Remember that annoying popup that just appeared out of nowhere?
I found the answer. In windows 2k/XP there is a messenger service. You can use “net send” to send idiotic or senseless messages to anyone running a 2k or XP machine. Blah. It’s now abused by spammers who are spamming IPs rather than email addresses and geesh, it’s like your privacy has been invaded.
A friend of mine at Invision board said that “You can spoof your own IP, but the majority of regular users can’t do that because they don’t know how. Otherwise, there is no way of hiding anyone’s IP address on the internet; it is broadcasted everywhere you go. So with this in mind, maybe it won’t be long until spammers are hacking our favourites folders and sticking links to their own sites in there. “
Here’s how to disable it
Go to Start > Programs > Admin Tools > services
Scroll down to “Messenger”
Double-click on the it to get the options for it
Click “STOP” to stop it
Change the start-up type to DISABLED
BTW, since you’re in there, here’s some other services you can disable to save you some resources and startup time…
Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)
Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless “Universal P’n'P”, & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for extra security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation
