Does anyone know how to remove the nightmare of Windows XP ? By this, I mean WINDOWS MESSENGER. This really is a pain in the ****.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Chris,"Does anyone know how to remove the nightmare of Windows XP ?"If you find out be sure and tell me. As you say it is a major pain. In fact I can't remember a subject that I have been more in agreement with you on. ;-)I know that some of the popup blockers are supposed to block it as well... but then you have to disable those for many things.

Hi Chris,I have absolutly no idea how everything is called in english, so I'll try: Logged in as administrator, open the system settings and there the "Services" (?) Tab. You'll get a list of all the "services"/programs that "belong" to Windows and whether they are started by Windows on startup, on request, or disabled. There you'll find the messenger as starting on startup. Change that setting to disabled or never or manually (whatever it is called in english) should do the trick. It will not remove the program but hinder it from being started. Hope this helps for you as well.Blue Skies, Steffen

Steffen,I have successfully disabled "Messenger", but this is not the same thing as "Windows Messenger". They are two entirely separate utilities. Thankfully, someone on the PC Gamer UK Forum advised me regarding how to disable Messenger. Now I don't have to worry about some 19 year old called Jana asking me for a "chat" ! :-lolChris Low,ENGLAND.

Ehhhmmmm Chris, :-waveWhat did you say???? .... 19 year old "Jana" asking for a chat ...????? :-rollCan you tell me the trick how to AKTIVATE this "Messenger" in my Win2000?? :9 *ggg* :DMay be I can ask her to play the game "flapping a trout to each other" with me.... :-hahAnsgar A

Chris,How about some elaboration on that fix! :-wink2 (Please?) :-grnmd

Tom,This is what I was told to do:-To stop the annoying spam popups that you get via the MESSENGER service do this: Right click My Computer. Click Manage Expand Services And Applications Click Services Find the Messenger Service Right click said service Click Properties Set to DISABLED This only applies to Windows 2000 and XP.I hope that this works. I got a strange pop-up a few minutes ago when I connected to the internet, but this might have something to do with Windows Messenger (which isn't the same thing). Any help in getting THAT stupid piece of useless code removed would be most welcome !Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Chris ; My neice had same problem and did what you said ,but still had popups , She went to support and after a long hassel finally had to go into registry and make changes , If you still have problem let me know and I'll get fix from her .I have win 98se still on this computer because CH flight yoke and pedals combo driver won't work with XP or 2000 pro . I have another computer with win 2000 pro installed . I will get around to installing CH-controll manager- and FU3 on it to see. I will put a KVM switch to use same monitor ,keyboard ,and mouse . separate sound systems .Personally I won't get XP . CaptRolo

I have found quite a few sites with information regarding how to disable Windows Messenger version 4.5 (or later). To stop this annoying utility activating when Windows XP is launched, follow the steps below.1. Click on START, then WINDOWS MESSENGER.2. Select the TOOLS menu, and then OPTIONS.3. Select the PREFERENCES menu.4. Uncheck the box next to "Run this program when Windows starts".5. Click OK.Preventing Outlook Express from activating it is more complicated, and involves poking around in the registry. However, I may try this, since the instructions appear to be clear. If anyone else is interested, the link is given below.http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302089Scroll down to the section titled "Windows Messenger 4.5 or later on Windows XP Home Edition based or Windows XP Professional based computers", and follow the instructions CAREFULLY :-)Some other sites suggest that Messenger can be deactivated from within Outlook Express itself, but this only appears to be true if you have Messenger Version 4.0.*** I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PROBLEMS THAT YOU ****** MAY ENCOUNTER WHEN FOLLOWING THE ABOVE PROCEDURES ***:-)Chris Low,ENGLAND.

I tried the Registry method of disabling Windows Messenger, and it worked. Unfortunately, it also reduced the loading speed of Outlook Express to a crawl, so I reversed the changes that I had made.I would recommend the method to disable Windows Messenger during XP startup, since this is easy and relatively safe to do. However, unless you really are totally fed up of this utility, then I would stay clear of the Registry method :-)Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Chris,I did as you said... hope it works! If it works or not I do thank you for the effort. :) I'll let you know how it goes.