Foolishly, I set it up. Now, I want it gone. It don't wanna go.
What to do.....?

Not a fan of MSN Messenger? don?t want Windows Media Player on your system? Fair enough, but if you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, by default none of Windows XP?s ?built in? programs are visible. it?s fairly easy to change, though... just open the file X:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf (where X: is the drive letter where Windows XP is installed) in Notepad. You should see a section of the file something like this:

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp4 0ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7

This is a list of all components installed at the moment. I?ve taken the example of MSN Messenger - the program entry called ?msmsgs?, third-last line. You can see the word ?hide? highlighted - this is the string which tells Windows not to display the component in the Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by simply deleting the word ?hide? like so:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

To this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

Now, after restarting, you should be able to see MSN Messenger in the Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to be able to quickly view and remove all components, simply open the sysoc.inf file and do a global find and replace for the word ",hide" and replace it with a single comma ",".

Great...thanks.

thanks for the helpful info

Odd...it didn't seem to work for me...

how come it didn't work for you :( i found a similar page in Paul Thurrot's WinSuperSite. just check it out http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_tips.asp it should work for you if u r using Windows XP.

P.S: i c, u may be not using XP. no one thought of that :lol:

Never thought of that either...LOL

And I did get that from WinSuperSite.

It worked pre SP-1. I don't think it works with SP-1 installed

Just for the heck of it go to c:\program files\messenger

and rename the messenger folder to messengerOFF. Then try it and if it don`t work all you have to do is change the name back. Nothing to lose or damage and it might even work

Used xp-antispy...did the trick, tickety-boo...

To prevent Windows Messenger from running, use one of the following methods:

WINDOWS MESSENGER 4.0 or LATER ON A WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL-BASED COMPUTER:
1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc, and then press ENTER.
2. Double-click the following items to expand them:
- Local Computer Policy
- Computer Configuration
- Administrative Templates
- Windows Components
- Windows Messenger
- Double-click Do not allow Windows Messenger to run, and then click Enabled.
- Click OK, and then quit the Group Policy snap-in.

NOTE: Group Policy Editor (Gpedit.msc) is not available on Windows XP Home Edition-based computers.

WINDOWS MESSENGER 4.0 ON A WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION-BASED COMPUTER:
1. Start Windows Messenger.
2. Click Options on the Tools menu.
3. Click the Preferences tab, click to clear the Run this program when Windows starts check box, and then click OK.[b][b][b]

NOTE: This procedure does not prevent users from manually running Windows Messenger, but it does prevent Windows Messenger from running automatically each time that you start Windows. If you use Outlook Express, Windows Messenger may start automatically each time you run Outlook Express.

To prevent Windows Messenger from signing in when you run Outlook Express:
1. In Outlook Express, click Options on the Tools menu.
2. On the General tab, click to clear the Automatically log on to Windows Messenger check box.
3. Click OK.

Yay it Worked... YIPPPPEEEE! Thanks :o