Disable MSN Messenger From Always Running At Start-Up

somehow I am very picky about what programs run on my computer, I frequently check the start-up menu to see what programs are set to automatically start at windows start-up, and one of the things I have noticed is that the MSN messenger always runs at the start-up despite me disabling it many times  from funning at the start-up.

I normally don’t use the MSN messenger, but when I use it, the next time I boot up my computer, it comes up at the start-up.

I believe this happens because the messenger is setup to run at the start-up on it’s settings, so it overwrites the settings on the start-up utility every time it starts. so here are some tips on how to disable the messenger from starting up every time you boot windows.

using the msconfig utility

click on Start the click on Run type msconfig and click on OK the System Configuration Utility should come up:

click on the Startup tab and look for the msnmsgr item. uncheck the mark, and click on Apply then OK. the utility will ask you to reboot the computer, do it if you want, otherwise the settings will take effect the next time you boot windows.

disabling the messenger from the registry

click on Start and then Run type Regedit and click on OK. the registry editor will come up:

browse to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and delete the following string

"C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background

after deleting the string, exit the registry editor.

disabling the messenger from the messenger settings

this is probably what you should do first, login to your MSN messenger and click on Options:

then click on  Sign in and uncheck “ automatically run Windows live messenger when I logged on to windows” click on Apply then OK.

this last settings I believe what keeps the messenger running on the startup even though you disable it from the other options mention above.

by the way, this messenger seems to be a resource hog.