it and then either disable it or set to manual.
- Windows NT--It's a tad easier with NT. Pick the Control Panel for Administrative Tools and then Services. Open Services and you will find the same controls to stop and disable the devil.
- Windows XP Home--Click Start and Settings and Control Panel, but then look for the Performance and Maintenance icon. Open it, then open Administrative Tools. Double-click Services and scroll down to Messenger. Right-click and pick Properties, then select the Stop button. Then select Disable or Manual in the scroll bar on the same menu.
- With Windows 98 and ME, the pop-ups are not handled by services but by a program called Winpopup. So you can't use Control Panel to switch it on and off. So in Windows 98/ME, to disable Winpopup but keep it around in case you ever happen to need the feature, it's best to rename it so it won't run anymore.
Click on Start and Find and then type in winpopup.exe. When the file comes up, right-click it, pick Rename and change the .exe to something else, such as .fix. Should you ever need to restore it, you can just rename it with the .exe ending.
I was having lots of trouble. My startup page was pass this on and I couldn't change it back to letterville for the last 5 days or so. This was VERY annoying in that I kept getting X rated pop ups. I have 13 & 15 yr. old grand-daughters that are living with me.
They have been teasing me saying, "We are going to have to keep an eye on Maw Maw she has been visiting raunchy sites!"
Thank you. Now when I log on to the net Letterville is my home page again.
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist. Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Thanks Mike! I installed the Google toolbar and love it. It stops all pop-up windows, is totally configurable and I can do a Google search without opening a new page. Really handy.
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