I got Pop-Up Stopper, a FREEBIE, and it works great. It gets rid of all pop-ups. I would get them all day long when I was trying to work on my computer and it was so irritating. This one works for me. I have Windows XP if that makes any difference, wouldn't think so.

Try Gibson Research,,,The application is called Shoot the Messenger,It's on the freeware page. http://grc.com/freepopular.htm

I just got Citizen Brazil's download above and it seems like it would work faster and better than the Pop-Up Stopper I suggested. Thanks Brazil

It may be your Messenger service, which is separate from Messenger the IM program.
Try this: http://www.druid628.com/techtips/windows/msmsgs/messg_service.html

BTW, nice to see you around, BoXXi!

http://www.guardwall.com/en/index.asp ,,sorry bout that--I have no Idea,,,,,

While you can disable the messenger service, which what the GRC utility does, the reason you got those pop ups is that you had a port open to the internet. (135, if I recall correctly). Some AV's apparently use the messenger service for their alerts telling you that they've found a virus so if you disable the service those might not work, depending upon how your AV works. And again, it's not the same as the MSN Messenger program. (The messenger service is intended to be used to broadcast messages *within* a network but since MS has it open as a server to the internet spammers found a new fun way to get those who weren't running a firewall to block the port.)

Are you running a firewall? If properly configured, that should block unsolicited communications from the internet. With XP's running services that keep ports open on the net it's a very good idea to run a firewall. Even if it's only XP's ICF or a properly configured router.

Of course, now that I have reviewed all the links, I see that I had no idea what I was talking about.

Live and learn...

Use Trillian - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/trillian/index.html

And DianeK you were very close there....Popup-stopper and spy-bot are the same company, different apps.

MSN Messenger has nothing to do with it (If you have the same problem I had). It's "Messenger Service", a Microsoft app made for (I believe) sending messages across networks. Here's the solution for me, in XP Home. I havn't checked the links, so someone probably already mentioned it.

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Click on "Services and Applications > Click on Services > Find "Messenger" in the list on the right > Double click it and select "Disabled" in the "Startup" dropdown box.

Problem solved for me. It got on my nerves because I could be playing a multiplayer game like Starcraft, and I'd get a message that would force me to hit alt-tab, click "OK" and go back to the game.

This is just another annoying problem Windows 2000/XP has that better built alternatives like Linux does not have.

If you like Linux so much then stick with it.

I am.

I use both Linux and XP. I download wallpaper for both, and themes for XP here.