Turn Messenger Off??

[peterg]

How can I stop windows messenger from starting up with my
computer? I've already gone into "services" with
Administrator.. and "disabled" messenger yet it continues
to start up. Just to try one other thing, I went into
Control Panel, windows components, and unchecked
messenger. No help. Thanks

 

[YYZ]

How can I stop windows messenger from starting up with my
computer? I've already gone into "services" with
Administrator.. and "disabled" messenger yet it continues
to start up. Just to try one other thing, I went into
Control Panel, windows components, and unchecked
messenger. No help. Thanks

-> http://www.pchell.com/support/removemessenger.shtml

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Peter,

To disable Windows Messenger, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK),
click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or
'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this
program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background'
(depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote
Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay
out of your way.

Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a
new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to
also keep starting. 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

 

[Emile]

I had the exact same problem...disabling Windows
Messenger here and there. And the stupid thing would
still load. I am pretty good at searching and finding
solutions on the internet...but this one had me. So
here's what I did:
1. Start Windows in Safe Mode (usually holding down F8
key on reboot. Your computer may be different. Then
choosing "Safe Mode" in the startup options.)

2. Go To Start> Run> type "C:\Program Files\Messenger"
(default path) without the quotes and press "OK".

3. Find "msmsgs.exe" or "msmsgs" (depending on how your
folder settings are), right click on it and
press "rename". I renamed mine as "msmsgs1".

4. Reboot. Good to go.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi,

This works, except if an application expects Messenger to automatically load, in which case
in a large number of cases the application will simply "wait" for Messenger for start. If it
works for you however, that's fine, but if you encounter an application in the future which
appears to "freeze" for awhile when you start it up, look for a Messenger integration option
within that application and turn it off.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com