In a message dated 6/5/2005 4:16:40 AM Eastern Standard Time, pablo61@tiscali.co.uk writes: Hi Is there a wayy of permanently disabling Windows Messenger? I did have it disabled (somehow) but after a glitch with a virus / trojan it seems to want to start up each time I log onto the internet. Anyy ideas welcome Paul Paul- If you have Service Pack II for Windows XP that should have turned off Windows Messenger by default. Here are instructions for turning it off if you are sure it isn't already turned off: Open Windows Messenger from the Start/Programs menu. Click on Tools/Options and the Preferences tab. Uncheck the box next to "Run this program when Windows starts" to disable the option. After that, go to Start/Run and type services.msc in the box to Open. Right-click on Messenger in the Services list, then choose Properties. In the "Startup type" box, make sure it says Disabled. In the "Service status" box, make sure it says Stopped. If it doesn't say that, click on the down arrows to the right of both boxes to choose those options. If you have Outlook Express, you will also want to open Outlook Express and go to the Tools/Options menu. Click on the General tab. If you see a check mark in the box next to "Automatically log on to Windows Messenger," click to disable that option. If you have Outlook 2002 or higher, go to Tools/Options/Other. Remove the check mark from the box next to "Enable Instant Messaging in Microsoft Outlook." If you have Windows XP Professional, see article 302089 in the Microsoft Knowledge base. http://support.microsoft.com . Search for this number article. Joan