HOW TO: DISABLING POPUPS THROUGH WINDOWS MESSENGER

Spammers have discovered a hole in Windows Messenger which enables them to send popup ads and bypass any popup blocker. It's so bad that even Congress is demanding action.

Here's how to disable Messenger in XP:

Click on the Start button and open the control panel.
Open the Performance and Maintenance control panel and go to Administrative Tools.
Now double-click on Services, then scroll to Messenger.
Double-click Messenger and click Stop to stop the service.
Change the startup type to Disable.