I have no use for MSN Messenger. What makes it worse still is that it keeps activating itself.

I think my daughter has given out my email address and although I had never used Messenger suddenly there were messages coming in. If I go to close it then it says it is being used by other programmes.

Any suggestions - especially if I can get rid of it entirely?

If it is MSN Messenger 6 or 7 etc. that you installed it will be in Control Panel | Add/Remove programs.

But the error message is common to the following:

If you have XP it could be Windows Messenger 4.7 which is built-in to XP. This is a basic version of MSN Messenger.

You will find it also via Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | Add/Remove Windows Components | Windows Messenger

Just uncheck it then click Next & follow out.

Both of these are versions of MSN Messenger.

This isn't an issue, this is by design. Windows Messenger 4.7 and MSN Messenger 6.0 are
separate products, hence why MSN Messenger 6 didn't overwrite Windows Messenger.


You can remove Windows Messenger 4.7, but if you do, you will be preventing Remote
Assistance, Whiteboard, Application Sharing and any other applications that utilize Messenger
from working (or loading without problems). You can just disable Windows Messenger 4.7, by
opening it up, click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and unchecking 'Run this program when
Windows starts'. This won't stop it from being loaded by some other application though. As
well, you can disable it further by going to Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs,
Add/Remove Windows Components on the left, uncheck Windows Messenger in the components list
and click Next >. Note: this is only available if you've installed Windows XP Service Pack
1 -- if you haven't, visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. This won't remove Windows
Messenger, but it will let it stay out of your way, and allow MSN Messenger 6 to work
properly. Also, you'll probably want to turn off the Windows Messenger integration in
Outlook, Outlook Express and Norton Antivirus 2003 (if you have it installed). To do so, for
Outlook, For Outlook (XP/2002), just open Outlook, click the Tools menu, then Options, then
the Other tab, and uncheck 'Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook'. For Outlook
Express, close Outlook Express, and run this .reg file:
http://messenger.jonathankay.com/dow...ssenger_oe.reg


To stop Norton Antivirus from using Windows Messenger, 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.


Also see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330117 for more information on Windows Messenger 4.7 and MSN
Messenger 5.0 (also refers to MSN Messenger 6)
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

Have removed it in Add / Remove Progranms which seems to have done the trick.

Thank you.

Thanks for the update & the thanks!

Let us know if we can help further in the future!

This thread has been Resolved and Locked to prevent other users hijacking the thread and to help others know which threads have been Resolved and which are still being worked on.

If you started this thread and the problem returns or the case has not been properly Resolved, please send a Private Message to a Moderator of this forum to have the thread opened again. If you have a different problem, please start a new thread.