K-Squared Ramblings » Microsoft http://www.hyperborea.org/journal Sci-fi, comics, humor, photos...it's all fair game. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:27:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= How to Get Rid of Windows Live Messenger http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2010/04/removing-windows-live-messenger/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2010/04/removing-windows-live-messenger/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:37:50 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/?p=8010 Continue reading →]]> You know how it goes. You install something that you think might be useful or interesting, and it installs something else that just. won’t. go. away. I ran into the problem while setting up a new Windows 7 system at work. I installed Windows Live Essentials mainly so that I’d have them available if I ever had to talk someone through tech support, and it included Windows Live Messenger.

I don’t use Windows Live Messenger. I don’t even have an account on Windows Live Messenger. But every time I logged in to my system, WLM would pop up a window and ask me to log in. Every single time.

There was no obvious way to disable it, and most of the suggestions I found online only applied to earlier versions of Windows.

It doesn’t provide an option to stop it from launching on startup. Or rather, it does, but only if you’ve logged into WLM. Since I didn’t have an account, I couldn’t do that, and I wasn’t about to create one just to turn it off!

It wasn’t in the Start-Up folder.

I didn’t see it in Services, so I couldn’t disable it there.

I tried running System Configuration and disabling it in the Startup tab, but that didn’t work.

I couldn’t even find it in the list of programs to uninstall.

But you know what?

I finally got rid of it! And it was easier than I expected.

It turns out that if you uninstall Windows Live Essentials, you don’t have to remove the whole thing. You can choose which pieces to remove! Just tell it to uninstall, and it’ll bring up a checklist of the pieces that are on the system. Check off Windows Live Messenger, leave the pieces you want to keep, and hit Continue.

Done!

]]> http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2010/04/removing-windows-live-messenger/feed/ 20 Microsoft Dinner http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/10/microsoft-dinner/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/10/microsoft-dinner/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/10/16/line-items-for-2009-10-16/ Humor from @ThisIsTrue: If Microsoft Invented the TV Dinner. #

]]> http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/10/microsoft-dinner/feed/ 0 Word Weirdness, Bandwidth and Typos http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/09/word-bwidth-typos/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/09/word-bwidth-typos/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:31:39 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/?p=6682 Continue reading →]]>
  • Odd: the Weather Channel Android app is 3 times the size of Sherpa. What did they do, forget to compress the graphics? #
  • Never underestimate the bandwidth of a truck full of disks on the freeway. Or a pigeon w/a datacard. #
  • Realized while writing “Go to Help…” that it would be easy to make a very unfortunate typo. #
  • WTF? MS Word 2007 *still* has no keyboard shortcut for Find Next…and it’s not listed in the Customize Keyboard dialog! #
  • Aha! It’s called “RepeatFind” even though the button is “Find Next” and DOES have keys…Shift+F4 & Ctrl+Alt+Y??? Standard is F3 or Ctrl+G! #
  • Saw a good typo on a tech forum: Windows XP “Service Park 2″ #
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/09/word-bwidth-typos/feed/ 0     Reinstalling Windows, etc. http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/08/reinstall/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/08/reinstall/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/08/04/line-items-for-2009-08-04/ Continue reading →]]>
  • Taking the opportunity to do a clean Windows installation (i.e. old box died). Downside: reinstalling a bazillion apps & updates. #
  • Hmm. Firefox spellcheck underlines Hiro but is perfectly OK with Nakamura. #
  • Ah, a clean desktop! Only 2 icons: Recycle Bin and my rebuild to-do list. #
  • I agree with @rzazueta:

    Also – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE refrain from building sites all in Flash! Treat Flash like you treat images – enhancement. #sbbuzz #

    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/08/reinstall/feed/ 0     MS & BS http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/07/ms-bs/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/07/ms-bs/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:29:11 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/?p=6637 Continue reading →]]>
  • Huh. Still not sure what the point of a Microsoft retail store is going to be, but they’re opening in Mission Viejo. #
  • Why do some people feel the need to make $#!7 up to enhance political messages? Don’t they know it undermines their position when exposed? #
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/07/ms-bs/feed/ 0     Double Tap & Windows 7 Priorities http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/06/2tap-win7-box/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/06/2tap-win7-box/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/06/25/line-items-for-2009-06-25/ Continue reading →]]>
  • This double-tap to unlock feature is probably good for not hitting numbers with your face while talking, but it’s a pain for phone menus #
  • Um, yeah, that’s what I most want from an OS: “Microsoft also plans to offer [Windows 7] in an easier-to-open box.” #
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/06/2tap-win7-box/feed/ 0     Bunnies, Star Wars Religions, and Patch Day http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/04/bunnies-swreg-patch/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/04/bunnies-swreg-patch/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/04/14/line-items-for-2009-04-14/ Continue reading →]]>
  • Wow, remote code execution vulnerability in WordPad. Ah, Microsoft patch day! #
  • WTF? K9 email app for G1 just re-sent a bunch of old messages from my inbox. #
  • Religion in Star Wars: I thought of Jedi, Sith, Ewok and Yuuzhan Vong. As it turns out, the Expanded Universe is VERY expanded! #
  • Bunnies aren’t just cute, like everybody supposes: Tiny Titans #15. #

  • Speaking of bunnies, this sounds like spam for Bugs: “Use your carrot better.” #
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/04/bunnies-swreg-patch/feed/ 0     WordMess http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/02/wordmess/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/02/wordmess/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:30:00 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/02/20/line-items-for-2009-02-20/ Must remember: No pasting from MS Word into WordPress. It’s faster to paste plain text and redo formatting than clean up Word’s mess. #

    ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/02/wordmess/feed/ 0     Installing IE8 RC1 — Or Trying http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/ie8-rc1-crash/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/ie8-rc1-crash/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:59:59 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/01/27/line-items-for-2009-01-27/ Continue reading →]]>
  • Installed IE8 RC1. Installer crashed, and I ended up with IE7…even though I’d been running the IE8 beta before. #
  • IE8 installer crashes system. New HW checks out. Bad RAM may have screwed something up before I replaced it. Time for System Restore. *grr* #
  • Wow, System Restore is taking a lot longer this time. Maybe it’s actually working? (Or maybe safe mode just makes it slower?) #
  • I can’t remember how many times I’ve rebooted this computer today. (And no, safe mode didn’t solve it) #
  • Finally got IE8 RC1 installed by telling it not to install updates immediately. The Malicious Software Scan was crashing the system. WTF? #
  • Now that I’ve FINALLY got IE8 RC1 running, a cursory check of websites I maintain shows no glaring problems. *whew!* #
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/ie8-rc1-crash/feed/ 0     Weirdness http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/weirdness/ http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/weirdness/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:59:59 +0000 Kelson http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/archives/2009/01/08/line-items-for-2009-01-08/ Continue reading →]]>
  • It’s still foggy.
  • My Windows box is crashing again.
  • Twhirl is staying faded, as if in the background, but I can still type.
  • Only one Microsoft update this month! Of course it’s critical, remote code exec, in all current versions of Windows, AND requires a restart…
    • ]]>     http://www.hyperborea.org/journal/2009/01/weirdness/feed/ 0