One of the most annoying things that Microsoft has done in its history is to embed a chat program called Windows Messenger in both the Windows XP Home and XP Pro operating systems. Although Windows Messenger has the look and feel of its older cousin MSN Messenger, it is actually a separate program. In fact, MSN Messenger can be downloaded and run on the same computer, but it cannot be run at the same time.

Both MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger utilize a concept called Passport and this is a universal login service created by Microsoft. It allows users to log in to a number of web sites with just one account. Many of these web sites include Microsoft services such as Hotmail, MSN Messenger or MSN subscriptions but there are also a number of outside companies affiliated with Microsoft that also use it. Users of Hotmail or MSN automatically have a Microsoft Passport that corresponds to their accounts there. Why do we need to know this? Because guests can unwittingly add their passport to your computer and this can lead to unwanted chat requests and messages. Thus you must know how to delete these Passports.

With broadband connections (Cable and DSL), there is a danger associated with Windows Messenger because thanks to Microsoft, there is no small icon in the Notification Area of the Taskbar (Also known as the System Tray.)to tell you when the program is running. (The Notification Area is that area on the lower right hand corner of your screen where your clock is.) Thus the only way you can tell if the program is actually running and that it automatically started and logged in during your computer start up is to double click on your Windows Messenger program icon and see what happens.

If the Windows Messenger program comes up and asks you to log in, then you know it was not already running but if it immediately goes to its chat window then you were already logged in and the program was running in the background, out of sight and out of mind. That's a security breach big enough to drive a bus through!

We recommend against uninstalling the Windows Messenger program because it is integral to the operating system but we can make absolutely sure that it doesn't start automatically with your computer at boot up as follows:

Left click Start, then Control Panel and double left click on User Accounts You need to be the Computer Administrator to continue. Then left click on Your Name as Computer Administrator and in this new window you will see a heading titled Related Tasks near the top on the left hand side. Under this heading is a line saying Manage my network passwords Left click on this line and a small window titled Stored User Names and Passwords will appear. Then all you do is highlight and remove any and all lines having to do with Windows Messenger.

After that, close all windows and programs and reboot to verify as above that Windows Messenger is not running in the background. If you use Windows Messenger later, never ever check the Sign me in automatically feature.

Finally, if you download and install MSN Messenger, we strongly recommend that you never use the Sign me in automatically feature there as well as you may accidentally migrate that auto log in over to Windows Messenger. We actually did that once.