As with many “features” though, this one can be used against its owner when placed in the hands of unscrupulous programmers. One of the more popular messenger spam applications sells itself by pointing out that the messages it send are almost impossible to trace back to their source. Using the messenger service to spam you leaves the spammer virtually anonymous.
The easiest way to stop this type of spam is to simply disable the Windows Messenger service. In Windows NT, 2000 or XP you can access the services through the Control Panel. From there you can right-click on the Messenger service and access the Properties. Click “Stop” to stop the service and then change Startup Type to “Disabled”. For an even easier way to do this you can download Stop Messenger Spam 1.0. Stop Messenger Spam is a small, freely available program which will disable your Messenger service for you. It is available to download from http://www.stopmessengerspam.com. Because there are legitimate programs that may be using the Windows Messenger Service on your network you may notice problems after you disable the service. If you find that you need to have the service enabled to make other applications function, you can also use a personal firewall program such as Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com) to help block incoming connections to your computer.
Why the marketing people think that invading someone’s privacy is going to sell goods I don’t know. It would seem that no matter how good their ad or their offer is, it gets lost in the customer’s anger and frustration at having to deal with unwanted email, endless pop-up ads and now windows messenger alerts appearing out of nowhere. As long as they keep inventing new and more irritating ways to “advertise” though, it will be your job to find new ways to prevent this invasion of your privacy.