Remove MSN Messenger from Windows XP

There is a strong integration with MSN Messenger and Windows XP components. Both the Internet Explorer and Outlook Express have integration with the messenger. MSN Messenger has now been replaced by the Windows Live Messenger, so there is no need to keep the legacy messenger installed or integrated.

The first thing you would want to do is to remove the integration with the internet explorer:

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Run. In the Run box, type regedit and click OK.
2. In the Registry Editor, locate the following key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683}
3. Right-click the key, and click Rename.
4. Type a minus (-) sign in front of the key, before the { sign, and click OK.

Next thing is to also remove the integration with Outlook Express:

1. Locate the following key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express
2. From the Edit menu, select New and pick DWORD Value.
3. Enter Hide Messenger as the Name for the new value.
4. Double-click the new Hide Messenger value, and enter a 2 as the value. Next, click OK.
5. Close the Registry Editor. Select Exit from the File menu.

When you start Outlook Express or the Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger is no longer started. This will optimize your PC performance and speed up the start of these applications.

Remove the MSN messenger files

If you want to take it a step further, you can also physically uninstall the MSN messenger files from the system. This will free up some space and allows you to optimize your PC a bit.

One thing to consider here though is the dependency of some services on the MSN messenger files. If you make use of application sharing, remote assistance or the whiteboard in the Windows Live messenger, you should not uninstall the MSN messenger files.

But if you don’t use these functions or do not use Live Messenger at all, you can uninstall MSN messenger. The program is not listed in the regular installed programs list, so can not be installed that way. But the simple way to uninstall it is like this:

1. Click the Windows Start button and select Run.
2. In the Run box, type:
   RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
   and press Enter.