Like all spammers, those who advertise (intrusively) through Windows Messenger only do so to make
a profit. When directions for disabling Windows Messenger started being easily available, and
when ISP's and tech support workers started urging (or forcing) customers to install firewall
software, advertising with Windows Messenger ceased to be quite as profitable, so they stopped
doing it. I work for IT at UC Berkeley, and 8,000 students arrive every year, many with no
protection, and I've yet to hear a complaint about this. That may be, as you said, that something
more serious infects them before the spammers have a chance to find them, but I don't think so.
Jon Lawhead
UC Berkeley SINE/ResComp
On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 07:24:54 -0800
Matthew Romanek <shandower@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey all,
I've a question, asked purely for the sake of curiosity.
I was just reminded of the bad old days working for an ISP where every
other call was about lewd messages popping up on a user's screen when
they weren't even doing anything. Windows messaging popups were THE
complaint at the time, and slowly we convinced people that personal
firewalls were a good idea (via messenger popups, no less. We were a
scummy little ISP, and no great bastion of morality).
It just occured to me that I (personally) haven't seen a popup in
several years. I assume it's because we've learned about security and
firewalling and all that. So my question is: Is this sort of stuff
still a problem? Does it still exist in the wild? I suppose I could
plug an unprotected windows machine into a public IP address, but I
think I'd be likely to be taken out by something worse before a
messenger ad comes along. And I'm not THAT curious. :)
--
Matthew 'Shandower' Romanek
IDS Analyst
