Windows Messenger sneaky enabled

I certainly didn't enable or install Windows Messenger explicitly, but there it is in my task bar. WinXP, non-SP3.

Does it get enabled with miscellaneous Windows updates now? I did do a couple of updates recently, an Outlook Junk e-mail filter (KB956077) and malicious software removal tool (KB890830) but nothing had any indication that Windows Messenger was being installed or enabled.

I've found an MS article on how to disable it, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302089 but it annoys me that it got enabled without my permission.

 

aha, found it. An update log in the \Windows directory for KB946648 includes info about Program Files > Messenger.


This update: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8f588f7e-c4ed-42a0-b157-54b1eda60474&displaylang=en KB946648, which was described as:

Naive that I am, it didn't occur to me that "updating Messenger" would also enable it. < whap to the forehead! >. Sneaky b**ds.