my love/hate relationship w/ msmsgs.exe

Why do I have three, yes count three, instances of MS messenger processes running in the background when I'm not even using it? I kill each one of them but somehow they resurrect out of their miserable hole. I've disabled the messenger service thru services.msc, so shouldn't that be enough to bury the msmsgs.exe for good? Does anyone have an answer to cremate the damn thing for good?

 

Try running "Shoot the Messenger":

http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm

It allows you to safely turn Messenger on and off.

 

Kill the messenger does not seem to work on my system (XP)? I have uninstalled the program but it will not die. I can temporarily end the process but it comes right back with a little smerk.

 

Make sure you're not confusing the windows messenger services -- to be disabled via the control panel
and the MSN messenger / now often mentioned Windows Messenger too to add to the confusion and the extra joy for the latter one with Messenger Plus!
The MSN Messenger has to be disabled from the msconfig, get it from the autostart if it is there at startop after reboot, make sure it is not in the startup with Internet Explorer and from Outlook Express. 3 instances? looks like it.
Anyway, the Windows Messenger (the thing you disable via control panel - no need to uninstall, just uncheck/close it, you might ever need it with remote desktop functionallity) that one you could see popup with spam pops.
The MSN you can easily start manually again from wherever you put it's shortcut -- handy if you need to send or get larger files from somebody or a quick other thing like check if they are online, whatever......
Once from your autostart they should not start anymore at all. Hope it helps also on your XP!

Please let us know if this helps for you?

 

I can see four msmsgs applications running with PE. If I disable the program using Shoot the messenger, I watch it go away then resurface after about thirty seconds. If I kill the process using process explorer same thing. If I kill the process tree it takes a little longer to resurface but it does come back. What am I missing here?

 

Hi, Vulcan

Have you tried xp-antispy.

Link to it here:- XP-ANTISPY

TheQuest

 

solution: enter this into a Start -> Run box:


RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

press ok, after restart the computer the error message should be gone.


This removes Messenger from the system. If it displays an error message, don't worry, just press OK.

 

I used your advice to delete the application altogether. Also, love the xpantispy program Thanks gentlemen.

-vulcan

 

Good advice all you guys gave to vulcan/nikoschopen. It certainly is one of the first things I do on freshly installed XP systems, remove that nasty Messenger.

Port Explorer ( http://www.diamondcs.com.au/portexplorer/index.php?page=download ) will allow you to verify that Microsoft Messenger (msmsg.exe) is infact gone from your system.

-Jason-

 

Hi, vulcan

Glad to hear you have it sorted.
TheQuest

 

Hi, Jason_DiamondCS

Here Here.

BUT not HERE,
TheQuest

 

Please note that there may appear to be more than 1 instance of a program like this because it uses many sockets - but check the PID and they should all be the same process (same PID)

Uninstalling is a good idea if you dont use it, glad to see you are happy

 

I couldn'T understand your problem very well but I Think your problem is msmsgs.exe this file belongs to msn messenger.**BUt the version of Xp** I Had the same problem You could easly enter 2 your program files then sellect messenger folder (not msn messenger folder) then you could delete msmsgs.exe then Voila Your problem is gone. .. simple isn't it

 

There is also a spyware/password stealer program that disguises itself as msmsgs.exe. User names and passwords are logged to a file called C:\indianhackers4msn.txt. If this file exists you are infected. Deletion and other info can be found here:

http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/m/msn_messenger_fake.asp

 

Depends where the msm... is running: belongs in the program files, if it is in windows\system32 it's dangerous business and needs removal.
In that case there can be more wrong on the system and posting your AutoStartViewer log (using the tool from the DiamondCS free products page) or Hijackthis log (see [thread] 15913[/thread] step #2 about how to post it) and a snapshot of your PortExplorer table (press pauze, save table to text, edit out your own IP out for your privacy when pasting it in your posting)
There are many nasties using the msm files, as you can see in a cleaning case in the trojans forum, where it disabled regedit, taskmanager and several more. https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=35268 See especially the pages TonyH posted there.
But if you would have been infected with one of these your postings would have mentioned other things i guess.

 

I used your command to remove Messenger. Worked like a charm. When I rebooted today, i got another message though: "Messenger 4.7 has been removed from your system. Do you want to clean up the files? Yes or No?"

What is that all about?

Tracy

 

Whilst talking about Messenger and related items ie. unwanted services and vulnerabilities.
Here is another good clean up tool by our own GKweb called WWDC which can be found here: http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm

 

Easy way to remove: Let Windows do it.
http://myitforum.techtarget.com/articles/15/view.asp?id=7033

I assume it can be easily restored as well from Add/remove windows components.
worked for me.

err.. Sorry didn't see how old this thread was!!!

 

had similar if not same prob. wanted to say thx to elliot,no risky download neccasary and worked when simple deletion didnt do due to it being used by other stuff. .

 

You'll never know how much it rocks that you shared that.

 

You don't have to remove Messenger to get it out of your face. Just rename MSMSGS.EXE to anything else, such as MSMSGS.EXE.XXX, and it will never run again. You may want to then put a fake MSMSGS.EXE in its place, to prevent problems in the event that you run a registry cleaner or something--this way, the file MSMSGS.EXE won't be found missing. You can create the bogus MSMSGS.EXE using Notepad; just save a 0-byte file.

 

Thanks for this little useful command!!! I have been trying to get rid of this annoyance for such a long time~~~ I just have to say, "Hallelujah!"

 

Eliot - you rule!!!

 

If you ever have to re do a clean install, you can use an unattended install disk and in the winnt.sif file that you would create, you can intentionally exclude messenger.

For that matter you can exclude all sorts, such as MSN explorer and many other bits of cr*p that XP installs by default.

 

Messenger Service is totally different from the instant messenger you're talking about.

The Windows Messenger, or MSN Messenger...easily shut off by opening it once...tools drop down menu...and unchecking the top 4 checkboxes. If you use newer versions of Outlook or Outlook Express, also in their options, uncheck "Log into messenger". It's that simple.