Remove Windows Live Messenger

Have you ever sat in front of your computer scratching your head and wondering "how do I remove windows live messenger"? If so, read this article to learn different strategies you can use to effectively get rid of windows live messenger.

For some reason, Microsoft engineers have put a lot of thought into integrating messenger seamlessly in the Windows operating systems. The problem is how they seem to have assumed that no one would possibly want to remove this instant messaging software from their computer. However, in real world scenarios, there are various good reasons why you may want to do such a thing.

How do I remove windows live messenger?

Whether you want to uninstall messenger to make your computer faster, because you're tired of opening it by accident or simply because you have no use for it, you can get it done by using either of the following procedures:

You can uninstall the program and do away with it permanently, or just disable it to make sure it remains unavailable and hidden.

1) Windows Live Messenger Simple Uninstall

This is the simplest way of uninstalling live messenger, although it may not work in older versions of Windows. All you have to do is hit the Start button and open the Control Panel, then look for "add/remove programs" and click open. Now, scroll down the list of programs installed on your system. Towards the end you should see one called "Windows Live Essentials" – you can use this uninstaller to remove the entire MSN live package from your computer or just windows live messenger, as you prefer.

If you're using an older version of Windows, you may not find the "Windows Live Essentials" entry while browsing "add/remove programs". In that case, try looking for another entry called "MSN messenger", otherwise just deactivate messenger with the following procedure.

2) Deactivating Windows Live Messenger

This is probably the simplest and quickest option available. Rather than removing the messenger files from your computer, this method just ensures they're disabled, hidden, and unavailable. You can activate this option very simply by accessing the "Group directive" controls.

To access this menu, hit the Start button, choose "run..." and type "gpedit.msc". Then, just skim through the list until you find "Windows Live Messenger" or "Windows Messenger". (It's usually under System config/administrative models/windows components/). You will find two options available in there which you can easily choose from. There is one option for keeping live messenger from running automatically and other option for disabling it altogether.

If you choose to just disable windows live messenger (rather than uninstalling), the program will still be available on your system, but it will be concealed. In that case, you can always come back to the group directive controls and activate the messaging program without having to reinstall, if you ever feel like doing so.

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-By Dominic

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