Greetings Derrell,
Although this could be caused by signing into another computer at another location and saving
your password there so it continues to login, do you happen to be using MSN Messenger 6.x for
your current Messenger client? If so, you should be aware that there is another Messenger
client that comes with Windows XP called Windows Messenger. Due to the way Windows Messenger
works however, it can and does load sometimes in the background, automatically logging you on
and causing this issue to occur.
To solve this problem, open up Windows Messenger (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.
