# Can/does MSN messenger trigger popups? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802 "2003-05-03T04:29:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/1 "2003-05-03T04:29:49Z")
There’s a computer here that we only use to communicate via MSN messanger to people. I don’t use it myself - it is used by a colleague who is involved in testing and needs it to talk to people on the other side of the world. Tonight it seems to be accumulating popups out of no-where. The only program (other than TSRs) running is MSN Messenger, no browser windows or anything else. Messenger has always been running, ever since the computer was put there about a month or two ago. Yet the thing collects popups. Is messenger causing them, or is there some new way for popups to annoy us? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/2 "2003-05-03T06:51:55Z")
Are they MSN popups, or Messenger popups? Messenger (it’s different than MSN Messenger) can be exploited on Win 2000 and XP systems. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/3 "2003-05-03T09:50:23Z")
MSN messenger and Windows messenger are different things. The recommendation is to disable Windows Mesenger. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/4 "2003-05-04T00:05:09Z")
It’s MSN messanger and it’s on Windows 2000. It can’t be disabled as it is necesary. I was wondering if popups could be being caused by something else as (for a long time) the computer didn’t get popups (other than the ones from webpages) But if it turns out it _is_ due to MSN messanger then I guess we’ll have to put up with them. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/5 "2003-05-04T02:34:11Z")
If the popups are monochrome with an OK button – like a Win2k warning window – then they are probably Messenger spam. You can turn off Windows Messenger to stop them. That won’t affect Microsoft Messenger. The popups may be cause by other things. Run Ad-Aware or Spybot to see what they find, and see about getting Pop-up Stopper or a firewall such as Zone Alarm. ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-msn-messenger-trigger-popups/172802/6 "2003-05-04T05:10:35Z")
When I open MSN Instant Messenger a few seconds later their homepage pops up, which I close. Never get pop-ups after that from MSN Instant Messenger.