[Husker24]

There ist no escape!

[Recourse]

Disabling the Messenger Service

To remove the ability for anyone in the world to pop up messages on your computer, you can disable the Messenger service. Its easy to reverse at a later time if you wish to do so.

Windows 2000

Click Start-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools->Services
Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
Click the STOP button.
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
Click OK


Windows XP Home

Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
Click Performance and Maintenance
Click Administrative Tools
Double click Services Scroll
down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
Click the STOP button.
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
Click OK

Windows XP Professional

Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
Click Administrative Tools
Click Services
Double click Services Scroll
down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
Click the STOP button.
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type scroll bar
Click OK


Windows NT

Click Start ->Control Panel
Double Click Administrative Tools
Select Services-> Double-click on Messenger
In the Messenger Properties window, select Stop,
Then choose Disable as the Startup Type
Click OK

Windows 98 & ME
Windows Messenger Service cannot be disabled

[rdb3]

Are you talking specifically about MSN Messenger?

[Fledermaus]

Do you mean those pop-up ads that look like a windows page with the min/max button and the "close" button at the bottom with nothing but text and no link? Usually with the grey background?

If so, there is a way to turn those off but I'll have to look it up again.

[xrp]

Turning off Messenger won't stop popups.

Install the Google Toolbar and eliminate popups!

[redhead]

I have msn messenger and NO popups. I was getting one after the other until I uninstalled Weatherbug.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

On the subject of Windows Messenger (the instant messaging program)...I can't close it! Even when I reboot my machine fresh and close everything in the system tray, Windows XP will not allow me to exit Windows Messenger. On top of that, it logs me on automatically at whim. It's driving me nuts. There are people on there that I don't want to talk to, and I don't want them knowing I'm online. I'm not convinced that simply blocking them will prevent them from knowing I'm online.

Does anybody know how I can permanently shut off Windows Messenger, or delete the program altogether? I didn't install it in the first place -- it came preinstalled on my laptop.

[MarkL]

Go to Steve Gibson's Home Page and get his "ShootTheMessenger," which is a toggle to shut down the messenger service. However, I don't know if it works on both ports (135 and 1026). BTW, disabling this will NOT disable MS Messenger. It only disables the "messenger service" that allows those annoying pop-ups.

If you're looking for a way to stop pop-ups in IE, check out Pop-Up Stopper. It seems to work pretty well, altough a few seem to get through every now and then. Mozilla's works beautifully, but the browser and mail client are simply too unstable for me to continue using (as he works in Mozilla!) I really like it, but I may have to give it up. Browser and email client keep crashing.

Mark

[Cicero]

MarkL has the correct answer. Go to Gibson Research and download ShootTheMessenger.

This particular gadget is a part of Windows, and has nothing to do either with Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger or popup ads.

While you're at Gibsons, I'd also suggest downloading Unplug and Pray.

These two tiny programs simply toggle the settings in WindowsXP or 2000. It's much easier than going into the Control Panel and a dozen other steps to toggle them manually.

[Havoc]

Try RedHat lol

[Clinging Bitterly]

Go to the link below - has a lot of info on things you can do to improve the way XP works. Reading through it, you will find registry entries you can make that will remove the linkage to MSN instant messenger and allow it to be fully unloaded from your system. Go here:
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=324

Dave in Eugene