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Oct 14, 2008

How to Turn Off Windows Messenger in Windows XP?

by GlueTooth / General

H-Desk.com Forum Index > Articles archive > General

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MSN messenger constant resurrection can sometimes remind on Jason Voorhees’ returns in Friday the 13th franchise. You keep killing him and he keeps returning over and over. Are you sure you use right methods? If not, check this article.

Maybe MSN resurrection is not that bad. At least it doesn’t carry an axe. But, we must admit that it is annoying. Especially if it goes against customers’ choice, it can be labeled as very annoying.

Bigger problems are spam and malware that can be generated through MSN messenger pop-ups. And how’s that?

Windows Messenger makes no attempt to evaluate the validity of the sender or the message. Malevolent individuals can generate pop-ups that try to fool you into taking actions contrary to your best interest. Spammers use Windows Messenger as a method for distributing their advertisements and malware.

But, so far, it appears that Windows Messenger pop-ups all have "Messenger Service" in the window title. If you receive any such message that instructs you to take actions that may divulge sensitive information, change your password, visit a web site, or take other potentially hazardous actions, you should take that ol’ rifle and point it at monitor.
Just kidding, of course. Just refuse to open any suspicious pop ups and messages or give any private and sensitive info.

We finally came to part that will show you how to turn off messenger if you don’t use it.

Uninstall is probably not a good idea because it may harm your system. But, following methods will prevent it from loading when the system starts and from returning.

You can try to shut it down in Services by using following methods.

Windows XP Professional

  1. Click Start-> Settings -> Control Panel
  2. Click Administrative Tools
  3. Click Services
  4. Double-click Services
  5. Scroll down and highlight Messenger
  6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
  7. Click the STOP button
  8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
  9. Click OK

Windows XP Home

  1. Click Start-> Settings -> Control Panel
  2. Click Performance and Maintenance
  3. Click Administrative Tools
  4. Double-click Services
  5. Scroll down and highlight Messenger
  6. Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
  7. Click the STOP button
  8. Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
  9. Click OK

You still may notice that there is active process showing that messenger is still using the resources. Messenger is connected with Outlook, so if you use this option as an email client, you should do following in order to disable messenger.


First method

In Outlook Express go to Tools > Windows Messenger > Options > Preferences
In the general area uncheck both "Run this program when windows starts" and "Allow this program to run in the background."
After doing this IM will not load on startup and Outlook Express loads as usual.

Second method

If you're running XP Pro, you can use GPEDIT.MSC to prevent Messenger from loading. Otherwise, even disabling it in startup won't cause it to "always" not run. Outlook, Outlook Express and some MS web pages can still make it load.

To remove it using this method do following:

Start > Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

For "per machine" restriction, go to:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger

For "per user" restriction, go to:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger

You can now modify whether it will start initially and/or whether it will run at all.

Note: Outlook and Outlook Express will take longer to open, unless you turn off Messenger Support.
In Outlook Express option is in Tools > Options > General tab
In Outlook it is in Tools > Options> Other

You can check additional method as well:

  1. Click on the Start menu and select Run
  2. Copy and paste RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%INFmsmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove into the box and click on OK
  3. After the next reboot MSN will be gone


Or instead, you can download and install Trillian that has a built-in remover. Trillian will combine MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, IRC and AOL instant messengers into one program.

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