Rogergordian: Nope! I run Norton Antivirus in the background constantly and update it automatically. I have all the security patches from Microsoft. Trust me guys....I know of what I speak :) Just go to the Microsoft groups for XP.....just about any of them, but for sure at the help_and_support and the one for the MSN Messenger.....it is being discussed there adnauseum. This is not a virus, or a worm. It is simply hackers exploiting an innocent feature that is built into XP and I believe NT and W2000, called the "messenger service". I think I've described what it does at least three times in this thread and shant do so again :) I talked to a tech at a local computer store today. He was having the same problem, disabled messenger service and has had no furth messages. This seems consistent with Jacksmyname1's post and others as well. Philodox: Thanks. I'm going to try the the firewall approach first. If it still continues, I'll disable the "messenger service"! :) And yes Philodox....the content paradise stuff is the same stuff that you will find here. I think CL would have been better off spending their time on developing decent tutorials! :) Their "portal" is a joke. It's strange: they develop a piece of software with features that seem to be geared to people who already know how to use Poser, model, etc. and then they put up a portal that seems to be designed for people who don't know Renderosity exists!?? :)