If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running
process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Greetings Harry,
You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to also keep starting. 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. As for the differences, there is no "MS Messenger", there is Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and the built-in Messenger Service. All 3 of these are different (although the first two are more similar). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." harry wrote in message ... How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Good on ya, Blue!!
Excellent diagnosis. I had already disabled "Messenger" as per your first suggestion but it appears to be Norton Antivirus. I have unchecked the box as stated and we confidently await results. I can presumably re-check the box on the odd occassions that I do use Messenger. So, we have three "messenger" applications........ Why three? I don't want three! I am not sure that I even want to keep one! Can I keep MSN Messenger which many people seem to use and delete the other two (how? - using "add/remove programs???)? I only seem to have two, one as "Windows Messenger" which I did not load so it seems it came with XP, and the other as "MSN Messenger" which I thought I loaded as an upgrade to the first. Is the first "deletable"? Many thanks for an excellent service. regards harry E. in the state of excitement "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: Greetings Harry, You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to also keep starting. 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. As for the differences, there is no "MS Messenger", there is Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and the built-in Messenger Service. All 3 of these are different (although the first two are more similar). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." harry wrote in message ... How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Restarting a computer always fixes some problem :-)
"harry E." wrote: Good on ya, Blue!! Excellent diagnosis. I had already disabled "Messenger" as per your first suggestion but it appears to be Norton Antivirus. I have unchecked the box as stated and we confidently await results. I can presumably re-check the box on the odd occassions that I do use Messenger. So, we have three "messenger" applications........ Why three? I don't want three! I am not sure that I even want to keep one! Can I keep MSN Messenger which many people seem to use and delete the other two (how? - using "add/remove programs???)? I only seem to have two, one as "Windows Messenger" which I did not load so it seems it came with XP, and the other as "MSN Messenger" which I thought I loaded as an upgrade to the first. Is the first "deletable"? Many thanks for an excellent service. regards harry E. in the state of excitement "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: Greetings Harry, You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to also keep starting. 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. As for the differences, there is no "MS Messenger", there is Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and the built-in Messenger Service. All 3 of these are different (although the first two are more similar). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." harry wrote in message ... How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Hi Harry,
Glad to hear it =). The "Messenger Service" within Windows is just to communicate short messages across local networks, it's been built-into Windows in some form or another for over a decade (nothing really new about it). Windows Messenger is built-in to Windows XP as a client for the public .NET Messenger network and although it's fully removable (if you "remove" it from Add/Remove Windows Components you'll simply be erasing the shortcuts, not the actual application), if you do fully remove it, some features within Windows and MSN Messenger will no longer work (for instance, Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing). The best is just to keep Windows Messenger disabled and just use MSN Messenger instead (assuming that's what you want to use). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." wrote in message ... Good on ya, Blue!! Excellent diagnosis. I had already disabled "Messenger" as per your first suggestion but it appears to be Norton Antivirus. I have unchecked the box as stated and we confidently await results. I can presumably re-check the box on the odd occassions that I do use Messenger. So, we have three "messenger" applications........ Why three? I don't want three! I am not sure that I even want to keep one! Can I keep MSN Messenger which many people seem to use and delete the other two (how? - using "add/remove programs???)? I only seem to have two, one as "Windows Messenger" which I did not load so it seems it came with XP, and the other as "MSN Messenger" which I thought I loaded as an upgrade to the first. Is the first "deletable"? Many thanks for an excellent service. regards harry E. in the state of excitement "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: Greetings Harry, You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to also keep starting. 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. As for the differences, there is no "MS Messenger", there is Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and the built-in Messenger Service. All 3 of these are different (although the first two are more similar). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." harry wrote in message ... How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Jonathan Kay [MVP] wrote:
You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Those using Outlook Express may also need in that to go to Tools - Options and uncheck 'Automatically logon to Windows Messenger' and to View - Layout and uncheck 'Contacts'. Otherwise loading OE may bring Messenger in its wake -- Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies) Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit) |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
msmsgs.exe and task list
Thank you all for your very prompt and useful help and advice. For one of
the few occassions, I now know where I am going :-). Keep it up. A very useful service - I hope I dn't need to bother you too often. Many thanks, harry E. "Alex Nichol" wrote: Jonathan Kay [MVP] wrote: You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Those using Outlook Express may also need in that to go to Tools - Options and uncheck 'Automatically logon to Windows Messenger' and to View - Layout and uncheck 'Contacts'. Otherwise loading OE may bring Messenger in its wake -- Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies) Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit) |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Hey Jonathan
I am unable to create new post for help. I hope you can help me. I have my messenger running but it seems as if another old version is running and when I open it it looks very old and there is this message on top: There is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful" message and I cannot get rid of it. What can I do? I never logged in to that version. I have uninstalled messenger and ran it again, but it seems that it is still in my computer. Also, when I see the task manager two processes are running: msmsgs and msnmsgr. When I abort msmsgs the old creepy version stops running. Please help! THANKS! "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: Greetings Harry, You'll simply need to disable Windows Messenger. To do so, open it up (click Start, then Run, type "msmsgs" and click OK), click Tools, Options, Preferences tab and uncheck 'Run this Program when Windows starts' or 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' (depending on version) as well as 'Allow this program to run in the background' or 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background' (depending on version). This won't remove Windows Messenger, so features like Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing will continue to work, but it will let it stay out of your way. Also, do you have Norton Antivirus installed? Recent versions of Norton Antivirus added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature, which can conflict with Messenger and cause it to also keep starting. 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. As for the differences, there is no "MS Messenger", there is Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger and the built-in Messenger Service. All 3 of these are different (although the first two are more similar). ____________________________________________ Jonathan Kay Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger Associate Expert http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/ Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2004 Jonathan Kay. You *must* contact me for redistribution rights. "harry E." harry wrote in message ... How do I stop msmsgs.exe from reappearing in the task list as a running process? I can select it and "end process" which does stop it - - for aout 40 seconds - then it reappears. I can do this at least 6 times before it stops completely. I am a very occassional user of Messenger so I don't want to delete it completely but feel that there is a security issue if msmsgs.exe is running all the time. I see burst of activity with the process even though messenger is not running. Why does msmsgs.exe have to keep running whilst Messenger is not? Why does it need to keep restarting - even when no other activity is using it? What is the difference between "Windows Messenger" and "MS Messenger"? They are both on my PC. Can I get rid of one of them? If so, which should go? I use XP Professional and have upgraded to SP2. regards harry E. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
How to clean up the Processes list from Task Manager | Rafael | Windows XP Help and Support | 2 | September 1st 04 10:01 PM |
Ctrl+Alt+Delete vs. Ctrl+Shift+Escape and Task Manager | Chad Harris | Customizing Windows XP | 0 | July 27th 04 04:50 AM |
Ctrl+Alt+Delete vs. Ctrl+Shift+Escape and Task Manager | Chad Harris | Customizing Windows XP | 0 | July 27th 04 04:45 AM |
Ctrl+Alt+Delete vs. Ctrl+Shift+Escape and Task Manager | Chad Harris | Customizing Windows XP | 0 | July 27th 04 04:45 AM |
Ctrl+Alt+Delete vs. Ctrl+Shift+Escape and Task Manager | Chad Harris | Customizing Windows XP | 0 | July 27th 04 04:45 AM |