Windows and MSN Messenger on Windows XP

Friday, 14 November 2003

1) Download MSN Messenger 6.1/What's New
2) Differences between Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger
3) Removing Windows Messenger 4.7 after installing MSN Messenger 6.2
4) Removing Windows Messenger 5.0

Download MSN Messenger 6.2 from msn.co.uk
View the new features of MSN Messenger 6.2

Differences between Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger



When you install MSN Messenger 6.1 on your system you will find that it does not remove/update Windows Messenger on your system. This is because MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger are not the same thing; Windows Messenger is the corporate client allowing connection to instant messenger servers on your local network such as Microsoft Exchange IM Server or Microsoft Live Communcation Server (SIP). MSN Messenger is more of the home client allowing you to send messages to mobile devices and have real time alerts to new email if you are using a hotmail account, Since MSN 6.0 it has also included a much more 'fun' user interface and features to match.

If you require a messenger version capable of connecting to a Microsoft Exchange IM or SIP servers do not uninstall your existing version of messenger from your system, MSN Messenger is not capable of connecting to these types of servers, if you required these features install Windows Messenger 5.0 (not distributed through Windows Update).

If you previously installed a beta version of Windows Messenger 5.0, before installing the release version you should take the following steps
1) Quit outlook, Outlook Express, and any other program that may use the WM APIs
2) Exit Windows Messenger 5 (right click tray icon > exit)
3) Make sure msmsgs.exe is not in Task Manager's process list (control-shift-escape, second tab)
4) Start->run: "msiexec.exe /x {ABEB838C-A1A7-4C5D-B7E1-8B4314B10138}"
5) Click Yes when prompted

There is a benefit of having a second messenger installed on the machine, which is that you are able to login to the messenger service with two different passport accounts at the same time.

Removing Windows Messenger 4.7 (after installing MSN Messenger 5.0/6.0/6.1)

To uninstall Windows Messenger 4.x on your system do not delete the programs files directly instead go

Start > Run, now enter “RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove” into your run box without the speech marks. Although this will remove the second tray icon with will disable some features in MSN Messenger such as remote assistance (period), whiteboard, application sharing plus apps that call on Messenger (like Outlook Express, Outlook 2002) will freeze or parts that rely on Windows Messenger will no longer function. <Click here to disable Windows Messenger rather than remove it>

If you enter the command into the run box the following message will be displayed

Accept this after closing the programs shown; this will then remove the unnecessary Windows Messenger 4.x components. At this point you will be asked to reboot your system.

On next reboot once you have logged on to your system you will be greeted by the following message.

Select yes to allow your personalized settings to be cleaned up and wait for your desktop to load. You now should have only 1 version of Messenger start with Windows.

Removing Windows Messenger 5.0

Go to start > run and enter
msiexec.exe /x {ABEB838C-A1A7-4C5D-B7E1-8B4314B10138}
Windows Messenger 5 will then be automatically removed.

or

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Messenger
In this folder you will find a file called messenger.msi, right click on it and select uninstall. The version number of messenger can be obtained by
opening the main Windows Messenger window and going to Help > About.