Removing Windows, MSN, Yahoo Messengers from Windows XP:

If you are referring to Windows Messenger and would like to disable it, please follow the below steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Select "Administrative Tools".

Note in Windows XP Home edition, Administrative Tools is in Performance and Maintenance

3. Click on "Services".
4. Right-click on "Messenger" and Select "Stop".

To permanently disable Messenger:

5. Right-click on "Messenger" and Select "Properties".
6. In the Startup type list, click "Disabled".
7. Click on OK.

If the issue persists, please follow the steps listed in the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article given below:

Article Title: How to Prevent Windows Messenger from Running on a Windows XP-Based Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302089

Note: Please note that the above Article is also valid for Windows Messenger 5.0.

-- Windows Messenger can also be uninstalled from a Windows XP computer, however it is not recommended. If you would like to uninstall it, then you would have first make it appear in the list of programs you can add and remove from Windows. In order to do so, please use these steps:

1. Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substitute the correct drive letter for your version of Windows).
2. If the "inf" folder is not visible in C:\WINDOWS\, please make it appear by:

a. Click on Tools from the Menu bar and click on Folder Options.
b. Click on the View tab, and select on "Show hidden files and folders".

3. From the "inf" folder, open sysoc.inf.
4. You will see a line that reads:

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

5. Change this line to:

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

6. Now, Windows Messenger will appear in Add/Remove Windows Components under Add or Remove Programs.
7. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
8. Click on Add or Remove Programs and click on Add/Remove Windows Components.
9. Remove Windows Messenger and click OK.

-- If you are referring to MSN Messenger, then to stop or disable MSN Messenger from loading automatically at Windows startup, please use these steps:

1. Click the Start button and click Run.
2. Type msconfig, click OK or hit Enter.
3. Click Startup tab and remove the check mark next to MSN Messenger.
4. Close msconfig and restart Windows.

Please note that this way MSN Messenger still loads when called upon by other applications like Outlook, Outlook Express or Hotmail (MSN) web access.

To uninstall MSN Messenger completely, please go to the run command on your start menu and paste this line into it:

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

- If you are referring to Yahoo Messenger, please follow the below web link to disable or remove it from Windows XP Home Edition:

Article Title: Uninstalling Yahoo! Messenger from Windows
http://help.yahoo.com/help/aa/mesg/mesg-09.html