zhangm Supervisor Posted January 11, 2003 Supervisor Share Posted January 11, 2003 Ok, I've tried every single trick I could find out there to keep Windows Messenger from starting up automatically whenever I log in. I've done unchecking the box in the program itself telling it not to start up automatically. No success. I've tried fiddling around with msconfig, unchecking the run box. Still no effect. And I've done major tweaking in the registry, inserting DWORD "DisableAutoRun" entries in the appropriate places. Can you guess the result? My goal is to keep the damn thing from autorunning, not removing it, since I need some of the system files to support a reshacked version. So far, the only things I've managed to do is to prevent the automatically starting program from appearing in the systray. Yes, its invisible, and I can only see that its running by viewing the task manager. And I've somehow gotten rid of that box in the program, asking if I want to start it automatically. I've tried deleting the critical MSN DLL files that it needs to start, but then I get errors from NAV. And gpedit isn't an option because I'm on XP Home. Why don't I just leave it? Well, the damn thing keeps logging me in, but remember, its invisible and not in the systray, so basically useless for checking e-mail/convos. And only one user can be logged into a hotmail account at a time, so I end up with two Messengers fighting over which one gets to log in. Its a mess... So what can I do? Any tricks that I haven't tried yet? Come on people, we can't let microsoft win this! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Well if its MSN 5 you can simply disable it as autrun in one of the options in the tools menu if its 4 then well im stumped, msconfig normally stops it for me. If youve removed it from startup, try disabling it as a service, i was messing around with services there yesterday and disabling that service killed it from bootup, and I could still simply run it aftyer the OS was booted. But yeah if Msconfig isnt working for you try gpedit.msc type that into the run box that will give you more options, theres a thing in there to disable messenger also. If that doesnt wokr sounds like you have some sort of Borg Messenger, just keeps adapting to stop itself being disabled. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keldyn Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 then well im stumped, msconfig normally stops it for me. This does not seem to work on messenger 4. It simply creates another instance of itself. It's a real b1tch :crazy: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tai Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 after i renamed the messenger folder.. i dont see it running in my task mananger.... but... is it secretly running ??? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keldyn Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 after i renamed the messenger folder.. i dont see it running in my task mananger....but... is it secretly running ??? :blink: LOL! Secretly running....haha. Good old microsoft. They really know how to inspire fear and paranoia in the fellow computer user ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tai Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 after i renamed the messenger folder.. i dont see it running in my task mananger....but... is it secretly running ??? :blink: LOL! Secretly running....haha. Good old microsoft. They really know how to inspire fear and paranoia in the fellow computer user ;) argg !! see what u did now ? Keldyn... as well as havin to wear oakleys to look at your new shiny sig.. :woot: i'm shakin in my chair at a secret messenger infiltration in my pc... :pc: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 "Wearing oakelys to look at your signature" hehe good one :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimf43 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Still think you'd be better in getting rid of it, but, if you must, look under 'services'. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted January 12, 2003 Author Supervisor Share Posted January 12, 2003 Yup, checked under services. And disabled Messenger, even though its not related to Windows Messenger...or so they say... Still no effect... I guess it is like a borg version of MSN... I just checked back in its default folder...one of the DLL files that I thought I deleted has reappeared in there... Its version number is 4.6.0.82, if that helps at all... I've run a search and come up with two files in my WINNT folder named MSMSGS.EXE-********.pf. The asteriks are just there to represent the 8 digit alphanumerical designation... But I'm wondering what will happen if I get rid of those...? I've had an easier time manually disabling a Sircam while preserving its functionality... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysektor Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 Disabling the Messenger service will not stop this autorun. The Messenger service is netsend messages. I just rename my Messenger folder to prevent it from starting up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japlabot Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 check the following registry keys for msmsgs.exe or msnmsngr.exe or even msgplus.exe: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\RunServices HKLM \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run HKLM\SOFTWARE 092;Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\RunServices Can also check Scheduled Tasks You said that you have NAV, is it's NAV2003, then it could have something to do with 'instant messaging' protection or something like that in NAV2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Hope Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 Yeah just disable instant messenger protection in NAV 2003 it causes more problems than it's worth, also prevents you closing down messenger too since it says that it's still in use which it is, since NAV 2003 keeps it in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted January 12, 2003 Author Supervisor Share Posted January 12, 2003 SMG, all the keys that you listed are clean... And Messenger isn't listed under scheduled tasks either. Grr, how the hell does this thing keep resurrecting?! At this point, I think I'll go through on disabling NAV and scrapping everything in that folder except the program itself... That should stop it...I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 Well I just tested this on mine earlier today while I was configuring my PC and it stopped messener dead in its tracks gpedit.msc Goto Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger > Do Not automatically start messenger initially. > Enable that option so it wont start and your in business Do the same under the user configuration table. Tested this on my XP machine running SP1 works fine Tested it under the internet PC running just XP, also works fine. If your messenger is still popping up after that, quite simply your messenger is possesed. :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted January 12, 2003 Author Supervisor Share Posted January 12, 2003 Sorry Osiris, I have XP Home version, which means no Group Policy Editor included. I'm pretty sure its only installed in Pro edition. But I went ahead and disabled NAV Instant Messenger scanner, and deleted everything in C:\Program Files\Messenger except msmsgs.exe. It no longer has enough parts left on my computer to autostart. :) Actually, I do have a history of programs being possessed... On my old machine, shareware that's supposed to expire after 30 days never quite seems to get around to it. WinZip trial is still running a couple years after it was supposed to stop working... Same thing with WinRAR demos. And I had a small problem with ResHacker on this machine. It kept growing legs and wandering out of the folder that I wanted it to stay in. :blink: Then there was that small incident where a program that I uninstalled trashed every single file in its directory including folders belonging to other programs... I was kinda ****ed, but, oh well, its all good. I win, I win! MSN Autorun is gone. The beast has been defeated! :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesehead Posted January 12, 2003 Share Posted January 12, 2003 You could of used xp anti-spy :alien: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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