As if Les needs more reasons to hate 98, but look at this one

Ross Moorhouse · Post by **Ross Moorhouse** » Sun Feb 02, 2003 7:07 am

Slaak when the moderators get a complaint I have to take action. It was this "SO GET BACK INTO YOUR LATRINE AND SHUT YOUR F*CKING A$$!!" is why you have been told to watch it.

Deathifier · Post by **Deathifier** » Sun Feb 02, 2003 2:17 pm

Just to note - you are more likely to get spam in your e-mail account(s) then you are getting some random message via the windows messaging system.

This is mainly because finding your IP address is a hell of a lot harder than finding your e-mail adress, and your IP address is liable to change (on dial-up) or you are likely going to have something in the way of it if you are on broadband (firewall, router).

IMO Win98 SE runs quite fine, it was a reliable NAT for the home LAN for a while (despite the limitations of its version of ICS) until being recently replaced by a much more capable hardware router.

It's only downside is the fact that if something crashes, it's liable to bring the entire thing to a grinding halt.
On the upside it's DOS memory manager is the most capable currently in existance - I have a nice selection of games that anything newer will refuse to run.

Oh, and it runs on a 486, an excellent combo for older games

In summary it isn't the most wonderful OS in the world, but like all other versions of every other OS it has its good points and bad points and a set of tasks which suit it best.

- Deathifier

SLAAKATTAK · Post by **SLAAKATTAK** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 12:25 am

EXCELLENT POINTS DEATH. I REFER YOU ALSO TO THE FOLLOWING THREAD SINCE SOME OF OUR LESS INFORMED BRETHREN SEEM TO NEED SOME INDOCTRINATION THERE.

showthread.php?s=&threadid=29378

Arralen · Post by **Arralen** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 5:10 pm

Originally posted by Les the Sarge 9-1
Windows Messenger, it's one of those eeeeeevil little chat programs where you can use instant messaging to talk with people etc.

It is a resident program in windows. If you have Windows You have Windows Messenger (unless you intentionally delete it).

Sorry, but you're all wrong.

Messenger is a system service, which you cannot uninstall as it is part of the OS.

It isn't a peer-to-peer chat program, but was intended to enable a network admin to send message to clients in the same network using some admin tools on a WinNT/W2k/XP machine. (The internet is a really big "local network", after all. go figure ..)

But the messenger cannot start any programs*, you cannot type in any return message, just click "ok" to close the window, so it's more annoying than anything else*.

*I can see some security problems nevertheless - if there's a bug in the code so you can make the service crash, or overflow the text field by inserting special characters in the to-be-displayed text, you may get any, but maybe small snippet of code to be processed on the target machine ...

your part-time admin

A.

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:17 am

Originally posted by Arralen
Sorry, but you're all wrong.

Messenger is a system service, which you cannot uninstall as it is part of the OS.

Your correct, except that you can "stop" or "disable" the service which is just as effective as an uninstall would be.

Frank W. · Post by **Frank W.** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 4:32 am

Originally posted by Arralen

It isn't a peer-to-peer chat program, but was intended to enable a network admin to send message to clients in the same network using some admin tools on a WinNT/W2k/XP machine. (The internet is a really big "local network", after all. go figure ..)

so les wasn´t right??

this messenger thing does not exist in win98 !!

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 8:21 am

I think Win2k is way more stable than any of the win98's, and XP really does seem to be a great OS. Some kid out there is obviously a huge fan of 98, and that's cool... but geez there's no reason to get nasty about a **** operating system. That's needless silliness (sp?). If I had my choice I'd stick with Win2k, I get such stability as to run SPWAW *ALL* the time, and alt-tabbing as necessary. I play Day of Defeat while SPWAW is going, and sometimes I don't reboot until my system idle process reads like 450 hours... I have had a very solid and good experience with win2k.

Tomo

Raindog101 · Post by **Raindog101** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 9:44 am

Originally posted by Frank W.
so les wasn´t right??

this messenger thing does not exist in win98 !!

Frank W. check here:

http://www.slipstick.com/config/win98-wminstall.htm

Veldor · Post by **Veldor** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 9:53 am

Originally posted by Old Eagle101
Frank W. check here:

http://www.slipstick.com/config/win98-wminstall.htm

Guys, as already pointed out Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger have nothing to do with the exploit mentioned at the start of this forum.

To clarify further though, what LES is refering to IS accurate. The exploit takes advantage of the "messenger service" on Windows NT,2000,& XP. Back in 95/98/ME days it was called the "WinPopup Service" and is enabled automatically with certain types of networking so 9x users can still be subject to it.

It is much easier to disable this service in Windows NT/2000/XP than in 9x. Some systems may not be able to disable it at all in 9x..

One reference that discusses some of this is at:

http://www.more.net/security/advisories ... 21025.html

Also see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... us;Q168893

Tombstone · Post by **Tombstone** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 10:41 am

Dude, what did I say to get those asterisks? Hmm, **** (d.a.m.n)?

Wow, I guess so. I apologize for not adhering to the rules of language use, I'll refrain from it in the future.

Tomo

Frank W. · Post by **Frank W.** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 1:57 pm

Originally posted by Veldor
Guys, as already pointed out Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger have nothing to do with the exploit mentioned at the start of this forum.

To clarify further though, what LES is refering to IS accurate. The exploit takes advantage of the "messenger service" on Windows NT,2000,& XP. Back in 95/98/ME days it was called the "WinPopup Service" and is enabled automatically with certain types of networking so 9x users can still be subject to it.

It is much easier to disable this service in Windows NT/2000/XP than in 9x. Some systems may not be able to disable it at all in 9x..

One reference that discusses some of this is at:

http://www.more.net/security/advisories ... 21025.html

Also see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... us;Q168893

WINPOPUP ?

i deleted this in my win feolder as i saw
no use for it. seems not that the system is missing
the files in any way...

Les_the_Sarge_9_1 · Post by **Les_the_Sarge_9_1** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:23 pm

Been away over the weekend.

First of all I was not specifically referring to the "Messenger Service" I guess.
What with the usual redundancy of Windows, I was not sure there was two seperate beasts out there.

What I was referring to, to some extent was "MSN Messenger" I guess, which is likely separate and distinct.

The Messenger service pop ups though are not some fluke experience. I was getting several of them a day.
Sure I surf here and there. But my sister was also getting them on her machine, and she doesn't like the web at all.
It was a simple matter (once you know where it is) to disable the hassle though. It is just the same as the incorporated firewall in XP. It is nice to have a firewall, but not so thrilling if you are a new user unaware of where the thing is located.
Otherwise both features are just a few clicks away and a simple on off setting effectively.

I have two buddies that use the Messenger Service between their systems in their shared house. It allows them to avoid screaming from one room upstairs, to the other person downstairs. It's faster than a chat program, and doesn't require the other person to even be running a chat program.
And as their systems share a LAN they don't even need to be online.

But if you have a mail box you get junk mail. If you are online, you get junk email. It's the latest junk email dodge.
You can make it so you don't get junk mail, and you can make it so you don't get junk email.
Just saying you are running 98 though, will not prevent you from getting junk email.

The trick is to not install to many redundant protective programs heheh.

One of my current choices was to uninstall KaZaa, and switch to KaZaa Lite. Stop the source, and you stop the problem sometimes.

I also did a nice job blocking Blue Screens by choosing XP heheh.
98 has no Blue Screen blocking software hehe.

Belaja smert · Post by **Belaja smert** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 8:30 pm

If you want to continue using this service, but don't want to receive spam, then install a software firewall to your PC. Configure it properly and that's it. No annoying pop-ups, yet you can still utilize the service if necessary.

Les_the_Sarge_9_1 · Post by **Les_the_Sarge_9_1** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 8:49 pm

Windows already has a firewall incorporated, no need to install one.

But firewalls are moody tools sometimes. They can be like filters, unable to distinguish what is harmless half of the time.