Disable Windows Messenger

[Fred Hoffman]

I appear to have inadvertently enabled Windows Messenger. I have no
intention of ever using it and it keeps opening popup windows asking me to
do one thing or another to activate it and has put an icon on my taskbar.
When get the drop down menu from this icon and select exit from Messenger,
it tells me that I cannot because its features are in use by Outlook,
Outlook Express, Windows Explorer, etc. I verify that none of these is
running and I still can't exit. I would very much like to move it out of my
life.
My e-mail program is Outlook 2000 on Windows XP Home. I have disabled
Messenger on Outlook Express but I can find no checkbox in Outlook 2000
options to permit me to disable it there. How can I get rid of this pest?

[Derek Nicholson]

Fred,
Try going to Start/Run and type in the box " services.msc" (without
the quotation marks), scroll to and highlight "Messenger" press
"Enter" and change the Start Up to "Disabled".
Derek
"Fred Hoffman" > wrote in message
...
| I appear to have inadvertently enabled Windows Messenger. I have no
| intention of ever using it and it keeps opening popup windows asking
me to
| do one thing or another to activate it and has put an icon on my
taskbar.
| When get the drop down menu from this icon and select exit from
Messenger,
| it tells me that I cannot because its features are in use by
Outlook,
| Outlook Express, Windows Explorer, etc. I verify that none of these
is
| running and I still can't exit. I would very much like to move it
out of my
| life.
| My e-mail program is Outlook 2000 on Windows XP Home. I have
disabled
| Messenger on Outlook Express but I can find no checkbox in Outlook
2000
| options to permit me to disable it there. How can I get rid of this
pest?
|
|

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Fred,

Do you have Norton Antivirus 2003 installed? Norton added a new "instant messaging scanning"
feature to Norton Antivirus 2003, which can conflict with Messenger and cause this behavior.
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
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

"Fred Hoffman" > wrote in message ...
> I appear to have inadvertently enabled Windows Messenger. I have no
> intention of ever using it and it keeps opening popup windows asking me to
> do one thing or another to activate it and has put an icon on my taskbar.
> When get the drop down menu from this icon and select exit from Messenger,
> it tells me that I cannot because its features are in use by Outlook,
> Outlook Express, Windows Explorer, etc. I verify that none of these is
> running and I still can't exit. I would very much like to move it out of my
> life.
> My e-mail program is Outlook 2000 on Windows XP Home. I have disabled
> Messenger on Outlook Express but I can find no checkbox in Outlook 2000
> options to permit me to disable it there. How can I get rid of this pest?
>
>