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I do believe Microsoft should have made the Messenger Service optional, but I don't fault Microsoft for the Messenger Service itself.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

New spam arrives even when you're not using e-mail. Here's how to stop this 'Messenger Service' spam in Windows


Nov. 27, 2002


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   Just when you thought spammers could hardly sink any lower, they've found a new way to make themselves even more despicable.
   Purveyors of spam have managed to find a way to send unwanted advertising messages and pornographic invitations to millions of Windows PCs without using e-mail or a Web browser. They use the Windows Messenger Service, built into every Windows XP and Windows 2000 computer.
   The Messenger Service is a legitimate function in modern versions of Windows. It gives people who run computer networks a way to send notices to users at their PCs. If you've ever seen a message pop onto your Windows screen at the office telling you that the system was about to be shut down, you've probably seen the Windows Messenger Service in action.
   Microsoft, the company that makes Windows, calls this message function a "service" because it's designed to be available all the time without the need for any action from the user. Think of the way you get electricity and running water at your home and you'll see why this computer function is called a service.
   Unfortunately, this makes anyone who uses Windows 2000 or Windows XP an easy target for Messenger Service spam. The Windows Messenger Service is turned on by default, so all you have to do to receive this new kind of spam is turn your computer on and connect to the Internet.
   I've received dozens of letters in the last few weeks on this topic alone. "I was sitting at my PC when obvious spam messages started coming in," one reader told me. "I wasn't running Outlook (his e-mail program) and I wasn't using my Web browser. But they found me and started sending me spam. How could they have done this?"
   The problem is so pervasive that some victims have launched Web sites just to help others turn off the Messenger Service. The best site I've seen is the "Stop Messenger Spam" page at www.stopmessengerspam.com.
   The "Stop Messenger Spam" site explains how to turn off the Windows Messenger Service in simple terms, regardless of which version of Windows you have. (The site seems to indicate that versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000 have the messenger service installed, but they usually do not. But the site's advice to users of these older versions should help in other ways.)
   One reader said he thought Microsoft was to blame for Messenger spam, because the company should have foreseen the use that spammers would give to it. But that's not how I see it. I do believe Microsoft should have made the Messenger Service optional, but I don't fault Microsoft for the Messenger Service itself.