You might be disappointed when you look at the “Add or Remove Programs” category in your Control Panel. Because you will not find Windows Messenger like program in Add or Remove programs.

Not all of the accessories on the Start menu’s Accessories submenu appear here. Many of them are actually removable, but by default, Windows hides them from the “Add / Remove Windows Components” dialog.

However, a little effort will make Windows Messenger (and many other hidden programs) available for change or removal like other programs which you see in Add or Remove programs. Here’s what to do :

• Right-click on your Start button and select “Explore”
• Navigate to your c:\windows\inf directory
• Double-click the file sysoc.inf to open it in your text editor
• In this file, under the “Components” section, there are several lines for different programs that are installed on your computer. Windows Messenger’s name is msmsgs, so look for that line :

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

• Edit the line and remove the word “hide” and the comma preceding it. After you edit it, the line might look like this

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

• Close your text editor and save the changes.

This will make visible Windows Messenger in Add or Remove programs. Now you can do anything to Windows Messenger which you do with other programs.

The procedures for disabling Windows Messenger will depend on the version of Windows Messenger installed on your computer. So first check the version installed on your computer and then follow the procedure accordingly…

Windows Messenger 4.0 or Later on a Windows XP Professional

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

3) Double-click on the option “Do not allow Windows Messenger to run”, and then click Enabled.
4) Click OK, and then close the window

Windows Messenger 4.0 on a Windows XP Home Edition

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.

Windows Messenger 4.5 or Later on Either Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional

1) Click on Start, Run
2) Type REGEDIT and Press Enter
3) Click on the Pluses (+) next to the following items

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• Software
• Policies
• Microsoft

4) If the folder Messenger is not listed, click on the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then for new registry key type the name Messenger for that.
5) If the folder Client is not listed under Messenger, click on the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, and then type Client for the name of the new registry key
6) On the Edit Menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, and then type PreventRun for the name of the new DWORD value. Remember all of this is case sensitive.
7) Right-click the PreventRun value that you created, click Modify, type 1 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor.