Windows Messenger 'Trojan update'

Thanks me101 for spotting this over at The Register. As you already know, you can wipe Windows Messenger from XP with a simple hack, and yet MS will defy you with a 'Critical Update'. That's how desperate they are to force this little bugger on you.

Following a tip from a Messenger-averse reader whose uninstall got thwarted, I looked into it, starting with a clean install of Win-XP. Messenger was, of course, lurking in the background and consuming RAM though I have no use for it. And of course MS doesn't allow you to uninstall it.

But that doesn't make it impossible. NTcompatible.com has a very simple hack which

will allow you to use the Windows add/remove feature in Control Panel to get rid of the offending progie.

Use a text editor to open C:WINDOWSinfsysoc.inf, and change

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7 to

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

That's it. Messenger will now appear in the add/remove application under Windows Components where you can uninstall it.

Enjoy the fact that this irritating memory-resident progie is no longer consuming RAM and haranguing you to obtain an MS Passport every time you reboot.

But that's not the end of it.

No, there's a 'Critical' item which MS foists on you during Windows Update. It's called the 'Windows Messenger 4.6 Connectivity Update', and MS "strongly recommends that you download the update even if you don't use Windows Messenger."

View: NTCompatible Remove Windows Messenger hack