I tried to take the screenshot of the message right on the desktop, but this is what i've been getting lately when I boot up my pc. I'm not sure if I asked this already. I really don't use that program so if it has to go, then it'll be fine. Thanks in advance

Reinstall Msn Messenger will do the trick
:S

Also, if you do NOT want MSN Live Messenger to start automatically with Windows, you can easily disable that feature using Messenger's options:

Tools > Options > General > uncheck: " Automatically run Messenger when I log on to Windows"

Thank you gentlemen! I think I'll uninstall it. I don't use it anyway. But it's not in the add/remove menu so how can I safely uninstall?

Reinstall It then uninstall

if you are talking about the MSN messenger that came already installed on your Windows XP machine....
you actually can't uninstall it. the program is integrated into the OS. (microsoft is tricky, aren't they )

the only thing you can do, unfortunately, is disable it so it can't run.
go to Start > run > type services.msc
find the entry "Messenger" and disable it, and/or do what TonyKlein suggested


if however, you installed Windows Live Messenger yourself (from their website) then you should be able to get rid of it.
to get it to 'reappear' back into the add/remove program list, simply go back to their website and reinstall it. (like Jimemy said) this will "refresh" the install.
after that, it should appear in the add/remove program list, and you should be able to safely uninstall

though I think what you are dealing with, is the version that is stuck on your computer

Thank you very much!

The Windows Messenger service actually has nothing to do with MSN Messenger

But you should be able to uninstall Messenger even if it came incorporated into your operating system.

Go to Start > Run > type "inf" (without the quotes), then press Enter

The Windows\Inf folder will open.

Locate the sysoc.inf file, and open it in Notepad.

- Look for the line: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
- Remove the word "hide", leaving the commas: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
- Save and close

Messenger will now be listed in Add/Remove Programs, and you'll be able to uninstall it

woops, TonyKlein is right. the Messenger service has nothing to do with MSN Messenger
two different things, even though the names are similar..
it should be disabled anyways though, since it's pretty useless and just takes up memory

and I had no idea MSN Messenger could be uninstalled like that. I'll be sure to pass that info to anyone who needs to remove the "uninstallable" MSN Messenger

You're very welcome; this is in fact a pretty widely known "trick"

I did what you said and it's still not in the add/remove programs. I'll restart and maybe that will work?

You shouldn't need to restart; If Add-Remove Programs was open while you performed the tweak you will need to close and re-launch it though.

I wanted to try this out, so I 'unhid' a few programs,

I noticed that when you unhide them, they actually don't show up in the Add/Remove programs window..
but they show up in the Add/Remove Windows Components tab (it's in the same window as add/remove programs)
that's where the programs appear to might want to look there, Brenda2007

and thanks TonyKlein. was able to uninstall a lot of junk I never really needed.. including Pinball, Media Player, IIS server, WordPad, HyperTerminal, Phone Dialer..
all that junk was hidden! it's uninstalled now.

Thanks unsober, I'll go and check because the error message came up again when I rebooted and I didn't have the add/remove window open

Oh snap you're right, it's there..but it doesn't tell me if a checked program is being removed or added. I don't want to mess anything up

checked programs are installed, unchecked means they are not installed

just uncheck MSN Messenger, then hit Next, and it should uninstall it

Hmmm..it didn't have MSN Messenger but it had the windows messenger and that's gone

I mean, I can intall it and uninstall it if it's easier

ok, try this.

go to Start > Run > type this command:
RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

this will directly remove/uninstall MSN Messenger
after this, restart your PC. the error should be gone now

Well my man, you have made me a very happy chick right about now. It's gone. Thanks so much!

More issues to post.