Messenger disable tool

Is there any difference between disabling and uninstalling Windows Messenger using the MessengerDisable tool, or do both of them only serve the function of hiding the Windows Messenger?

I ran MessengerDisable from Doug Knox to get the windows messenger to quit loading at startup. I chose the option to uninstall windows messenger where it says if you choose this option, the Hide Messenger option will automatically be ticked. After I unzipped it and ran it, the button simply acted like it had been clicked and that was it.

Although I've used this tool before, I was left with the question what the tool actually does. Normally when something is uninstalled, there is some action of the hard drive while it uninstalls files. This seems to do nothing more than switch a setting so the messenger will no longer be visible. Does anyone know more about this?

 

I had run the Windows Messenger removal tool that I got from a link here. It has the options to hide or uninstall the messenger. I looked at the link you put up and it says to go to Windows Components. Although I had run the removal tool, Windows Messenger was still listed as active in the Windows Components, so I don't think the Messenger Removal Tool actually removes it. I think it only hides it.
Now I've unticked it from the list of Windows Components and that caused it to look like it was going through a de-installation, but I don't think it does.

 

That's interesting. When I have run it, it is also removed from the Windows Components list. But you're right about it not being a big uninstallation process. It runs rather quickly.

And you're right about the automatically ticking "Hide Messenger from Outlook Express" whenever you tick "Uninstall Messenger".

There is some story behind Windows Messenger and many people may disagree with me here but I think it was mostly a problem in Windows 2000 with the Messenger service. I personally have not seen Messenger popups while using XP but others claim otherwise.

 

I began getting the Windows Messenger icon in the system tray right after I clicked on a Contact button for a website which automatically looks for pop3 connections to your computer. It found Outlook Express on mine and opened it. After that, the Windows Messenger icon always appeared in the system tray.

 

About all you can do is set it not to start with Windows, and disable it as an add-on in your web browser, typically IE. Windows Messenger Service is totally unrelated to Windows Messenger, and is a Windows type 023 NT service, which can also be disabled from the Administrative Tools Services list in XP.

 

plodr,
Thank you ... It occurred to me that that must be the case. I wonder if the tool which offers to remove Windows messenger permanently might have been built prior to XP? That would explain why there are options to either disable it or remove it.