Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger... I'm Confused

I'm aware that there are two different versions of Messenger, Windows
Messenger for WinXP and MSN Messenger which could also be used in XP. I'm
sure this question has been asked a million times before, but what are the
differences between the two? There's probably a post related to this
question in either this newsgroup or the microsoft.public.msn.messenger
newsgroup but to be honest, I'm too lazy to sift through dozens of posts
that could be related.

While I'm at it, I'm using WinXP Pro w/SP1 (integrated install) and when I
go to Add/Remove Programs -- Add/Remove Windows Components and scroll down
to the last item Windows Messenger I find that it is not checked (I think
SP1 does this by default). So after I check it and hit Apply, it Windows
Messenger gets put in the Start Menu list. However, when I click on it, my
cursor acts like the program is in the process of loading the app (little
hourglass in the bottom right corner of the pointer icon) yet it doesn't
ever come up. So I ran gpedit.msc to check to see if I disabled the service
at some point in the past (sorry, don't really remember if I did or not) and
I find that under both the "Computer Configuration" and "User Configuration"
sections none of the Windows Messenger settings (Administrative
Templates--Windows Components--Windows Messenger) have been configured.
The "state" column for all of these say "not configured". So I guess this
means that I never did mess with these in the past and these are what
Windows defaults to after installing. But reading the desciption for these
explains that access to Windows Messenger shouldn't be affected as long as
the "state" of these settings are not set to "Enabled". So why doesn't
Messenger want to start? Is there anywhere else in Windows that has control
over this (i.e. like another area in which I can chose which services I want
enabled and disabled)?

Thanks,
veloman

Windows Messenger allows Remote Assistance, Whiteboard, Application Sharing
and advanced functionality in a number of applications.

MSN Messenger offers UPnP support for file transfers and some minor changes
(some of which are available with the MSN plug-in for Windows Messenger).
MSN Messenger also adds an advertisement to your buddy list.

And a hint for next time you're too lazy, it doesn't take much effort to do
a quick search at http://groups.google.com for answers to questions you're
sure have been asked a billion times.

Later,
Neb


"veloman" wrote in message
...
I'm aware that there are two different versions of Messenger, Windows
Messenger for WinXP and MSN Messenger which could also be used in XP. I'm
sure this question has been asked a million times before, but what are the
differences between the two? There's probably a post related to this
question in either this newsgroup or the microsoft.public.msn.messenger
newsgroup but to be honest, I'm too lazy to sift through dozens of posts
that could be related.