Getting rid of Messenger

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dan Stevens
  • Start date Start date
D

Dan Stevens

No where can I find how to rid myself of the annoying pop
up screen (lower right hand corner) and the persistent
demand that I upgrade to the latest Messenger software. MS
does not want people to remove this software. Can anyone
tell me how to rid myself of this obnoxious program. I
have unclicked all the preferences in the program,
unclicked it from my startup folder, and even removed the
bar button on the top of the Internet explorer screen ..
all to no avail. MS does not give any advice to help.
Would greatly appreciate someone's wisdom on this..
reply to (e-mail address removed) thanks Dan
 
Greetings Dan,

It's not recommended that you remove Windows Messenger, as it's an integrated part of Windows
(and is used in Outlook Express, Remote Assistance and several other features and
applications).

However, since you've already done the usual disabling and that hasn't worked, 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 this behavior (even if
you're going to fully uninstall it below, follow this step or your uninstallation will not be
successful). 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.

If you really want to remove Windows Messenger, you can do so by doing the following -- close
down Messenger if it's running (right click the messenger icon in the notification
area/system tray and click close). Then click the start button, then click Run and type in
(copy-paste if you like):

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Then click OK.
Messenger will then be uninstalled. For more detailed instructions and screenshots, go to,
http://messenger.jonathankay.com/problem.aspx?ID=7
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
 
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