Windows Live Messenger is one of the most popular chat programs in the World, with millions of people using it every day. However, if you wanted to remove this tool, you may find that it's a lot harder than what you might think. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear in the ADD / REMOVE programs panel, meaning you've got to get a bit more inventive if you want to remove it from your PC.
Unfortunately, Windows Live Messenger isn't able to be uninstalled via the "traditional" method of clicking "Uninstall" in the add / remove programs panel. This is a big problem for many people because it leaves only a few options for you to remove it. Luckily, one of those options is quite simple. You just need to do what the uninstaller feature would have done, but do it manually. This means that you just need to remove Windows Live's program files and then its registry keys which link it into Windows.
To Program Files of Windows live are the files which allow it to run. They are very important and removing them will stop it working on your PC. To do this, just go to 'My Computer' and then load up c:/program files/Windows Live. This folder will contain all the separate files that Windows Live Messenger needs to function, meaning that you just need to select it and press SHIFT + DELETE to permanently remove it from your PC. This will stop the program from working on your computer and will prevent it from ever working again, unless you reinstall it.
After you've done that, you then need to "cut" the program out of Windows. Because Windows is a very dynamic system, it allows programs to "link" into it by using a series of registry keys. These tell your computer everything from how to load the program to where it's installed, and by removing these links, it will effectively make your computer "forget" the program was ever installed. To do this, you just need to search for "regedit.exe" on your system. Open it up and you'll be able to see the registry database in its entirety. You then need to press CTRL+F to search for "Windows Live" and then remove any keys that come up.
Although this method works, it's very risky. If you delete the wrong registry key, you could cause serious damage for your computer. Luckily, there's actually a much easier way to uninstall Windows Live Messenger. It doesn't appear in the add / remove panel because it has "Windows" in its name - this is a common fault with Windows and needs to be fixed. However, this doesn't stop uninstaller programs such as Wizard Uninstaller from listing the program and allowing you to uninstall it from your PC.
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