Learning how to uninstall Windows Live Messenger is not as hard as you might think. Although the app has earned a reputation as being hard to remove, the process is not as complicated if you know the facts. The program used to be known as Windows Messenger. These instructions are for Windows Vista and XP.
Step 1
Click the Start button or press the Windows key on your keyboard. Choose Run from the Start button.
Step 2
In the Run box type the following:
RunDll32 advpack.dll, LaunchINFSection%windir%INFmsmsgs.inf,BLC.ReMove
Click OK or press the Enter key.
Step 3
The computer will ask you to restart the computer. Click Yes.
If you don’t want to uninstall the application you can just disable it. This is the option to use if you aren’t using Live Messenger now but see the possibility that you will use it in the future.
How to Remove Messenger from a Mac
If you are using a Mac and want to remove it, go to the Applications folder and look for the "Microsoft Messenger" icon. Drag the icon into the Trash. Go to Devices and click the Mac hard disk. Open the Users folder and find your user account. Open the Library and open the "Preferences" Folder. Find the "com.Microsoft.Messenger" file and drag it into the trash. Empty the trash.
Facts about the Old and New Live Messenger
Before it became known as Windows Live Messenger it was known as MSN Messenger. It kept the MSN Messenger name from 1999 to 2006. The first version came out in July 22, 1999 and it was a basic program which had a contact list and a text messaging feature. When Windows XP came out another version of Messenger appeared and it was a major upgrade that included voice conversation support, contacts grouping and more.
The version that came out is compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and NT. On 2003, version 6 of Messenger came out and it overhauled again. The interface, which was text based, has been replaced with elements that are customizable including backgrounds and emoticons.
Numerous versions have since appeared and the newest is Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 which came out in 2010.
The new software has many new features including a newly redesigned interface with section called What’s New, kind of like how social media displays updates. Many new important features are also available such as Facebook Chat integration, availability by categories, synchronized status updates and badges support.
Other Info
Other new features are a social photo viewer for SkyDrive and Facebook photos, in-line commenting of social updates and HD video chat. The latest version also has built-in video message support, Bing search results integration, emoticons redesign, and tabbed conversations.
But some features were also taken out such as the instant messaging contacts import/export, one-way webcam requests, handwriting tool, removal of display names and a few others. Wave 4 version of Live Essentials comes with Messenger and is compatible with Windows 7 and Vista but not XP. The Live Messenger for the iOS came out on June 2010 and versions for the BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phone have been released too.
Now that you know how to uninstall Windows Live Messenger you will have no problems getting rid of it. And with the new version now available, it will become even easier to manage.
Tim is a free lancer writer of the web and he loves to share his experience on uninstalling windows live messenger.