Printable View
I'm at my friends house and he uses AO-Hell, theres pop up messages(not actual ads), it says there is a leaking port in the computer and a big security threat blah blah blah...I was thinking its just advertisement because of it leaving a link to the site where you can download "block messanger". Since hacking into other computers is illegal i really doubt that anyone with much intelligence would leave a link to their site, but thats just my opinion, let me know.
It sounds like that ad that said "Your computer is broadcasting an IP address! You could be at risk!". It's spamware/adware. But this one could be something that AOL advertises. I'd be a little suspicious. If you want to be sure, visit www.grc.com and click on Shields Up. It should tell you what ports you have open and what the risks are.
It sounds to me like it is the new breed of spam- Messenger service pop-up spam. They broadcast out the spam and if you receive it you are obviously open to Messenger service spam and therefore in need of their product.
Check out StopMessengerSpam.com for a free tool that will disable the Messenger service for you so you won't get those any more.
You can also read this article for more info: Wired News
Can't you just disable the Messenger service manually to prevent that from happening?
Absolutely. You can disable the Messenger service the old-fashioned way by going into services, right-clicking the Messenger service and changing the start-up properties to Disabled.
The link I gave has a free utility that just does that for you for those who don't know how or don't want to delve into the services themselves.
Another option may be to control svchost.exe (service behind port 135) with a firewall.