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Disabling the Messenger Service

Are you sick and tired of those spam popup windows that appear out of nowhere on your computer? I'm talking about the ones that have "messenger service" in their title bars. It's simple to get rid of these popups set out by lowlife people (for example, the email spammers at companies such as those serviced by Alvion Technologies or Accudata America). Just disable the Messenger service. It's easy to re-enable the service later if you can think of a cockamamie reason why you'd want to*! Just find your operating system in the lists below and follow the instructions shown.

Note: Stopping the Messenger Service will not affect your chat service.
 
However, as Microsoft states: "When you disable the messenger service, it is no longer available for receiving legitimate messages, such as administrative alerts and notifications from antivirus programs. Be sure to talk with your system administrator before taking this action if your computer is part of a corporate network." If you would prefer not to disable messenger service, read this Microsoft 'how to stop ads with Messenger Service'. If you have problems with popups in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, read this.

Windows 2000

Click Start-> Settings-> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools->Services
Scroll down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
Click the STOP button.
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type dropdown field
Click OK

Windows XP Home

Click Start->Control Panel-> Click Administrative Tools
Double-click Services-> Scrolldown to "Messenger"
Double-click on "Messenger" to open its "properties"
In the "Service Status" area of the Properties window, click the STOP button.
In the "Startup Type" dropdown field, select Disable or Manual
Click the OK to close the window.

Windows XP Professional

Click Start->Settings ->Control Panel
Click Administrative Tools
Click Services
Double click Services Scroll
down and highlight "Messenger"
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties.
Click the STOP button.
Select Disable or Manual in the Startup Type dropdown field
Click OK

Windows NT

Click Start ->Control Panel
Double Click Administrative Tools
Select Services-> Double-click on Messenger
In the Messenger Properties window, select Stop,
Then choose Disable as the Startup Type
Click OK

Windows 98 & ME

Windows Messenger Service cannot be disabled, sorry. Perhaps it's time you thought about upgrading your operating system.