FTC Shuts Down Pop-Up Extortion Firm 472
An anonymous reader writes "The FTC has shut down D Squared, a company that's been spamming via the Windows Messenger Pop-Up Service. In some cases, ads would pop-up every 10 minutes, and only advertised a $30 product that disabled similar pop-up ads. The FTC is slamming the extortion gauntlet on them. Interestingly, the FTC only caught onto all this because one of their own commissioners was among those getting spammed."
These are annoying (Score:3, Informative)
Full FTC press release (Score:5, Informative)
No, it does not (Score:4, Informative)
This is similar to the service that Novell used to have, and the purpose is for local sysadmins to send out messages like "Server going down in 5 minutes, save your work and log out".
You could have your browser closed, and be doing nothing, and these will still come through.
Now, why the HELL do ISPs allow these packets on the wire, as they are a LAN service only, is beyond me (no, it is not - I understand all too well the stupidity and laziness of most ISPs).
Re:Mozilla does the same thing (Score:3, Informative)
Not sure about XP, but if you do a default Win2K install, the 'messenger' service is set to Automatic - meaning it is up and running when you start your computer. What is key here is this is essentially a windows application, not anything to do with the far too frequent HTML popups everyone is use to.
On Win2K, go to Administrative Tools > Services, find the messenger service with the description "Sends and receives messages transmitted by administrators or by the Alerter service.", stop it, and disable it so you don't have to deal with the (messenger based) pop ups again.
Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements (Score:1, Informative)
Advertisements are a necessary part of a free-market economy. Without ads, there would be no broadcast TV or radio. People would not be aware of new products and services that are available for them. Without ads, there would definately be no free internet. The point is, that nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it, and this usually comes in the form of advertising. If companies were not allowed to go around blasting their wares in your face all the time, our economy would collapse. YOu don't want the economy yo collapse, do you?
Re:These are annoying (Score:3, Informative)
Windows 2000
1. Click Start-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools->Services
2. Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
3. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
4. Click the STOP button.
5. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
6. Click OK
Windows XP Home
1. Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
2. Click Performance and Maintenance
3. Click Administrative Tools
4. Double click Services Scroll
5. down and highlight "Messenger"
6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
7. Click the STOP button.
8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
9. Click OK
Windows XP Professional
1. Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
2. Click Administrative Tools
3. Click Services
4. Double click Services Scroll
5. down and highlight "Messenger"
6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
7. Click the STOP button.
8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
9. Click OK
Windows NT
1. Click Start ->Control Panel
2. Double Click Administrative Tools
3. Select Services-> Double-click on Messenger
4. In the Messenger Properties window, select Stop,
5. Then choose Disable as the Startup Type
6. Click OK
In all other versions of windows the service cannot be disabled.
Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Targets (Score:2, Informative)
Him and all the exec's at the big companies. Then make sure the CTO's are "properly advised" by their head techies as to what needs to be done:
aka:
- don't buy Microsoft
- co-operate and support an IETF standard on authenticated e-mail
- etc etc.
Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements (Score:4, Informative)
It's funny seeing people not complain about billboards or saying that they are ok. These are people that haven't lived in a BBRE (BillBoard Rich Environment).
As I said elsewhere in this thread, move to Mexico for awhile. There are days I literally feel claustrophobic because of the saturation of the skyline (at all levels... ground level, 30 feet, 100 fet) with advertisements. Yes, I tune them out. You HAVE to tune them out. They've gone past the point of "they don't notice it but will remember it subconsciously." There are so many that they are just a blur of color as you drive by... They're on corners, on tops of residential and commercial rooftops, on stand-alone supports that some business decided to mount in the middle of their microscopic parking lot, painted on brick walls, hanging from or mounted above pedestrian bridges, overpasses--and most of them are at least partially blocked by other billboards anyway. It's like being in Time Square but without the general coolness and flashing lights that makes Time Square cool rather than an advertising eyesore.
Really... It's something I think every politician in the U.S. should have as part of their "initiation" or "orientation." Live in Mexico for a week and truly observe how bad advertising can be if not carefully checked.
I'm not sure if there's less advertising in the U.S. than in Mexico because advertisers intentionally don't want to saturate to this level and numb everyone completely or because the local governments *DO* have a decent level of restriction that prevents it from getting this bad.
Re:Did Microsoft ever give a good reason... (Score:2, Informative)
Windows: Google toolbar (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements (Score:3, Informative)
No, it doesn't. However, there is a plugin [mozdev.org] which allows you to open the current page (or a link) in Internet Explorer, from the right-click context menu. So you could easily switch to Firebird for your primary browser, and still view your company's ActiveX pages without any significant extra effort.
Re:Thats what we get for tolerating advertisements (Score:2, Informative)
Re:And how will public radio SURVIVE!? (Score:1, Informative)