This is the service that never quits. It just starts up an up oh shi...

[Danhalen]

How the frick do I get the dag burn msmsgs.exe to stop running? I've done everything short of removing the root key in regedit. Everytime I check my task manager, there it is... taunting me... laughing. I want it dead.

[AnotherSillyAlias]

I make no claims as to the accuracy of any info here but you might find THIS (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=29167) interesting reading.

[Danhalen]

That was an excellent suggestion. Thanks. Problem fixed.

[chasing23]

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

Wow I have been looking for that command for a long time. Good stuff.

[Beanbag]

Absofragginlutely wonderful. It's amazing how much faster my system reboots without that annoying Messenger icon.

Scuse me, I got something to run on all my other WinXP boxes.:D

Beanbag

[RayG]

MSN Messenger can be easily configured from within the program to not run on Windows startup.

Tools --> Options --> General

Uncheck the boxes next to 'Automatically run Messenger when I log on to Windows', and 'Allow automatic sign in when I connect to the internet'.

On my own system I have MSN set so that I have to manually start it, but on my wife's system it runs automatically whenever she boots her machine.

That way the program isn't deleted in case you ever decide to use it.

RayG

[moopet]

By far the easiest way to get rid of startup services and applications in windows is by running msconfig, which ships as standard. It's quicker than going through the registry by hand and also lets you spot anything that looks like spyware :)

[chasing23]

By far the easiest way to get rid of startup services and applications in windows is by running msconfig, which ships as standard. It's quicker than going through the registry by hand and also lets you spot anything that looks like spyware :)

Hey that is really cool. Thanks.

[Danhalen]

By far the easiest way to get rid of startup services and applications in windows is by running msconfig, which ships as standard. It's quicker than going through the registry by hand and also lets you spot anything that looks like spyware :)I did that a gazillion times. msmsgs.exe continued to start up anyway. The command posted earlier in this thread is the only thing that killed the process.

[bruto]

By far the easiest way to get rid of startup services and applications in windows is by running msconfig, which ships as standard. It's quicker than going through the registry by hand and also lets you spot anything that looks like spyware :)

A word of warning regarding services in Win XP (not startup programs). MSConfig's "services" tab does not prevent you from disabling even services that are necessary for Windows to boot. If you are not careful, you can kill Windows. If you are fine tuning the services, you are much better off going to the command line and running "services.msc." This will give you the more informative services console and allow you to check what is running, select whether to disable, set as automatic, etc. and it will not allow you to disable the absolutely essential services by mistake.

[ihaunter]

Another thing to watch is that if you use Outlook or Outlook Express, these programs will start up Messenger by default when started. There is a check box to uncheck in the options screen under the Other tab. (I think that's where it is)
Or you could find a different e-mail program :D

[Chris Haynes]

Okay, I noticed that it never appears on my laptop. I believe I had extremely geeky spouse remove it from the registry (see thread on BYTE magazine).

I will use the RUN command listed above on the desktop after he sees it This machine tends to bog down after a while, except after I disable "msmgs.exe" from the task window.