Greetings Paul,
The area I believe you're referring to is called the notification area (or system tray). The
icons here are actually programs currently running -- Windows Messenger is still running if
you still see this icon. To remove it, double-click the Windows Messenger icon, click the
Tools menu, then Options, then Preferences tab, uncheck 'Run this program when Windows
starts' and click OK. Then right-click the Windows Messenger icon, and choose Exit. If you
receive an error that Windows Messenger cannot be shut down because another program is using
it, and you have Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer closed, do you have Norton
Antivirus 2003 installed? Norton added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature to Norton
Antivirus 2003, which can conflict with Messenger and cause some of this behavior. To stop
it, open Norton Antivirus (Right-click on the Norton Antivirus icon in the System
Tray/Notification Area (by the clock), choose 'Open Norton Antivirus'), click Options, then
Instant Messenger then uncheck MSN Instant Messenger and click OK.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources -
http://messenger.jonathankay.com