How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Start / Run / services.msc

Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.

Bob Cerelli






On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time 
I 
>start Windows XP?  If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes 
>right back in a few moments. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Bob: Thank you for your quick response to my question. "Messenger Service" and "Windows Messenger" are two different programs. I have had Messenger Service disabled for some time. I use Windows Messenger once in a while; but do not want it running when not in use.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 3:10 am, Bob Cerelli wrote:

>Start / Run / services.msc
>
>Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.
>
>Bob Cerelli
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I believe in XP there is also a registry key by default under:

\HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run  (note--it's unusual in that 
it's under current_user and not local_machine) that lists the messenger you speak 
of.  Delete this string value (not the entire reg key)

If you're squeamish about making the change right-click and export the key to a file 
before deleting it.  You can restore the values to their previous state by double-clicking 
this file later & merging the values back in.  (Apologies in advance if you already 
know this stuff.)

HTH,  Jeff






On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time 
I 
>start Windows XP?  If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes 
>right back in a few moments. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

In the program "Tools>option>preferences" uncheck the first two boxes
That leaves the program itself undisturbed just in case you ever need it again
And it will only run when you open it yourself
Regards, Adam Bradley


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanx for the post, You guys really helped me what an easy thing to do that was just overlooked. Also i discovered that in the xp firewall that msmsgs ports are opened and automatically checked. So what exactly does that mean and should i uncheck when not in use or does it matter.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger monitoring.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

That was it!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Amen to that! That was slowing my pc down noticeably as well with norton scanning IMs. Thanks :)


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I bought this new Microsoft wireless router. And for port fowarding it keeps adding this annoying msmsg service which takes up all these ports I need to play warcraft. how do I stop it?


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Where do you disable NAV 2003 from scanning msmsgs? Thanks


On Monday, August 18, 2003 at 5:46 pm, Tone wrote:
>Amen to that! That was slowing my pc down noticeably as well with norton scanning
>IMs.
>
>Thanks :)
>
> Where do you disable NAV 2003 from scanning msmsgs?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

NAV 2003 is definitely what does it. I just upgraded to it a couple of hours ago, and all of a sudden I started getting these pop ups pretty frequently. Does anyone know why NAV 2003's IM scanner causes msmsgs to start kicking in like this?


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yes I would like to know how this service got installed. Is it viral? In XP Pro's Local Area Connection, click the Advanced tab then check the click-box to enable Internet Connection Firewall. I did this because I was fighting the Blaster worm. At the bottom of that tab is the "Settings..." button. Which opens Advanced Settings which lists the services that Internet users are allowed to access on your computer, whether HTTP or FTP etc. The only one turned on was called "msmsgs 11948 TCP" which said that the computer at IP address 207.6.153.100 was allowed to use msmsgs.exe on my computer through TCP port number 11948. Now I know where the annoying Messenger pop-ups are coming from! And I expect unchecking that box will disable them. What good is the Messenger service anyway? "Ammo"


On Tuesday, August 12, 2003 at 8:18 pm, Ron wrote: Also i discovered that in the xp firewall that msmsgs ports are opened and automatically checked. So what exactly does that mean and should i uncheck when not in use or does it matter.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I use Norton SystemWorks 2003.
Open it.
Click Options in top menu bar, select Norton Anti-Virus.
Select Instant Messenger is left window pane.
Make your changes to disable.
Click OK.
Verify that Msmsgs.exe no longer appears in Task Manager/Processes.







On Tuesday, August 19, 2003 at 9:13 am, mark wrote:
>Where do you disable NAV 2003 from scanning msmsgs? Thanks
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

More info...

In the Instant Message window pane, only need to disable (un-check) MSN Messenger.
You can leave YM and AOL enabled, if you wish.






On Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 2:30 pm, bbb wrote:
>I use Norton SystemWorks 2003.
>Open it.
>Click Options in top menu bar, select Norton Anti-Virus.
>Select Instant Messenger is left window pane.
>Make your changes to disable.
>Click OK.
>Verify that Msmsgs.exe no longer appears in Task Manager/Processes.
>
>
>



[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have disabled the service, uninstalled MSN Messinger and made sure that msmsgs.exe does not exist on my computer, AND IT STILL STARTS. I don't know where it's coming from.


On Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 2:30 pm, bbb wrote:

>I use Norton SystemWorks 2003.
>Open it.
>Click Options in top menu bar, select Norton Anti-Virus.
>Select Instant Messenger is left window pane.
>Make your changes to disable.
>Click OK.
>Verify that Msmsgs.exe no longer appears in Task Manager/Processes.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

really easy.. no edited the reg file or looking different ways around it.. just delete the source. Go to programfiles in your C:// Then delete messenger, I will asure you that it will never come back.. You will not miss it.. Cheers


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I am having the same problems I tried to delete, msn, from the program files, but it told me i couldn't becaue it was in use,, and this is after i removed the program, and took it off my network, settings?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have the same problems...is it a virus?... BEST REGARDS


On Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 9:53 am, Ammo wrote:
>Yes I would like to know how this service got installed. Is it viral?
>In XP Pro's Local Area Connection, click the Advanced tab then check the click-box
>to enable Internet Connection Firewall. I did this because I was fighting the Blaster
>worm.
>At the bottom of that tab is the "Settings..." button. Which opens Advanced Settings
>which lists the services that Internet users are allowed to access on your computer,
>whether HTTP or FTP etc.
>The only one turned on was called "msmsgs 11948 TCP" which said that the computer
>at IP address 207.6.153.100 was allowed to use msmsgs.exe on my computer through
>TCP port number 11948.
>Now I know where the annoying Messenger pop-ups are coming from! And I expect unchecking
>that box will disable them.
>What good is the Messenger service anyway?
>"Ammo"
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

That was it. Finally. No more messages. Thanks for the string.


On Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 2:30 pm, bbb wrote:

>I use Norton SystemWorks 2003.
>Open it.
>Click Options in top menu bar, select Norton Anti-Virus.
>Select Instant Messenger is left window pane.
>Make your changes to disable.
>Click OK.
>Verify that Msmsgs.exe no longer appears in Task Manager/Processes.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

It looks like one of the reasons for this annoying program is the settings in one or more currently executing processes. For me, it was occuring both due to Norton Antivirus settings as well as on Outlook that had the setting to start instant chat using MSN messenger while opening the email etc. You can check and see what processes are running using Task Manager and check if you can unset the options for MSN messenger. Good Luck.


On Wednesday, September 3, 2003 at 9:05 pm, checkon wrote:
>I am having the same problems
>I tried to delete, msn, from the program files, but it told me i couldn't becaue
>it was in use,, and this is after i removed the program, and took it off my network,
>settings?
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

msmsgs.exe was running every time I clicked on an email message in Outlook. It resulted in a several second lag between the click and the message appearing in the preview pane. It was because Messenger was running every time I did this. To stop it, in Outlook go to Tools - Options - Other and uncheck the Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook box.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

u guys are talkiing about MSN messenger or Windows messenger?? coz i ur talking about MSN messenger then it's suppose to be msnmsgr.exe MSN doesn'y cause me trouble!! but windows does!!


On Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 12:33 pm, John Welch wrote:
>msmsgs.exe was running every time I clicked on an email message in Outlook. It resulted
>in a several second lag between the click and the message appearing in the preview
>pane. It was because Messenger was running every time I did this. To stop it, in
>Outlook go to Tools - Options - Other and uncheck the Enable Instant Messaging in
>Microsoft Outlook box.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

How incurably lame, the MSN messenger executable is called msmsgs.exe
Whether you call it msn messenger or windows messenger is of no moment, it is the 
same evil in, with and under it.

 /A





On Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 4:18 pm, john wrote:
>u guys are talkiing about MSN messenger or Windows messenger??
>coz i ur talking about MSN messenger then it's suppose to be msnmsgr.exe
>MSN doesn'y cause me trouble!!
>but windows does!! 
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

THX BUDDY! I tried 10 other suggestions until yours. Nothing worked until i disable NAV 2003 as you suggested! thx again :)


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 4:23 am, Dave wrote:
>That was it!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I think Windows Messenger is version 4.7 and MSN Messenger is version 6.0! (c:\program files\MSN Messenger) I upgraded to version 6.0 and I still have processes from old version! (MSMSGS.EXE -> c:\program files\messenger) So I disabled MSN Instant Messenger in NAV 2003 and now I don't have any process from old messenger! (only one MSNMSGR.EXE which is the new one which starts automatically) Hope this helps...


On Friday, September 12, 2003 at 1:34 pm, Mr A. wrote:

>
>How incurably lame, the MSN messenger executable is called msmsgs.exe
>Whether you call it msn messenger or windows messenger is of no moment, it is the 
>same evil in, with and under it.
>
> /A
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Trying to disable Popups boxes... I just follow your instruction below on how to get stop Messenger Service window popping up on my PC. I also uncheck "msmsg.exe" seen in the startup Run (using SpyBot, one of those malware removal utility). Question: what is the disadvantage I will be getting if I disable this "Messenger Service" popups? Whats the diff between Messenger Service and Windows Messenger? Which one did I actually disable - seen in "services.msc"? Mike


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 3:10 am, Bob Cerelli wrote:

>Start / Run / services.msc
>
>Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.
>
>Bob Cerelli
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

is-it-true.org/nt/xp/registry/rtips18.shtml

In XP, the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) discovery service searches for 
Universal Plug and Play devices on your home network. SSDP searches for upstream 
Internet gateways using UDP port 1900 - a potential security risk many organizations 
will want to block. OK, you decide to block SSDP services but to your surprise, your 
firewall and network sniffers continue to see the UDP port 1900 packets. You have 
disabled XP's SSDP and even Universal Plug and Play Device Host. Whats going on? 
This is Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal discovery 
used by Messenger. If you run a sniffer trace, the following information is displayed 
in the data section of the packet:

SSDP: Method = M-SEARCH
SSDP: Uniform Resource Identifier = *
SSDP: HTTP Protocol Version = HTTP/1.1
SSDP: Host = 239.255.255.250:1900
SSDP: Search Target = urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:InternetGatewayDevice:1
SSDP: Mandatory Extension = "ssdp:discover"
SSDP: Maximum Wait = 3
XP's Windows Messenger is attempting to communicate to an Internet host. To block 
Windows Messenger's broadcasts:

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\DirectPlayNATHelp\DPNHUPnP
Name: UPnPMode
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 2 disabled
With UPnPMode=2, Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal 
discovery does not occur. 
__________________
It Works






On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 3:10 am, Bob Cerelli wrote:
>Start / Run / services.msc
>
>Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.
>
>Bob Cerelli
>
>



[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yep.. worked for me too - thx :o)


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

msmsgs.exe seems to have nothing to do with msn6 as msn6 will run fine with msmsgs.exe disabled. The easiest way to stop msmsgs.exe running is to shut the process in the taskmanager and then rename msmsgs.exe in C:\Program Files\Messenger. Just renaming it something like msmsgs1.exe will prevent it from running. It's not a sophisticated or elegant solution, but it does work.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yes...it also worked for me....it was the magic fix to the annoyance.


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thx it was really getting to me, and now it is no more! what i can't understand is what in NAV that causes it to behave like this. If anyone ever finds out dont hesitate to share!!


On Tuesday, September 9, 2003 at 8:50 am, Thankful wrote:
>That was it. Finally. No more messages. Thanks for the string.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thank you ever so kindly. Freaking NAV was the cause of this the whole time, no wonder I could not stop it. I'd prefer it if I could just uninstall MS Messenger anyway, nobody uses the damn thing and every MS app tries to turn it on by default. It's the most annoying computer thing I've experienced in a long time.


On Friday, October 3, 2003 at 8:45 pm, fuol wrote:
>Yep.. worked for me too - thx :o)
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

To prevent MS Messenger from starting up on Windows XP go to the C:\Windows\PreFetch 
Folder. There you will find a file named 
MSMSGS.EXE-2B6052DE.pf
Remove that file from the folder. When u want to start Messenger again... simply 
replace the file and reboot.






On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time 
I 
>start Windows XP?  If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes 
>right back in a few moments. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The address 239.255.255.250 is positifly not an an Internet host. If you you have a personal firewall and configured it to block and log incoming ICMPs then ping this address and watch the log. Voila this is your machine, isn't it? In fact this is an IP multicast address. IP multicast addresses can range from 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255. The address 239.255.255.250 seems to be the multicast localhost adress in XP.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Go to GRC.com and download Shoot the messenger.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I found this info on this web page: http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/msmsgs.exe.html How to uninstall msmsgs.exe (found in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general): 1) Stop it (right click on systray icon and select Exit) 2) Open a Command prompt (Start --> Run... --> cmd) 3) Type in rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove 4) This worked on a WinXP system with SP1 and Office XP Standard installed


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

You should quit the task in windows taskmanager. When done, go to systemroot\program files\Messenger. Give this folder a new name (messenger crap) and it will not show up again.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Go to Start/Run msconfig, select startup tab, uncheck msmsgs.exe. This should prevent msmsgs from auto starting up upon a reboot. The next time you reboot you will see a screen saying you are doing a selective start. Check the box to not see again and you are all set. Msconfig is a handy program. You may want to disable other programs from auto starting also. Check it out.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

This worked for me as well, thanks!


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks for the tip...Very sneaky to put it there.


On Thursday, September 11, 2003 at 12:33 pm, John Welch wrote:
>msmsgs.exe was running every time I clicked on an email message in Outlook. It resulted
>in a several second lag between the click and the message appearing in the preview
>pane. It was because Messenger was running every time I did this. To stop it, in
>Outlook go to Tools - Options - Other and uncheck the Enable Instant Messaging in
>Microsoft Outlook box.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24708.html Nuking MS Messenger By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 04/04/2002 at 13:44 GMT We've been blessed with scores of memos from readers offering numerous tips for nuking Microsoft Messenger, since we reported that an update which MS is touting as 'critical' sneakily re-installs it. First, if you're sure you'll never use it, you can take the flamethrower approach and delete the entire Messenger directory (C:\Program Files\Messenger). The problem here is that some future MS 'upgrade' may well re-create the directory for you. You know how helpful MS likes to be. Next, you might try re-naming the executable, msmsgs.exe to, say, msmsgs.bak, and then re-creating the executable with a blank file. This might (or might not) trick upgrade packages into assuming that your irritating little Messenger is up to snuff. Another method is to open Start/Run, and type in: RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove The following only applies to XP-Pro: If you only want to stop it running and prefer to leave it on the machine in case you ever decide to use it, you can go to Start/Run and enter gpedit.msc. Then go to: Computer Configuration/Administrative Template/Windows Components/Windows Messenger/ "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" and choose "Enabled". For XP Home Edition users, MS recommends the following rather complicated routine, which will persuade most users to delete the Messenger directory instead, we're sure. We quote: 1.. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). 2.. Locate and click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft 3.. On the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then type Messenger for the name of the new registry key. 4.. Locate and click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger 5.. On the On the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then type Client for the name of the new registry key. 6.. Locate and click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client 7.. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then type PreventRun for the name of the new DWORD value. 8.. Right-click the PreventRun value that you created, click Modify, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK. And we'll note that you should always back-up your registry before hacking it, even with instructions from Redmond. I haven't had a chance to thank everyone individually for their contributions, but believe me, if I missed you I'm nonetheless grateful for the effort, and El Reg's beloved readers will no doubt appreciate it just as much. Hats off -- you know who you are. ?


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

If you want to keep msmsgs.exe from being extracted from \WINDOWS\I386\MMSETUP.CAB in the future, rename it to MMSETUP.CRAP. Of course, some future install might replace the MMSETUP.CAB file...


On Monday, November 24, 2003 at 4:09 pm, ALL The info u need wrote:
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24708.html
>
>Nuking MS Messenger
>By Thomas C Greene in Washington
>Posted: 04/04/2002 at 13:44 GMT
>
>We've been blessed with scores of memos from readers offering numerous tips for nuking
>Microsoft Messenger, since we reported that an update which MS is touting as 'critical'
>sneakily re-installs it.
>
>First, if you're sure you'll never use it, you can take the flamethrower approach
>and delete the entire Messenger directory (C:\Program Files\Messenger). The problem
>here is that some future MS 'upgrade' may well re-create the directory for you. You
>know how helpful MS likes to be.
>
>Next, you might try re-naming the executable, msmsgs.exe to, say, msmsgs.bak, and
>then re-creating the executable with a blank file. This might (or might not) trick
>upgrade packages into assuming that your irritating little Messenger is up to snuff.
>
>Another method is to open Start/Run, and type in:
>RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
>
>The following only applies to XP-Pro:
>
>If you only want to stop it running and prefer to leave it on the machine in case
>you ever decide to use it, you can go to Start/Run and enter gpedit.msc. Then go
>to: Computer Configuration/Administrative Template/Windows Components/Windows Messenger/
>"Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" and choose "Enabled".
>
>For XP Home Edition users, MS recommends the following rather complicated routine,
>which will persuade most users to delete the Messenger directory instead, we're sure.
>We quote:
>
>1.. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
>
>2.. Locate and click the following registry key:
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft
>
>3.. On the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then type Messenger for the name
>of the new registry key.
>
>4.. Locate and click the following registry key:
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger
>
>5.. On the On the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then type Client for the
>name of the new registry key.
>
>6.. Locate and click the following registry key:
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client
>
>7.. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then type PreventRun for
>the name of the new DWORD value.
>
>8.. Right-click the PreventRun value that you created, click Modify, type 1 in the
>Value data box, and then click OK.
>
>And we'll note that you should always back-up your registry before hacking it, even
>with instructions from Redmond.
>
>I haven't had a chance to thank everyone individually for their contributions, but
>believe me, if I missed you I'm nonetheless grateful for the effort, and El Reg's
>beloved readers will no doubt appreciate it just as much.
>
>Hats off -- you know who you are. ?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

RE: MSMSGS.EXE This works like a champ, too. Stop The Service FIRST, Using Task Manager ... THEN Rename The File. (It's located in the "\program files\messenger\" folder.)


On Tuesday, October 28, 2003 at 7:10 am, Gastric wrote:
>Thank you ever so kindly. Freaking NAV was the cause of this the whole time, no
>wonder I could not stop it. I'd prefer it if I could just uninstall MS Messenger
>anyway, nobody uses the damn thing and every MS app tries to turn it on by default.
>It's the most annoying computer thing I've experienced in a long time.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

You have to find in your router's setup where the UPnP is enabled (Universal PnP), and disable it.


On Tuesday, August 19, 2003 at 7:04 am, Nazir wrote:
>I bought this new Microsoft wireless router. And for port fowarding it keeps adding
>this annoying msmsg service which takes up all these ports I need to play warcraft.
>how do I stop it?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

that isn't the same thing. The process that runs as the service that says "messenger" is totally different.... and it looks like this in the registry: %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs "Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This service is not related to Windows Messenger. If this service is stopped, Alerter messages will not be transmitted. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start." mcafee used to use these to pop up notifications that there is a virus.... print jobs when sent to a print server will respond with a pop up window when your job is finished.... doing a "net send message " will use the messenger service to pop up a stupid notification box. starting / stopping the messenger service will have no effect whatsoever on msmsgs.exe and it's virus like activity....


On Tuesday, December 16, 2003 at 9:57 pm, BillFinkRI wrote:
>RE: MSMSGS.EXE
>
>This works like a champ, too.
>
>Stop The Service FIRST, Using Task Manager ... THEN Rename The File.
>
>(It's located in the "\program files\messenger\" folder.)
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Wonderful work. I would never have found that out myself. Thanks!


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I noticed your suggestion, however I cannot find this key in my registry.


On Saturday, September 20, 2003 at 4:44 am, DDK wrote:

>is-it-true.org/nt/xp/registry/rtips18.shtml
>
>In XP, the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) discovery service searches for 
>Universal Plug and Play devices on your home network. SSDP searches for upstream 
>Internet gateways using UDP port 1900 - a potential security risk many organizations 
>will want to block. OK, you decide to block SSDP services but to your surprise, 
your 
>firewall and network sniffers continue to see the UDP port 1900 packets. You have 
>disabled XP's SSDP and even Universal Plug and Play Device Host. Whats going on? 
>This is Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal discovery 
>used by Messenger. If you run a sniffer trace, the following information is displayed 
>in the data section of the packet:
>
>SSDP: Method = M-SEARCH
>SSDP: Uniform Resource Identifier = *
>SSDP: HTTP Protocol Version = HTTP/1.1
>SSDP: Host = 239.255.255.250:1900
>SSDP: Search Target = urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:InternetGatewayDevice:1
>SSDP: Mandatory Extension = "ssdp:discover"
>SSDP: Maximum Wait = 3
>XP's Windows Messenger is attempting to communicate to an Internet host. To block 
>Windows Messenger's broadcasts:
>
>Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
>Key: Software\Microsoft\DirectPlayNATHelp\DPNHUPnP
>Name: UPnPMode
>Type: REG_DWORD
>Value: 2 disabled
>With UPnPMode=2, Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal 
>discovery does not occur. 
>__________________
>It Works
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yeeess!!! that works!!!


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

John was correct. MSN messenger and Windows messenger are 2 totally different apps and have 2 different process names.


On Friday, September 12, 2003 at 1:34 pm, Mr A. wrote:

>
>How incurably lame, the MSN messenger executable is called msmsgs.exe
>Whether you call it msn messenger or windows messenger is of no moment, it is the 
>same evil in, with and under it.
>
> /A
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

reply.thanks for help.your the man!.ohh happy new year.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hello, I have 2 msn messengers installed. Old version MSN Messenger 4.7 and Newer version MSN Messenger 6.1. I only want the msn 6.1 and when I go to control panel to look for old version, I cannot find it. So whenever I open outlook express, it only opens old version. I went into outlook options to disable it from starting, but it still seems to run. Any suggestions? Thank You, Barbara


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 3:10 am, Bob Cerelli wrote:

>Start / Run / services.msc
>
>Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.
>
>Bob Cerelli
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi Barbara, I have the same problem and tried going to msn>options and disabling it...didn't work and also what the first guy said in beginning..still no success..!!Did you get it fixed yet?


On Friday, January 9, 2004 at 5:36 am, Barbara wrote:
>
>
>Hello, I have 2 msn messengers installed. Old version MSN Messenger 4.7 and Newer
> version MSN Messenger 6.1. I only want the msn 6.1 and when I go to control panel
>to look for old version, I cannot find it. So whenever I open outlook express, it
>only opens old version. I went into outlook options to disable it from starting,
>but it still seems to run. Any suggestions? Thank You, Barbara I have the same problem and tried going to msn>options and disabling it...didn't work and also what the first guy said in beginning..still no success..!!Did you get it fixed yet?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

No...still no luck with disabling 1 of my MSN Mesengers. Funny thing is, the old version only pops up when I open my Outlook Express...other then that, I never knew I still even HAD th eolder version on my system. But no..no luck yet. If you do find the solution first, would you email me please? Thank you, Barbara


On Monday, January 12, 2004 at 5:49 am, robert tan wrote:
>Hi Barbara,
>I have the same problem and tried going to msn>options and disabling it...didn't
>work and also what the first guy said in beginning..still no success..!!Did you get
>it fixed yet?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Does it make any difference that the OLD version is Windows Messenger (looks pretty much the same) and the newer version is MSN Mesenger? Barbara


On Monday, January 12, 2004 at 5:49 am, robert tan wrote:
>Hi Barbara,
>I have the same problem and tried going to msn>options and disabling it...didn't
>work and also what the first guy said in beginning..still no success..!!Did you get
>it fixed yet?
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

DDK - DOES THIS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH PORT I WAS LOOKING FOR A RECEIPE FOR PORT AND APPLES


On Saturday, September 20, 2003 at 4:44 am, DDK wrote:

>is-it-true.org/nt/xp/registry/rtips18.shtml
>
>In XP, the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) discovery service searches for 
>Universal Plug and Play devices on your home network. SSDP searches for upstream 
>Internet gateways using UDP port 1900 - a potential security risk many organizations 
>will want to block. OK, you decide to block SSDP services but to your surprise, 
your 
>firewall and network sniffers continue to see the UDP port 1900 packets. You have 
>disabled XP's SSDP and even Universal Plug and Play Device Host. Whats going on? 
>This is Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal discovery 
>used by Messenger. If you run a sniffer trace, the following information is displayed 
>in the data section of the packet:
>
>SSDP: Method = M-SEARCH
>SSDP: Uniform Resource Identifier = *
>SSDP: HTTP Protocol Version = HTTP/1.1
>SSDP: Host = 239.255.255.250:1900
>SSDP: Search Target = urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:InternetGatewayDevice:1
>SSDP: Mandatory Extension = "ssdp:discover"
>SSDP: Maximum Wait = 3
>XP's Windows Messenger is attempting to communicate to an Internet host. To block 
>Windows Messenger's broadcasts:
>
>Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
>Key: Software\Microsoft\DirectPlayNATHelp\DPNHUPnP
>Name: UPnPMode
>Type: REG_DWORD
>Value: 2 disabled
>With UPnPMode=2, Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal 
>discovery does not occur. 
>__________________
>It Works
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Check out WinPatrol 6.5 at www.winpatrol.com, anifty and highly recommended free piece of software that will allow you to do just that at the click of the mouse. I've got and love it. I am running it on XP pro.


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Actually its two different application.. the ohter one is "Windows Messenger" the other one is "MSN Messenger" if u want to uninstall the "Windows Messenger 4.7" go to "add/remove programs" then click "add/remove windows coponent" then uncheck "Windows Messenger" thats it !!


On Monday, January 12, 2004 at 9:05 am, Barbara wrote:
>Does it make any difference that the OLD version is Windows Messenger (looks pretty
>much the same) and the newer version is MSN Mesenger?
>
>Barbara
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Barbara, I have the same problem and cannot find messenger 4.7 to uninstall. I want to keep 6.1 also.Have you had any luck


On Friday, January 9, 2004 at 5:36 am, Barbara wrote:
>
>
>Hello, I have 2 msn messengers installed. Old version MSN Messenger 4.7 and Newer
> version MSN Messenger 6.1. I only want the msn 6.1 and when I go to control panel
>to look for old version, I cannot find it. So whenever I open outlook express, it
>only opens old version. I went into outlook options to disable it from starting,
>but it still seems to run. Any suggestions? Thank You, Barbara

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Absolutely...rocks...thanx alot


On Saturday, January 3, 2004 at 4:58 am, Anon wrote:
>Yeeess!!! that works!!!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yes actually. I finally realised that the 4.7 is actually Windows Messenger and the 6.1 was MSN Messenger. Go to uninstall Windows programs and uninstall from there. Hope this helps, let me know. Cheers, Barbara


On Sunday, January 18, 2004 at 11:28 am, martin wrote:
>Barbara, I have the same problem and cannot find messenger 4.7 to uninstall. I want
>to keep 6.1 also.Have you had any luck
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Barbara, thanks for your help, Martin


On Sunday, January 18, 2004 at 11:28 am, martin wrote:
>Barbara, I have the same problem and cannot find messenger 4.7 to uninstall. I want
>to keep 6.1 also.Have you had any luck
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I was also tryinf hundreds of possibilities found all over the web, and that's YOUR solution which worked !!! THX a lot :-)


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

In WHAT program "Tools>option>preferences"?


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 6:15 am, Adam Bradley wrote:
>In the program "Tools>option>preferences" uncheck the first two boxes

>That leaves the program itself undisturbed just in case you ever need it again

>And it will only run when you open it yourself

>Regards, Adam Bradley
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have been trying to find out more about what is running in the task manager. Since I had disabled the messenger service a while ago and don't use Windows Messenger anymore then I couldn't find out why it was still in my running tasks. The Norton did the trick....Thank you so much......Janet


On Thursday, August 21, 2003 at 2:41 pm, bbb wrote:

>More info...
>
>In the Instant Message window pane, only need to disable (un-check) MSN Messenger.
>You can leave YM and AOL enabled, if you wish.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I think I have the way to actually UNINSTALL FOR GOOD Windows Messsenger 4.7:

- Stop it (right click on systray icon and Exit)
- Open a Command prompt
- Type in:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

I found this solution found here:
http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/msmsgs.exe.php






On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time 
I 
>start Windows XP?  If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes 
>right back in a few moments. 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

WINDOWS XP - YES YES THIS WORKED FOR ME THANK YOU :)


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, anonymous wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Find the Directory that the old version of Messenger is installed to and rename it (it is probably something like c:\program files\messenger) Change this to 'c:\program files\messenger.old' then if you want to use it once in a while you can either navigate to it to run it (Or put a shortcut to it somewhere) the rest of the time when you open Outlook(Express) or start windows it will not run...... Works for me!!


On Monday, January 12, 2004 at 8:44 am, Barbara wrote:
>
>No...still no luck with disabling 1 of my MSN Mesengers. Funny thing is, the old
>version only pops up when I open my Outlook Express...other then that, I never knew
>I still even HAD th eolder version on my system. But no..no luck yet. If you do find
>the solution first, would you email me please? Thank you, Barbara
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm pretty sure he means in the actual program: Windows Messenger


On Sunday, January 25, 2004 at 11:26 pm, icewings wrote:
>In WHAT program "Tools>option>preferences"?
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Wonderful uninstall trick. This works for me. However I still want use Windows MSN services and found this wonderful software that does it better than msmsgs. It has options that can control the incoming and outgoing ports. Trillian from Cerulean Studios. Freeware. It works with Y!Messenger, IRC, ICQ, as well as MSN. http://www.ceruleanstudios.com No ads., no spyware...


On Friday, January 30, 2004 at 9:56 pm, Rono wrote:

>I think I have the way to actually UNINSTALL FOR GOOD Windows Messsenger 4.7:
>
>- Stop it (right click on systray icon and Exit)
>- Open a Command prompt
>- Type in:
>RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
>
>I found this solution found here:
>http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/msmsgs.exe.php
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Worked for me. Thansk man. / Niklas


On Thursday, February 5, 2004 at 6:54 am, Craig wrote:
>Find the Directory that the old version of Messenger is installed to and rename it
>(it is probably something like c:\program files\messenger) Change this to 'c:\program
>files\messenger.old' then if you want to use it once in a while you can either navigate
>to it to run it (Or put a shortcut to it somewhere) the rest of the time when you
>open Outlook(Express) or start windows it will not run...... Works for me!!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I see msmsgs.exe starts when Microsoft Outlook Express starts, even though I had disabled "Messenger" as Bob suggests. services.msc says there is more than one "Messenger". This is just an observation that will perhaps give some light on the issue. I don't know what's right and I don't know the answer to the original question. db


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 3:10 am, Bob Cerelli wrote:

>Start / Run / services.msc
>
>Stop the Messenger service and set it to Disabled.
>
>Bob Cerelli
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thank you so much for your effort Rono! I successfully uninstalled msmsgs.exe (Windows Messenger 4.7) from the shell of WindowsXP, using the method that you advised. This has allowed me to install MSN Messenger 6.1 which now starts reliably.


On Friday, January 30, 2004 at 9:56 pm, Rono wrote:

>I think I have the way to actually UNINSTALL FOR GOOD Windows Messsenger 4.7:
>
>- Stop it (right click on systray icon and Exit)
>- Open a Command prompt
>- Type in:
>RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
>
>I found this solution found here:
>http://www.reger24.de/prozesse/msmsgs.exe.php
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

:-)))))))))))))))
Hey! Welcome to Trillian, Stephen!






On Tuesday, February 10, 2004 at 1:41 pm, stephen foong wrote:
>Wonderful uninstall trick. This works for me. However I still want use Windows MSN 
>services and found this wonderful software that does it better than msmsgs. It has 
>options that can control the incoming and outgoing ports.
>
>Trillian from Cerulean Studios. Freeware. It works with Y!Messenger, IRC, ICQ, as 
>well as MSN. http://www.ceruleanstudios.com 
>No ads., no spyware...
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Trillian=mother of all Messengers. Why bother about the others... But your uninstall of MSN solved the "annoyances" at the firewall. thanks again.


On Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 1:44 pm, Rono wrote:

>:-)))))))))))))))
>Hey! Welcome to Trillian, Stephen!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

There really isn't a disadvantage. The messenger service in the services.msc only allows those spam popup messages to come to your computer. It has nothing to do with instant messaging.


On Thursday, September 18, 2003 at 4:56 pm, Mike Step nsky wrote:
>Trying to disable Popups boxes...
>
>I just follow your instruction below on how to get stop Messenger Service window
>popping up on my PC.
>
>I also uncheck "msmsg.exe" seen in the startup Run (using SpyBot, one of those malware
>removal utility).
>
>Question: what is the disadvantage I will be getting if I disable this "Messenger
>Service" popups?
>
>Whats the diff between Messenger Service and Windows Messenger? Which one did I
>actually disable - seen in "services.msc"?
>
>Mike
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

'Windows Messenger' (MSMSGS.EXE) is different from 'MSN Messenger' (MSNMSGR.EXE). MSN Messenger has some extra 'bells and whistles' and allows video conferencing. 'Windows Messenger' is more stripped down, but allows the 'Remote Assistance'function. So you may want to keep both on your computer. If you use 'MSN Messenger' for messenging, you can set this to start when you connect to the internet. You can then instruct 'Windows Messenger' not to start when Windows starts. HOWEVER: 'MSMSGS.EXE' always seems to be present in the 'Tasklist'. Recommendation : This problem is usually cause by 'Norton AntiVirus' and can be fixed as follows: - Open 'Norton SystemWorks' - Select 'Option' - Select 'Norton AntiVirus' - Select 'Instant Messenger' - Remove the tick from 'Windows Messenger (recommended) - Click 'OK' - Close the 'Norton SystemWorks' window - Reboot Result: 'MSMSGS.EXE' will not run at start-up. 'Windows Messenger' can still be used if required; and 'MSMSGS.EXE' will appear in the 'Tasklist' when the program is opened,and will disappear when the program is closed. ALTERNATIVE IF YOU DON'T HAVE 'NORTON ANTIVIRUS' If you do not have 'Norton AntiVirus' there is an alternative method, but this has not been tested. [The following only applies to XP-Pro] From the desktop, go to: - Start - Run - Enter gpedit.msc. - The 'Group Policy' Window will open. - Select: Computer Configuration/Administrative Template/Windows Components/Windows Messenger/ - Right Click on "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" or.. "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially" - Click 'Properties' - Select 'Enabled' NOTE: If you select 'Disabled' or 'Not configured' 'Windows Messenger' will be loaded automatically at logon. - Click 'Apply' - Click 'OK' - Close the 'Group Policy' Window - Reboot


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

All the info u need got it right back in nov of 03 windows messaging service is not the same as msmsgs.exe msmsgs.exe is the instant messenging guess the msn im is also a different one. norton antivirus has nothing to do with it , unless u tell norton antivirus to protect the ms im . then u have to uncheck it as instructed in the above post. Just follow ALL THE INFO u needs instructions and it will work.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Actually, you are wrong.... msn messenger is a different program to windows messenger..


On Friday, September 12, 2003 at 1:34 pm, Mr A. wrote:
>
>
>How incurably lame, the MSN messenger executable is called msmsgs.exe
>Whether you call it msn messenger or windows messenger is of no moment, it is the
>same evil in, with and under it.
>
> /A
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

No dodgy registery hacks, no deleting or renaming of files required... simply disable 
in gpedit.

To Disable msn messenger from running, do the following..
Start> Run> gpedit.msc

In the left pane go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows 
Components, Windows Messenger.
In the right side of the window, right click on  "Do not allow Windows Messenger 
to be run" and choose properties. Select ENABLE, then Apply and OK.
You can also do the same for "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially."








On Friday, January 9, 2004 at 5:36 am, Barbara wrote:

>

>

>Hello, I have 2 msn messengers installed. Old version MSN Messenger 4.7 and Newer 

> version MSN Messenger 6.1. I only want the msn 6.1 and when I go to control panel 

>to look for old version, I cannot find it. So whenever I open outlook express, it 

>only opens old version. I went into outlook options to disable it from starting, 

>but it still seems to run. Any suggestions? Thank You, Barbara
 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I scanned all the responses and this one was by far the simplest and most effective 
solution, thanks Karl!!






On Friday, October 31, 2003 at 7:52 am, Karl Kemerait wrote:

>

>

>To prevent MS Messenger from starting up on Windows XP go to the C:\Windows\PreFetch 

>Folder. There you will find a file named 

>MSMSGS.EXE-2B6052DE.pf

>Remove that file from the folder. When u want to start Messenger again... simply 

>replace the file and reboot.

>

>
 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I just went into C:\Program Files\Messenger and renamed msmsgs.exe to msmsgs1.exe and it stopped starting


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

1. Go to Messenger/Tools/Options and uncheck "Run this program when Windows starts" on the Preferences tab. 2. In Outlook Express, Tools/Options/General tab and uncheck the option to automatically log on, if it's there. 3. Also in Outlook Express, View/Layout and uncheck the option to display Contacts. The program will open a connection and display a list of all Contacts on line if you do not. 4. Startup Folder. Make sure no entry there for Messenger. 5. Go to Start/Run, and type Msconfig. On the Startup tab , uncheck any option for it. 6. If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger monitoring. This little check list ought to work in dissociating MSN from Outlook Express, so that it'll only start up if you really want it to. If it doesn't, here's a reg tweak that will do so on all operating systems, without actually uninstalling MSN, which may not be what you want: http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/989 : Remove MSN Messenger from Outlook Express If all else fails, shut down MSN Messenger, go to your Program Files\MSN Messenger directory, and rename Msgsc.dll to Msgsc.bak


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Simple answer: 

Host Guest_Mark_MVP says: A: A: With Windows Messenger 4.7 you can completley remove 
it from XP by entering the following into the run box. RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection 
%windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove


Full answer:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/chats/transcripts/03June17.asp







On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:

>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time 
I 

>start Windows XP?  If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes 

>right back in a few moments.  

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

It is strange. I posted this message, but the author displayed here is Onionfx.
Is it a bug of this bbs?







On Monday, May 10, 2004 at 2:47 am, Onionfx wrote:

>Simple answer: 

>

>Host Guest_Mark_MVP says: A: A: With Windows Messenger 4.7 you can completley remove 

>it from XP by entering the following into the run box. RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection 

>%windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

>

>

>Full answer:

>

>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/chats/transcripts/03June17.asp

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thank You! Finally someone has posted a logical and easy to understand solution to this problem! Windows messenger has been driving me nuts, automatically running in the background. Just when you think you are not showing as being online, someone sends you a message and you feel obliged to chat when you really want to be left alone! Thank you Thank you!


On Friday, April 16, 2004 at 10:41 pm, hohner wrote:
>No dodgy registery hacks, no deleting or renaming of files required... simply disable
>in gpedit.
>
>To Disable msn messenger from running, do the following..
>Start> Run> gpedit.msc
>
>In the left pane go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows
>Components, Windows Messenger.
>In the right side of the window, right click on "Do not allow Windows Messenger
>to be run" and choose properties. Select ENABLE, then Apply and OK.
>You can also do the same for "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially."
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

You're most welcome, glad I could help.


On Friday, May 21, 2004 at 8:11 am, mikey wrote:
>Thank You! Finally someone has posted a logical and easy to understand solution
>to this problem! Windows messenger has been driving me nuts, automatically running
>in the background. Just when you think you are not showing as being online, someone
>sends you a message and you feel obliged to chat when you really want to be left
>alone! Thank you Thank you!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

if u are using google toolbar or something similar then the the windows messenger service will be running all the time. (even if it is uninstalled) goto the IE section of the registry and under explorer bars u will see the mention of msmsgs.exe...kill it and u will never see it again unless u launch it. kill all other mentions of that file in the registry as well or use a registry tool.


On Saturday, September 20, 2003 at 4:44 am, DDK wrote:
>
>is-it-true.org/nt/xp/registry/rtips18.shtml
>
>In XP, the Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) discovery service searches for
>Universal Plug and Play devices on your home network. SSDP searches for upstream
>Internet gateways using UDP port 1900 - a potential security risk many organizations
>will want to block. OK, you decide to block SSDP services but to your surprise, your
>firewall and network sniffers continue to see the UDP port 1900 packets. You have
>disabled XP's SSDP and even Universal Plug and Play Device Host. Whats going on?
>This is Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal discovery
>used by Messenger. If you run a sniffer trace, the following information is displayed
>in the data section of the packet:
>
>SSDP: Method = M-SEARCH
>SSDP: Uniform Resource Identifier = *
>SSDP: HTTP Protocol Version = HTTP/1.1
>SSDP: Host = 239.255.255.250:1900
>SSDP: Search Target = urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:InternetGatewayDevice:1
>SSDP: Mandatory Extension = "ssdp:discover"
>SSDP: Maximum Wait = 3
>XP's Windows Messenger is attempting to communicate to an Internet host. To block
>Windows Messenger's broadcasts:
>
>Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
>Key: Software\Microsoft\DirectPlayNATHelp\DPNHUPnP
>Name: UPnPMode
>Type: REG_DWORD
>Value: 2 disabled
>With UPnPMode=2, Universal Plug and Play Network Address Translation (NAT) traversal
>discovery does not occur.
>__________________
>It Works
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

If anyone has stopped their firewall from monitoring messenger, then the ony thing that you have done is allowed someone to get into your computer without you knowing it. It is true that you will not get anymore warnings, but lets think about that for a minute. I found out what was actuall causing the problem, and it isn't spyware, or a virus. The fix is too long to post here so I put it up on my site. http://www.comp-adviser.com


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments. After reading through ALL of these emails and then doing a little research on my own, I think everyone should check Here (http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/m/msn_messenger_fake.asp) for your answer. it's Not MSN at all, but a fake. According to this website, it's a password grabber. In any case, I deleted all the files about 10 minutes ago and I haven't had it reappear (knock on wood). ...raylene

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I am afraid this mixes Micosoft Messenger msmsgs.exe apples with MSN messenger oranges. Many have pointed out in previous postings that the two are different from one another and from the "Message Service". This posting apparently addresses a fake MSN messenger file which is in fact a password grabber. There are "dropper" programs which drop fake MS messenger files too, I understand. But it is the persistent startup and restarting of the real msmsgs.exe file which is being discussed here.


On Monday, May 31, 2004 at 7:48 pm, Raylene wrote:
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1081190860 Has a good descripton of the differences between Microsoft's Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger.


On Wednesday, June 2, 2004 at 12:49 pm, Jim P wrote:
>I am afraid this mixes Micosoft Messenger msmsgs.exe apples with MSN messenger oranges.
> Many have pointed out in previous postings that the two are different from one another
>and from the "Message Service". This posting apparently addresses a fake MSN messenger
>file which is in fact a password grabber. There are "dropper" programs which drop
>fake MS messenger files too, I understand. But it is the persistent startup and
>restarting of the real msmsgs.exe file which is being discussed here.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Let's all see how many years we can keep this thread going...... The answer was already posted regarding how to stop windows messenger from running. Read the threads!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Okay, I read all 94 posts, with lots of helpful suggestions, some of which don't seem to apply. Please hohner, tell me which of those posts had THE answer. Don't tell me it's the one about disabling Norton's scanning of windows messenger. I use NIS, and I have a personal firewall rule that traps all communication with a certain range of IP addresses. This is triggered every minute or two by msmsgs.exe. I have checked the startup group, the options in messenger and everything is fine.


On Wednesday, June 2, 2004 at 8:17 pm, hohner wrote:
>Let's all see how many years we can keep this thread going......
>The answer was already posted regarding how to stop windows messenger from running.
>Read the threads!

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

To Disable msn messenger from running, do the following.. Start> Run> gpedit.msc In the left pane go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Messenger. In the right side of the window, right click on "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" and choose properties. Select ENABLE, then Apply and OK. You can also do the same for "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially."


On Friday, June 11, 2004 at 3:10 am, rocket wrote:
>Okay, I read all 94 posts, with lots of helpful suggestions, some of which don't
>seem to apply. Please hohner, tell me which of those posts had THE answer. Don't
>tell me it's the one about disabling Norton's scanning of windows messenger.
>
>I use NIS, and I have a personal firewall rule that traps all communication with
>a certain range of IP addresses. This is triggered every minute or two by msmsgs.exe.
>I have checked the startup group, the options in messenger and everything is fine.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

And the worsth of all... the biggest annoyance, i installed Outlook to manage my calendar and contacts... since this moment till today, msmsgs.exe was tealing me up to 20Mb RAM without my permission, i followed this thread to 'disable' instant messaging: Tools - Options - Other and uncheck the Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook box. That was all!!! Thanks John!!!


On Friday, September 12, 2003 at 1:34 pm, Mr A. wrote:
>
>
>How incurably lame, the MSN messenger executable is called msmsgs.exe
>Whether you call it msn messenger or windows messenger is of no moment, it is the
>same evil in, with and under it.
>
> /A
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thank you very much. That program was driving me nuts.


On Friday, October 31, 2003 at 7:52 am, Karl Kemerait wrote:
>
>
>To prevent MS Messenger from starting up on Windows XP go to the C:\Windows\PreFetch
>Folder. There you will find a file named
>MSMSGS.EXE-2B6052DE.pf
>Remove that file from the folder. When u want to start Messenger again... simply
>replace the file and reboot.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The correct solution on Windows XP is to click START and RUN then copy in the following line (all on one line) and Click OK RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

There is another reason when uncheck tools-options--preferences --first two does not work, check your antivirus software if it protects windows messenger. If yes, then you should uncheck this to avoid msmsgs.exe to appear again


On Friday, August 1, 2003 at 2:51 am, Dave wrote:
>How do I stop Windows Messenger from loading to run in the background each time I
>start Windows XP? If I use Task Manager to end the (msmsgs.exe) process, it comes
>right back in a few moments.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Hi, you can uninstall the ols Windows Messenger by going to: Control Panel...Add or Remove Programs, and then clicking on Add/Remove Windows Components on the left hand side.


On Thursday, February 5, 2004 at 6:54 am, Craig wrote:
>Find the Directory that the old version of Messenger is installed to and rename it
>(it is probably something like c:\program files\messenger) Change this to 'c:\program
>files\messenger.old' then if you want to use it once in a while you can either navigate
>to it to run it (Or put a shortcut to it somewhere) the rest of the time when you
>open Outlook(Express) or start windows it will not run...... Works for me!!
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm sure this has probably been posted already but I found if you go into prgoram files and to the messenger folder if you just cut the msmsgs.exe file and paste it somewhere like a new folder in my documents it stops this too. If you do happen to need it you can just reverse the action. I do this because I use MSN Messenger and when I sign in it says I've been signed in on another PC, thus signing me out of MSN Messenger. I found too that removing it using Add/Remove Windows components didn't fix it. If you do it this way the times you do need the program working you can still leave Norton protection for it enabled.


On Friday, June 25, 2004 at 8:47 pm, Mike wrote:
>
>Hi, you can uninstall the ols Windows Messenger by going to: Control Panel...Add
>or Remove Programs, and then clicking on Add/Remove Windows Components on the left
>hand side.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I stopped msmsgs.exe from running as a process in Task Manager by following the suggestion 
re NAV. 

I have NAV 2004 and I unchecked protect Windows Messenger. Does this leave me vulnerable 
to virus.

I don't use Messenger. It was only running as a process XP Home SP1. 





I Have NAV 2004/ZoneAlarm Firewall/Spybot
S&D/SpywareGuard/SpywareBlaster/Adaware/Bazooka Spyware Scanner ALL Updated




On Friday, June 25, 2004 at 8:47 pm, Mike wrote:

>

>Hi, you can uninstall the ols Windows Messenger by going to: Control Panel...Add 

>or Remove Programs, and then clicking on Add/Remove Windows Components on the left 

>hand side.

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The best solution is here... http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1082180517


On Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 10:07 am, Pantera wrote:
>
>I'm sure this has probably been posted already but I found if you go into prgoram
>files and to the messenger folder if you just cut the msmsgs.exe file and paste it
>somewhere like a new folder in my documents it stops this too. If you do happen to
>need it you can just reverse the action. I do this because I use MSN Messenger and
>when I sign in it says I've been signed in on another PC, thus signing me out of
>MSN Messenger. I found too that removing it using Add/Remove Windows components didn't
>fix it.
>If you do it this way the times you do need the program working you can still leave
>Norton protection for it enabled.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

The only way I could disable it was to disable NAV protection. Does that leave me 
vulnerable to virus. See my security below

I did not use it. It was only running as process and I wanted to turn it off to save 
resources. I have posted this before and appreciate reply but am not sure of situation



I Have NAV 2004/ZoneAlarm Firewall/Spybot
S&D/SpywareGuard/SpywareBlaster/Adaware/Bazooka Spyware Scanner ALL Updated




On Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 11:15 pm, hohner wrote:

>The best solution is here... http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1082180517

>

>

> 

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

How many realize at least four messengers have been mentioned? The service, the IM, the MSN and a malware! Hey thanks to whomever first mentioned the gpedit.msc fix! I run Pro and that fixed the msmsgs.exe that was bugging me! The messenger service is a security problem and should be disabled according to Steve Gibson at www.grc.com. See his 'kill the messenger'.


On Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at 4:38 am, samal wrote:
>
>There is another reason when uncheck tools-options--preferences --first two does
>not work, check your antivirus software if it protects windows messenger. If yes,
>then you should uncheck this to avoid msmsgs.exe to appear again
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Out of all the tips and quick fixes, this was the only one that worked. Thanks Karl.


On Monday, June 14, 2004 at 6:20 am, Karl Kemerait wrote:
>The correct solution on Windows XP is to click START and RUN then copy in the following
>line (all on one line) and Click OK
>
>RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
>
>
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

In the "task manager" were these two, "msmsgs.exe" (Windows Messenger) and "msnmsgr.exe" (MSN Messenger)...I tried all suggestions to disable "msmsgs.exe" but nothing worked, except the following.... http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak1017.aspx


On Tuesday, June 29, 2004 at 7:08 am, HouseMuzikLvr wrote:
>Out of all the tips and quick fixes, this was the only one that worked. Thanks Karl.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Yes, but then I get the message "Windows cannot find 'gpedit.msc.'" WXP Home SP1 updated, Norton AV 2003 updated. I appear to have killed Messenger anyway by unchecking the appropriate box in NAV, but I wonder why I get this message (it's happened other times as well with other "Run" entries). As for the OTHER messenger, I think I already read this in this thread, but just in case, the tiny Shoot the Messenger program from Steve Gibson at http://grc.com/freepopular.htm handles it neatly. Good forum.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Okay, I see now it's XP Pro only. I was going to guess that but I forgot to. Maybe Service Pack 2 will address this. I can dream, can't I?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

just thought i should mention since i was having the same problem-it also works for NAV 2004 as well.


On Friday, September 12, 2003 at 9:03 pm, internet user wrote:
>THX BUDDY! I tried 10 other suggestions until yours. Nothing worked until i disable
>NAV 2003 as you suggested! thx again :)
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thanks a million! Solid fix!


On Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 12:03 am, Rick Leton wrote:
>What worked for me was.............If you are using NAV 2003, disable Instant Messenger
>monitoring.
>
>
>

[Reply or fo