I return to this subject having just discovered some additional information - new to me - that allays fears highlighted above.
We are inundated with information about how to disable Messenger, but what about the side effects (?); namely, those programs that rely on it to issue alerts (e.g. some antivirus programs). We hear little about this aspect.
It now transpires - certainly on XP - that it is possible to ascertain such dependencies, allowing one to disable Messenger with confidence .....or otherwise.
Courtesy of
"Ask Jack"/GuardianUnlimited Online, I quote.....
".....Many people are suffering from pop-up advertising messages that arrive via a low-level messaging service that is part of all NT-based versions of Windows (NT/2000/XP). It has nothing to do with Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger or any other messaging application.....
.....You can turn off this messenger service yourself, in one minute. Log on to Windows XP in administrator mode, go to the Control Panel, and open the Administrative Tools folder. Double-click the Services icon, and scroll down the Name column until you get to Messenger. Double-click Messenger to get the Properties sheet (or right-click it and select Properties), and then click the Dependencies tab. The lower box should be empty, which is to say, nothing depends on you running Messenger.
Go back to the General tab and look for the Service Status section. If Messenger is running, click Stop to stop it. Next, go to Startup type and click the down arrow on the right. Clicking the arrow lets you select Manual or Disabled, and you can select either. If Messenger has no dependencies, select Disabled and click OK to finish. You will not get any more Messenger pop-ups."