Windows Messenger has become one of the most popular programs around. Many people use it to as a means of communicating with co-workers, friends, and family. So if you hadn’t already noticed, Windows Messenger is installed by default with Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition. Every time you start your computer, the Windows Messenger icon appears in the system tray.

If you aren’t a fan of Windows Messenger, you can prevent it from running. If you are running Windows Messenger 4.5 or later, you can use the following steps to prevent the program from running.

1. Click Start, point to Run, and type regedit. Press Enter.
2. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft.
3. Click Edit, point to New and click Key.
4. Type in Messenger for the name of the new key.
5. Click the registry key you just created. Click Edit, point to New, and click DWORD Value.
6. Type in PreventRun as the name of the value.
7. Right click the DWORD value you just created and click Modify.
8. Type 1 for the value and click OK.

[Diana Huggins]