win7 IM won't go away

[ahhaa]

Hi guys!
I have this dumb prob on startup of a new Acer 64 bit win7 laptop...

This big vertical banner always pops up as soon as a wifi connection is made, reminding me to sign in to Instant Messenger. I click the close button, but instead it minimizes to the toolbar. Then I can actually close it with the right mouse button.

This is even more aggravating than the talking paper clip. I never use IM, have no idea how it got activated (actually I have a clue- going thru a major M$ site update).

Does win7 still use IM for update stuff? How/where do I shut off the IM auto start?

Thanks in advance!

[Ai Haibara]

In Windows Live Messenger, find the Tools menu (if the menu bar is hidden), and pick Options. In the window that pops up, click on "Sign In" in the left pane. Under the General heading, at the top of the window, there should be a checkbox with "Automatically run Windows Live Messenger when I log on to Windows". Make sure it's unchecked.

(I believe the option is similar for MSN Messenger, but I don't have it around to check.)

[Poppa_Meth]

Is it Windows Live Messenger or Acer's own software. Acer packs a crap load of junk on their systems now, including their own IM program. I use PC Decrapifier first thing to remove all the junk software when I get a new PC.

[ranchhand]

...what Poppameth said: I recently got two nice Acers with Win7/64bit for my kids and both came with boatloads of buffalo chips tryouts, adjunk, useless utilities, etc. Generally, what I did: entered Add/Remove programs and removed the junkware; then, after each one I removed I used Regseeker by Hover to manually scan the register amd remove all entries for each program. We are talking gigs of junk, here. Especially nuke anything having to do with AOL, including AOL IM. I used Hijack This to scan for junk auto-loads and BHOs and removed those. Finally, I got rid of Mcafee Antivirus, probably the most useless piece of junkware feisted on the public. Immediately both units got easily a 20% boost in speed and performance. I turned off Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. I downloaded and installed Avira (free) AV, and disabled realtime scanning and phishing options. Then I installed Zone Alarm (free) firewall. Both units are running quick, lean & mean. My son has the top end unit, and does audio editing with Powertools and other utilites, and he can have several screens open at the same time and it doesn't even blink. Just a thought.

[ahhaa]

Thanks guys, or should I call you the 'usual suspects'? 8)

While I'm at it, another brilliantly annoying innovation is the site-checking, login-remembering toolbars now included in the Security Suites, Sun updates... 'do you wanna do this? do you wanna do that?

Does anybody find these valuable enough to set up and use? Seriously...

[Poppa_Meth]

No. They've been a total annoyance for me. One of the first thing I do is uninstall preloaded security apps and install free ones. Avast AV, Comodo Firewall, Malwarebytes, Spywareblaster, CCleaner keep me in pretty good shape. I use Firefox with AdBlock Plus and Noscript to keep most of the junk from ever reaching my PC to begin with.