Recently, I began communicating with a friend using Windows Messenger. I wanted to use a web cam so I downloaded MSN Messenger (ver. 6.x) which works with web cams. I enjoy chatting, however my friend is able to send me messages even when I am not logged into either Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger. I made sure that both of these chat programs would not log me in automatically upon starting Windows. The chat screens that show up when I am not logged in appear to be from Windows Messenger and not MSN Messenger. Is Windows messenger letting my friend know that I am on my computer even when I do not explicitly log in? If this is the case how can I disable this feature?

You need to remove Windows Messenger, some people will say "But I use both together no problems!", bully for them, in my opinion it causes conflicts and all sorts of other strange problems. http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_messenger_remove.htm

I only chat with MSN Messenger. However, my computer crashed pretty hard recently due to a hardware issue and this triggered a Microsoft Windows program designed to document such events. I think that Windows Messenger might have been used in some way to establish communication between my computer and Microsoft. It seems that it was just after this event that my friend could send chat messages to my computer without my being logged in By the way why isn't there an uninstall program for Windows Messenger? Wouldn't that be easier?

Windows Messenger was intended to phase out NetMeeting, so they hid NetMeeting and didn't give us the option of uninstalling Messenger. Sly. Still, there are ways around everything.

Go to the following location: http://grc.com/default.htm and check out the section entitled, "Have You Shot Your Messenger Yet?"

i have yahoo messanger and i can't talk to people because msn messanger 6.1 isnt compatible with my norton antivirus program and so i am not able to talk to my friends and see how everyone is doing it is really making me mad and i need to fix it quick because something terrible happpened to one of my friends and i need to help them as best i can so please help me fix this prblem and iwish i didn't have norton and i need to disable it so please help me

I have a temporary fix (or perhaps this is the only solution aside from complete removal). This is what I did Start --> Control Panel --> User Accounts --> select my account --> "manage my network passwords" --> click on remove This seems to have stopped instant messages from getting to me when I'm using my computer but not signed on to either MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger. To reiterate my wonderful experience: A friend of mine wanted to use chat so I got Windows messenger to work, then I got a cam to enhance chat (kind of cool), but Windows Messenger doesn't or can't work with a cam (as far as I know), so I downloaded MSN Messenger. Now both exist on my System (Windows XP). I think there's an uninstall icon for MSN Messenger, but not one for Windows Messenger. At first I desired to remove Windows Messenger because it seemed that my friend could see that I was on my computer even though I wasn't logged onto any of these chat programs (I selected the option on both of these chat programs such that I would not be signed in automatically upon starting Windows). Once my friend would see that I was on my computer I'd get an instant message that looked like Windows Messenger (not MSN messenger). Very annoying. Oh, by the way, I looked at the above methods for removing Windows Messenger, but was a bit scared to give it a try (I'm a rather busy person and just don't have time to mess with a computer for hours and hours). Anyway, I learned my lesson - DON'T USE WINDOWS MESSENGER! It's rude and won't go away if you want it too!