Stop MSN Messenger from starting?

I recently installed XP Pro on my pc but it seems that MSN Messenger is part of XP. As a result it loads everytime I start my pc adn it runs in the back ground.
I get messages from people I dont want to talk to!!

Is there a "Startup" option for this program and others so i can tell my pc not to load it on startup?
it also loads a printer program i don't use often and no doubt other programs aswell.

How do i get control of these startup programs??

thanks
David

 

thanks pete

only thing is ....i use messenger sometimes.,....but the version to downaload is more up to date than the version included in XP.

if i uninstall it from XP will it uninstall the more uptodate version i downloaded from MSN? also if i download it again, will XP reload the older version?

thanks
David

 

I have both and they work fine.

Messenger 4.7 can either be uninstalled or shut off until you want it by creating an account and using the Options so it doesn't start with Windows. Its appearance when you run Outlook Express can be stopped by clicking the option in OE and closing the Contacts pane.

But the 2 work fine together (not simultaneously, of course), though the 4.7 seems to me to be a better messenger, unless you want some of the features in the new one.

 

you can download the new version which is really good and stop the old one from running by going to start,run and type in msconfig. Hit enter and go to start up tag, there find the programes that start when your pc does, un tick the ones you dont want to run. exit and re start....when you re start it will come up with a question just tick the box and say yes

 

You're not the only one that is confused. If you updated 4.7, then you have the updated Windows Messenger that came with XP.

But the MSN Messenger, or as it seems also to be called, adding to the confusion, the ".NET Messenger" looks and feels the same as the Windows Messenger, has the same contacts list, but operates independently otherwise.

Many people thought that MSN was the update to 4.7 and ended up with 2 messengers with the same contacts. Only one could be used at a time, of course, since they use the same servers, so the second one to load produced a connection error message.

Here's the MSN Messenger site:
http://messenger.msn.com/

If 4.7+updates works for you, I'd suggest saving yourself trouble and sticking with it until MS' makes it worse or fixes the confusion.

If you like some of the new features of MSN Messenger 6.0, then disable any startups for Windows Messenger, and use the MSN instead (same username and password).