Preventing Messenger from Running

Preventing Messenger from Running

Believe it or not, some people don't like Windows Messenger, and they tire of the program's constant nagging to sign up for a Passport. Windows doesn't provide a user interface to remove Windows Messenger permanently. (See Chapter 18, “Fixing Common IT Problems,” for a simple way to uninstall it.) But you can prevent it from running. In Windows Messenger, click Tools, Options. On the Preferences tab of the Options dialog box, clear the Run This Program When Windows Starts check box. The problem with this setting is that the program still runs when other programs start. Clearing this check box removes the command that starts Windows Messenger from the key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

The most fail-proof solution is to set the policy that prevents Windows Messenger from ever running. You can set this policy using Group Policy editor to edit the local Group Policy Object. (See Chapter 7, “Using Registry-Based Policy.”) You can also set the policy directly. To do that, create the REG_DWORD value PreventRun in HKLM\ SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Messenger\Client, and set it to 0x01. This setting affects all users who log on to the computer. When they try to run Windows Messenger, they don't see an error message: it just doesn't run. Chapter 18, “Fixing Common IT Problems,” describes an alternative method. The chapter shows you how to edit Sysoc.inf to prevent the installation of Windows Messenger and other optional components.