Department Network & Security Contacts:
The IT Security Office has received complaints about new "Pop-up" messages appearing on Windows machines that are of an offensive nature. Many persons have received the "Diploma" pop-up advertisements, and other "messenger spam" in recent months. The security website has a link to a Microsoft article discussing the issue at www.its.uiowa.edu/cio/itsecurity
Please feel free to distribute this information to individuals in your department:
One method for blocking Windows Pop-up messages is to turn off the Messenger Service on your workstation. To turn off the Messenger Service, select Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools-->Services, double click on the "Messenger" service from the list, select "Stop" and change the Startup option to "Disabled", and click on OK. Keep in mind that stopping the Messenger Service will also prevent system messages such as "printer out of paper" from reaching your computer.
Stopping the Messenger service is an optional course of action. If you are offended by the pop-up spam messages, or are annoyed by them, you can block them in this manner.
An alternative for Windows XP users is the built-in Internet Connection Firewall. More information is available at www.its.uiowa.edu/cio/itsecurity/bestprac/Securing%20XP.htm
