This worked really well. It stops those little popups that appear out of nowhere on Win2000 and WinXP, and only let you press OK.

To test it out, go to Start->Run and type in command. This will get you the MS-DOS prompt.

Now type net send localhost Hello and press enter.
You'll get a message to yourself (localhost) saying hello. After stopping the service (as described) it won't happen!!!

It was stupid of MS to include this "feature" anyway.

Thanks for the test. I couldn't remember if I had turned messenger off or not...

I performed the recipe no problem but whenever I started Outlook that little messenger icon kept popping up in my toolbar. I figured out the issue:

Go to Outlook->
Tools->
Options->
Other

and there is a box labeled "Enable Instant Messaging in Outlook". Mine was checked. Unchecked it, no more problems!

Neodoc...

I think you deserve a whole recipe for that suggestion because I see people having Microsoft Instant Messenger enabled in the systray all the time.

One point of clarification though. Windows contains two "messenger systems." The original recipe is related to the one that broadcasts pop-ups across a network; your recipe is related to the one that is associate with instant messaging.

Here is how one article explains it:
<ul id="quote">Pomerleau fell victim to advertisers who are increasingly taking advantage of a feature, Windows messenger service, built into PCs using the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP operating systems. This includes all Windows PCs sold in the past two years.

The feature — not to be confused with instant messaging — allows network administrators to broadcast text alerts in pop-up boxes to groups of computer users linked in a corporate network. Microsoft intended the feature to facilitate tech staff communication, but e-mail often serves that function.
</ul>
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-09-24-popups_x.htm

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to craft your idea into a recipe as soon as possible.

Welcome to the club.

Neodoc...

Created the recipe as you described:
http://www.tech-recipes.com/modules.php?name=Recipes&rx_id=351

Several people across the web have noticed that having messenger enabled also really slows down email viewing in outlook:
http://www.tlab404.com/home/detail.asp?iFaq=239&iType=18

Just a little tip. Save time navigating thru all those windows to get to the services manager by jsut going to your 'run' dialog box and type services.msc and hit enter.

<ul id="quote"><h6>bob wrote:</h6>Just a little tip. Save time navigating thru all those windows to get to the services manager by jsut going to your 'run' dialog box and type services.msc and hit enter.</ul>

Thanks, Bob.

Great Tip!