Hi all,

The kids have slyly got Windows (MSN?) Messenger set to open on starting the pc.
Me + the wife don't use it much,if ever.
It's annoying to have loads of chavs / yobs opening windows to greet their mates, but you know how some kids speak - "oy, how's it, nob jockey" etc,and worse.
The wife's not impressed.
Why's it set to my kids email account (on 'open with this blah @ hotmail etc) and not mine?
And how can i set it back to open with my email,but manually,ie when i choose to, not automatically?

I could just uninstal it?, but i have friends in New Zealand etc so we do have the odd chat now and then,so it would be nice to still have it, but also to be in control, we're the adults!!! lol.

Any ideas? Ta, Dave. ( and Mrs )

See link (for 'live messenger' - similar approach for earlier versions):

How can i remove msn Live messenger from my startup? without deleting it? - Yahoo! Answers

The kids have slyly got Windows (MSN?) Messenger set to open on starting the pc.

I think first we need to get on a common ground of understanding. Please tell us a little bit about the PC, and version of Windows.

Also we need to figure out exactly which "Messenger" is giving you problems. Unfortunately, there are at least 4 Messenger programs. See What's the difference between Windows Live Messenger, Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger Service? - Ask Leo!

Is everyone sharing the same account? Unless the computer is for purely recreational purposes, and isolated from other computers in your home, the children should have separate and See Limited User accounts. The risk of identity theft, malware infestation, or a compromised computer used remotely by badguys to commit crimes with your assigned IP address is too great. Children should NEVER have full admin accounts, or share accounts with parents! This is especially true if the computer has a full time broadband connection (DSL or Cable) and is used for personal finances/banking, on-line shopping, personal contacts, school or work projects. Children need to learn the habit of signing in, then signing out.

For adolescent children (or younger, depending on how you trust your kid's friends), I recommend a 2nd PC as soon as household budgets allow. They need it for school, but parents need theirs for all the things people do on computers as part of the "business" of running our "adult" lives. The accounts on the kids' computers still need to be limited, and tightly controlled - for their protection. Unfortunately, that means as parents, we need to be computer and home network administrators, and have a pretty decent understanding of computer and network security. And we have be mean, old and nasty snoops too. You can't be your child's "friend" when it comes computers. Very clever deviants right now are actively lurking about in search of their next pray, seeking out vulnerabilities in our security defenses to exploit. so they can .

Just to be sure this is not a malware issue, I recommend you purge your system of clutter using Windows (XP or Vista) Disk Cleanup, ATF Cleaner or CCleaner. If you use CCleaner, then during installation, uncheck the option to install the Yahoo toolbar and before first use, go to Options > Settings > Advanced and ensure Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 48 hours is unchecked.

Note: Ensure you know your site credentials (user name and password) for sites you frequent before cleaning; you may have to login again at next visit.

Download and install Malwarebytes's Anti-Malware (MBAM) then scan as follows:

Check for updates before scanning,
Select Perform quick scan > Scan,
When complete, click OK, then Show Results,
Ensure all is selected, and click Remove Selected,
When complete, save the log in Notepad to a convenient place for future reference.

Then do the same for all other computers on your network (everything on your side of the Internet "gateway" device - typically a Cable or DSL modem).

Hi, thanks for that, i found and unchecked the 'auto sign in' - all is ok now

Digerati, we're running a crappy old junker i cobbled together from a pile of spares,after the mobo died in our modern ish home pc, just to get back on the 'net (it's quite amazing how much we really rely on the 'net ) - spec in sig.

Also:

Originally Posted by Digerati

For adolescent children (or younger, depending on how you trust your kid's friends), I recommend a 2nd PC as soon as household budgets allow. They need it for school, but parents need theirs for all the things people do on computers as part of the "business" of running our "adult" lives. The accounts on the kids' computers still need to be limited, and tightly controlled - for their protection. Unfortunately, that means as parents, we need to be computer and home network administrators, and have a pretty decent understanding of computer and network security. And we have be mean, old and nasty snoops too. You can't be your child's "friend" when it comes computers. Very clever deviants right now are actively lurking about in search of their next pray, seeking out vulnerabilities in our security defenses to exploit. so they can .

Dij, you must be a mind reader, this is our plan!!!
The kids all have a pc,in their rooms.Only 1 pc is on the net,this one,in the front room,so they are pretty well moderated (heh heh,like you do,in your peripheral,lol ),but apart from watching everything (i like them to have some privacy, facebook etc),they're more IT/PC savvy,quicker than me to go - click click, and they've set sumat like the auto start messenger thing etc, so the odd glitch is bound to happen.
I'm in your mindset,ever vigilant, and always seem to be scanning/cleaning something.I've just downloaded some more tools from your top sticky,to add to my now 'arsenal' of weaponry!We're running AVG Free,(seems better than paid for Norton,McAfee we've used before..work that one out..), Spybot - MBAM - ATF Cleaner -AVG Rootkit - CCleaner - SuperAntiSpyware - Counterspy - AdAware, all report clean so far.
I do have a couple of issues tho, Spybot kept nearly freezing,had to re start after 5 and half hours,still only a third into it! Some work needed.
So i wanted to run a Kaspersky scan.D/Lded it (60 odd mb?), but can't get it to run..get 'Starting java applet has failed,please go online to use this program'...erm,well i am online! If i can sort it, can it be run offline?..as i prefer to scan whilst offline.
*edit* deleted all spybot files, re downloaded, ok now.Will try same with Kaspersky.
Sorry to go a bit off topic, and thanks for the excellent work/info/effort you guys put into this fabulous site

Cheers, Dave