Greetings Kimmy,
You can completely remove Windows Messenger (4.7) but if you do, you will be preventing
Remote Assistance, Whiteboard, and Application Sharing from working. Instead you might want
to simply disable Windows Messenger by opening 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, since you're not able to close it, 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 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