Prevent Automatic Messenger Sign-In

Another way to ensure that people only contact you in Messenger on your schedule is to prevent the automatic logon behavior. The default setting logs you on to the Messenger service whenever Windows starts, and it also gives all those in your Allow list a little heads up that you're online and available for IM.

Here's how to prevent automatic sign-in.

1.	Open the MSN Messenger window and click Tools | Options.
2.	From the General tab, there are two relevant check boxes. To prevent automatic sign-in, clear the "Allow automatic sign in when connected to the Internet" check box.
3.	To prevent Messenger from running at startup time (which in turn would prevent automatic sign-in), clear the "Automatically run Messenger when I log on to Windows" check box, as shown in Figure 12-20. Figure 12-20. Prevent automatic Messenger login.

Now, Messenger only signs in when you first right-click the Messenger System Tray icon and choose Sign-in from the context menu.