Windows Messenger 4.7

[gtd2000]

Hi There,
I've had an unusal situation recently whereby Windows Messenger (as opposed to MSN Messenger) keeps loading at startup even although the program is set NOT to load with windows and I've even disabled it in the msconfig/startup area.

I know that even if you do remove it from startup that it will still run unless you set that in the options of the main Messenger program (already set as per previous).

The unusual situation I have at the moment is that after a reboot I will get messages from contacts but Windows Messenger is not running in the system tray/taskbar and is only shown in the Processes section of Task Manager.

Has anybody else had this problem and if so how did you solve it?

I normally use MSN Messenger 7.0 (Beta) for chatting and naturally don't use Windows Messenger at home.

 

[yukichigai]

What you disabled was Messenger, which is the thing that pops up system-type messages from (theoretically) admins and (mostly) websites you visit. In order to disable Windows Messenger you actually have to remove/rename the directory called "Messenger" in Program Files.

 

[Stern]

have you tried disabling it in services?

 

[John]

If you prefer to remove Windows Messenger manually, click Start, Run and enter the following command:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Note: This will prevent a long delay when opening Outlook Express if you have the Contacts pane enabled. To prevent this, click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Right click in the right pane and select New, Dword value. Give it the name Hide Messenger Double click this new entry and set the value to 2.

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: yukichigai
What you disabled was Messenger, which is the thing that pops up system-type messages from (theoretically) admins and (mostly) websites you visit. In order to disable Windows Messenger you actually have to remove/rename the directory called "Messenger" in Program Files.

What's confusing me is that I've never seen this problem before.

The only thing that is at the back of my skull amongst the cobwebs might have been a choice which asked if I wanted to view my contacts in Outlook...

I'll check out all of the suggestions at home - I'm in the office now and using Windows Messenger here

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: John
If you prefer to remove Windows Messenger manually, click Start, Run and enter the following command:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\inf\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

I'll probably attempt this on second thoughts as I have no real use for WM at home - it is only here at work that we are not "allowed" to use MSN Messenger

Of course you can run and install it but you sometimes get a nice message from IT advising that you have non-complaint software...that's I#tel for ya!

 

[Slugbait]

Note that hacking Windows Messenger off your machine will directly impact MSN Messenger...several features will no longer work.

If you're using an older version of Outlook, and you choose the option for Messenger integration, I think Outlook will hook Windows Messenger on XP instead of MSN Messenger. So the easy thing is to uncheck that.

Also, the fact that it's running in the background (i.e. no visual indication it's running) was a bug introduced in later releases of v4.7 (and still happens in v5.x). This behavior been reported on this board dozens of times. You will need to click Tools->Options->Preferences and uncheck "Allow...to run in the background". This way, anytime it suddenly starts up, you'll have a good idea of which process hooked and launched it.

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: Slugbait
Note that hacking Windows Messenger off your machine will directly impact MSN Messenger...several features will no longer work.

If you're using an older version of Outlook, and you choose the option for Messenger integration, I think Outlook will hook Windows Messenger on XP instead of MSN Messenger. So the easy thing is to uncheck that.

Also, the fact that it's running in the background (i.e. no visual indication it's running) was a bug introduced in later releases of v4.7 (and still happens in v5.x). This behavior been reported on this board dozens of times. You will need to click Tools->Options->Preferences and uncheck "Allow...to run in the background". This way, anytime it suddenly starts up, you'll have a good idea of which process hooked and launched it.

Well I followed your instructions but as I am using OE the options were slightly different.

I then checked This application is the default news handler under Default Messaging Programs - and low and behold - up popped the Messenger icon in the task bar

At least I can see that it is there now