how to disable xp msn login cache

[thomas]

hello there,

just wondering whether anyone can advice what to do so
that xp do not automatically register your login id on
when launching msn messenger. that is i want to disable 1.
the drop down menu that shows who has been loging in the
past, and 2. everytime msn messenger is launched, the
login panel is empty (i.e. it does not display the last
person who logged in).

i do not mean going through control panel, user account
and network management, and having to manually delete
accounts time and time again. i tried gpedit but could not
find the right ones (or maybe gpedit was the wrong
approach). i do not want to mess about registry.

please help and advivce. thank you.

kind regards,
thomas

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Thomas,

To disable this, download and run this .reg file:
http://messenger.jonathankay.com/downloads/disablenetcreds.reg

You'll need to reboot to see the change.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[thomas]

Dear Jonathan,

Thank you for your reply. For my own education, can you
tell me what part of the registry was changed and how to
change it back at a later date?

I may have given the wrong impression when I said that I
do not want to mess about with the registry, I meant that
I do not want to make changed without knowing what I am
doing. I am willing to make the changes manually if you
can give me the direction on how to get there. The
advantage of this would be any changes that I made I
would be able to reverse at a later date, plus it would
give me an additional insight to the mechanics of
registry.

Thank you for your advice and help again.

Kind regards,
Thomas

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Thomas,

In case you're not aware, a .reg file is nothing more then a text file. As such, you can
find out exactly what in the registry this changes before even running it. To do so, when
you click the link, choose to Download the file, save it somewhere (Desktop would work), then
open Notepad, click the File menu, then Open, for files of type, choose All Files (*.*),
point to the Desktop, choose the .reg file and you'll see exactly what in the registry is
being modified.

Although it's usually obviously how to turn it off, I also have a re-enable .reg file:
http://messenger.jonathankay.com/downloads/enablenetcreds.reg

As for editing the registry manually, you'll just need to start the registry editor (Start,
Run, enter "regedit.exe"). You'll see something very similar to Windows Explorer, a registry
"key" is actually shown as a folder. In each "key" is data, which you'll see on the right
pane.

As always, I do suggest to people that they just use the .reg files (although you may want to
validate their authenticity in Notepad prior to running, especially coming from an unknown
source), because it's quick and there's really no possibility of "messing" something up
(assuming the person who gave you the .reg file knows what they're doing).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com