Windows XP Tricks: 

Turn off the Messenger service:

(the gray pop up messages used for commercial purposes) Turning off the Messenger service is simple, and you don't need to buy any special programs for it. There are many stupid programs offered to get rid of
those gray pop up messages, and you have to pay for them. We are not talking about regular pop ups, and this has nothing to do with MSN Messenger.
Go to start--> control panel--> administrative tools--> services --> right click on messenger--> than click stop-->right click again --> properties and select start up type "disabled" and you will never see those pop-ups again.

Disable other useless services in Windows XP:

Remote Registry Service
Very unsafe idea of Microsoft
(I don't want anyone to remotely control my registry.)

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
(If you use a remote desktop,
leave this on; if not, disable it.)

Secondary Logon
(No one else uses my computer, so I don't need it.)

Themes
(It's the Windows XP graphical effects. I don't use this.)

Synchronize Your Computer Clock with an Internet Time Server:

You can synchronize your computer clock with an Internet time server. Double–click the time on your task bar --> Click the Internet Time tab. Select the time server you want to use and make sure to select the automatically synchronize with an Internet time server check box.

I get a lot of system pop ups and tried to follow your advice on how to get rid of them. I went to control panel but there was no \"admin tools\" or \"sevices\". Is there another way to get rid of them?

This is for windows xp only. Or your Control Panel does not show all the icons and you need to click on the link in the left side menu. Or just simply run the search for all files, and enter “Administrative Tools” and it should find it.

get a firewall! the pop-ups come because you have Windows networking open to the internet. I think udp 137-139 is used for this.

hi I am using a WinXp professional edition installed last week and now when i click on \"help and support\" in start menu nothing happens.how can i run the application ?.

you are all fucked

hey dont go blowing your hole because someone doesn\'t know as much as you

I tried this but when I try to access services in the admin tools it comes up with the message-- not a valid win32 application and refuses me to open services