Ok, maybe someone can figure this out for me. Every 10 minutes or so, I get what appears to be a pop-up on my screen. It says "Messenger Service" in the corner, and it's advertising life insurance or something.

1. It's probably not a virus, cause the virus scan dosen't pick it up.

2. It's not a popup, cause I'm not even surfing the web when it comes up. Most times that is.


Anybody have any idea what this is and how to get rid of it?

It's a Windows XP service. It is meant to be use to send messages within a network.

Here is some help:

Stop Messenger Service Popups

The Messenger Service, not to be confused with Windows Messenger, is used to send messages across a network or LAN. Spammers have found that they can exploit this to send messages to your computer, when you're connected to the Internet. However, the Messenger Service is not the problem. The reason that they can send these messages is that your Internet connection is not secure. The use of a firewall will stop these messages. For detailed information on Windows XP's built-in firewall, open Help and Support and search for "firewall".

To enable XP's built in firewall, Open Network Connections, or right click My Network Places and select Properties.

Right click the Dial-up, LAN or High-Speed Internet connection that you want to protect and select Properties.

On the Advanced tab, under Internet Connection Firewall, select one of the following:

To enable Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), select the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet check box.

To disable Internet Connection Firewall, clear the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet check box.

If you have a valid reason to run without a firewall, then you can disable the Messenger Service. Go to Start, Run and enter SERVICES.MSC. Locate the entry for Messenger. Double click this entry and set it to Stopped and Disabled.

component services in control panel

click on services on the left

go down ot messenger on the right and disable it

that worked of rme

Basically just type "services.msc" in the RUN window >>Find "Messenger" Double click it and a window will open >> Click on Stop and OK. You're done.

http://siena.linux.it/zine1/linux.jpg

Dude linux rules

Thank you, my peeps. The annoying life insurance thing is gone. ****ing awesome.