Are you sure you're making the distinction between Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger? That could cause two to run. C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger = MSN Messenger C:\Program Files\Messenger = Windows Messenger You could rename/remove the Windows messenger and never see it again, not affecting MSN Messenger at all. If it's "read-only", then right click the folder, go to "Properties", then uncheck the "read-only" box. There is an issue when you remove Windows Messenger, when you load Outlook Express and use the Contacts pane. This causes OE to try to load Messenger, it can't and this causes a long delay. The registry entry that corrects this is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Hide Messenger A DWord value of 2 prevents OE from trying to load it.