Greetings Arthur,
There are several differences between the two. Most notably, MSN Messenger 6 has support for
display pictures, custom emoticons, has a different interface, etc. whereas Windows Messenger
supports SIP-based communications services, Exchange IM Server, etc. Which one you use is up
to you, and a matter of personal choice (and based upon your needs and likes), however one
thing to keep in mind, Windows Messenger must still be installed on Windows XP in order for
MSN Messenger to retain full functionality (Remote Assistance, Whiteboard, Application
Sharing, etc.).
MSN Messenger is centered around MSN technologies (Hotmail, MSN Member Profiles, MSN Mobile,
etc.) whereas Windows Messenger is centered around Windows technologies (Exchange Server,
Office Live Communications Server, Windows Netmeeting, etc.).
To address your problem, you'll first have to decide which one you don't want to use; I'll
assume for the time-being that you want to use MSN Messenger. 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
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
