Oh crap...well, copy that last bit on to the end of the link.

All the more reason why it's a good idea to go through your services and make sure you don't have stuff running you don't need.

sounds like a virus to me. Maybe we should alert the likes of mcaffe, and norton, panda, AVG, ect. I'm sure there's a privacy boundary being trod upon here isn't there?

It's not a virus any more than being "pinged" is a virus. Antivirus programs don't monitor network ports, so they won't solve the problem. You need to have a firewall (or other method) that blocks access to TCP port 139.

Zone Alarm blocks incoming NetBios messages. Most other firewalls should, but they may not be set to block that port.

Instructsion to turn it off in the XP/NT/200 control panel are at the bottom of the Screen Savers page. http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/story/0,24330,3374542,00.html

Thanks for the link.

Here's the procecure (for the NT kernel at least):

Stop the spam

Fortunately there is an easy way to protect yourself; you must turn off the messenger service from within XP/2K/NT. Remember, if you are behind a firewall/corporate network you are most likely safe (as long as port 139 is blocked). Always check with your system administrator before making any changes to your services.

To turn off the messenger service in XP:

1. Click on the Start button and open the control panel.
2. Open the Performance and Maintenance control panel and go to Administrative Tools.
3. Now double-click on Services, then scroll to Messenger.
4. Double-click Messenger and click Stop to stop the service.
5. Change the startup type to Disable (see an example).

bakerstreet stated: "ya gotta weed through those pesky services, MS and their silly toys..."

Ignorance at its worst. This is a valuable and usefull tool. I use it everyday in my work. Just because some idiot finds a horrible use for a valid tool doesn't mean MS or anyone else is to blame. If you're surfing the internet unprotected with services like this exposed (like most un-informed people do), you deserve to get popups...

Yeah, lets blame all the comanies for not taking our ignorance into account.

This scheme really should be illegal. What happened to the old ways of viewing privacy as in, a man's home is his castle. Computers can be extremely personal and represent for many people their most private collection of thoughts, records and information. Any intrusion into your computer from the outside should be one that you authorized for it to be legal. The whole concept of "opt out" policies shows extreme contempt for privacy. You should only be asked to "opt in" not out.

I hope this scheme gets banned by some civil authority, it probably will, but I bet it won't be because they are protecting us from giving up our right to privacy. It will be shot down because it's an irritant that crosses over financial and political boundaries. When some legislators (mostly computer illiterates) get a few of these they'll be confused enough by them to want to stop them.

It doesn't matter what service or security hole is used to do something like this, The principal is wrong. It's time to reign-in the advertisers and reclaim our world from billboards, junk mail, spam and telephone and door to door soliciting. It's insulting to people's integrity and self esteem to be bombarded by marketing constantly. When it comes uninvited into your home it's time to claim some rights of sovereignty and demand that it stop.

The use of a network messaging service to put a commercial on your desktop is crossing over a line of common decency that should outrage everyone that owns a computer. It's a tactic that only slaves would be expected to endure, because only with slavery do you have a captive audience with no rights, no voice and no freedom of choice. It will be interesting to see how fast this strategy gets legislated out of existence.... or if it will...

crae - the difference is if you choose to watch a commercial program you are opting in to the commercials the TV station puts in with the programming. This strategy would be like an advertisier being allowed to take over the broadcast, putting their message in front of you while the program you're trying to watch continues in the background obscurred by the ad placed in front of it.

Since it uses port 139 I assume it works just by being online. It shouldn't need a browser or email client to do its thing. I can't imagine this will last very long, maybe only a few weeks before it's outlawed with some severe penalties for using it. It's just too outrageous...

I'm not sure Tarkus, but that doesn't stop the French from trying.

ignorance? lmao, think of it as ICQ without any of those annoying 'security and privacy' things. This is a holdover from the concept of 'business OS' that MS is abandoning, and yet imposing the responsibilty for administrating on home users.

MS includes easily-abusable 'services' and then turns them on by default when 99% of all users will never know they are on. Ignorance, to me, is the assumption that everyone is behind a corporate firewall...

Tarkus, the French have gone after US companies that link to or sell Nazi products. It's illegal in their country and they've gone to court to force US companies to comply with the law.