Windows XP‘s built in Windows Messenger can be quite a nuiscance for those 99% of us that use Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) or any other instant messaging program instead of it.

To be honest, I don’t even really know why it even exists. Why does Microsoft need two free messenger programs, one much better than the other?

Anyway, here is how to remove Windows Messenger from your XP and save some valuable disk space.

Step 1: Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf and look for the file named sysoc.inf (NOT sysoc.PNF !), Copy it to a secure location on the hard drive to back it up. Remember to always back up befor making any tweaks or mofifications to Windows.

Step 2: Now we get to the diry work. Open sysoc.inf an look for the following line in the [Components] section:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

Remove “hide” so that the commas sit next to one another. This is what it should look like now:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

And you’re done editing! Save the file and quit.

Step 3: Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Add / Remove Windows Components and you should see “Windows Messenger” on the list. Check the box next to it to remove it.

Note: you can remove other Windows programs the same way, but as always, only at your own risk.