It's the first thing I remove on my machines and those that I work on. Ever had the computer turned on, just sitting there, not even browsing, and a Messenger pop-up pops up?
Go to my site below and click the Free Software link. Scroll down to Shoot the Messenger and download and run it.
Wayne
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About 2 weeks ago, hotmail began to "freeze" for 2-3 seconds after a page was loaded. It doesn't matter if I'm accessing a message, logging in, going back to a mailbox, or whatever else. If I am going to a hotmail page, the brief freeze occurs. During that time, I can't click on anything; instead of having the little hand to click on a link, I get only the arrow pointer.
I use ZA Pro to control internet security (and for virus and spyware control as well.) ZA Pro popped up and told me Messenger was trying to act as a server. I disallowed it, seeing no reason Messenger needed to be active when I was simply browsing the internet. Nevertheless, the "freezing" continues, and sure enough, the hotmail pages freeze just long enough for my system to pop up the Messenger icon in the system tray, and then the icon vanishes. It seems clear to me something is launching my Messenger to transmit data, which concerns me.
I've scanned for spyware and viruses every day since this problem started, and no viruses are found, and none of the spyware ZA Pro is deleting fixes the problem. This morning I uninstalled MSN Messenger, and that fixed the problem, but I do use Messenger from time to time and would like to reinstall it.
If anyone can tell me what Messenger is doing and how potentially dangerous this event is I'd sure appreciate it!
Thanks,
Howard
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