News Article

Stop SPAM popping up in message windows

December 4th, 2002

This information was borrowed from: http://www.fightspamwithspam.com/

This new method of messenger spam does not use your email address so it circumvents current unsolicited commercial email laws. You are a target if you are on-line and have the "messenger" service running. (This is different from the MSN Messenger or AOL instant messenger that you might be using for chat.) This form SPAM is getting worse.

Prevent this type of SPAM by doing the following:

In Windows XP:

1. Right click on the "My Computer" icon and select "Manage"
2. Go to "Services and Applications"
3. Choose "Services"
4. Right-click on "Messenger"
5. Select "Stop"
6. Right click "Messenger" again and select "Properties"
7. Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled" and click "OK"

In Windows 2000:

1. Go to "Start" then "Settings" and choose "Control Panel"
2. Choose "Administrative Tools"
3. Choose "Services"
4. Right-click "Messenger" and select "Properties"
5. Click "Stop"
6. Change "Startup Type" to "Disabled" and click "OK"

Note: AOL members are now safe from this one form of spam.