deleting messenger adress list in XP

MaatMaat
edited June 2004 in Science & Tech
ok, in MSN messenger in windows, it keeps a list of adresses that have been used to log into it. (they apear in a drop down menu on a pop up when you click on Log In) this list has gotten to long and i was wondering if anyone new a way to get rid of all the ones that arent needed anymore

thanks

Comments

  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    Control Panel->User Accounts->*Click on your username*->Manage my network passwords :)

    Delete the entries you dont want :)
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited June 2004
    Start button -> Control Panel - Users. Click your user name, then on the left hand side you will see Manage Network Passwords. Click that, you will get a list of ID's that have been used. Delete whatever you do not want.

    ///EDIT - dang, I was on the phone when I started my reply, so Shorty snuck in and beat me to it....

    NOTE: if you have multple users and use the Welcome Screen, you may see how many unread messages your user has. Once a hotmail address has been added to your MSN Messenger List, it will stay in the checking routine that shows you how many unread messages you have. This gets to be a pain in the butt, as you suddenly start to see unread message indicators for hotmail accounts you don't care about. These have to be manually removed using Regedit. If you have this problem and want to fix it, post here again and we can help you sort that out.



    Dexter...
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    Beat ya Dexter :p;D
  • MaatMaat
    edited June 2004
    thanks,
    i sort of have the problem you mentiond with the window log in screen
    my main computer that i have messenger on and that i check my e-mail on isnt actually mine.
    when the windows welcom/log in screen comes up it displays the number of unread e-mail messages i have, but i dont really want to have that shown. is there a way to remove that so that it wont come up again everytime i log in?

    love the site

    thanks
    Will
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited June 2004
    Yes, but you need to use Regedit, so I will first state my standard Regedit warning:


    ***DISCLAIMER*** Using Regedit without adequate knowledge can seriously foul up your computer. Proceed with caution.

    First, make sure that you have exited all internet programs: MSN Messenger, Internet Explorer an Outlook Express.

    If you know how to start and use Regedit, skip this paragraph. To start Regedit, click on your Start Menu, and select RUN. In the RUN dialog box, type REGEDIT and click OK. You will see a listing that looks sort of like the Windows Explorer, with My Computer, then probably 6 sub-folders. Each Subfoler will have a "+" beside it which you can click to open it and see more subfolders (called EXPANDING), or a "-" you can click to close the subfolders. Using these, you can navigate to specific Registry entries called Keys. You can also search for entries using the Edit -> Find or CTRL-F command, and use F3 to look for repeat entries. This is important, because often Reg entries will be in more than one location.

    In this case, the best thing to do is use the Edit -> Find or CTRL-F command. Change the checkboxes to search for KEYS only, and in the search text box type in:

    unreadmail

    All one word. Hit Find Next. See the attached image below for reference.


    Regedit will search the Registry for matching entries. It should find 2 entries. One will be in:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

    The other will be in a user-specific folder, which will have a name with a bunch of numbers in it, like this:

    HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-1757981266-1606980848-854245398-1004\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

    *Your numbers will be different than mine, because they are generated based in the user name. That is why we are searching for the keys rather than navigating directly to them.

    When you find the first unreadmail key, click the + if necessary to expand the sub-folder and see the list of mail accounts it is checking. Click on any of the ones you wish to delete, and hit the DELETE key on your keyboard. Click YES to the confirmation box that pops up. Now hit the F3 key to fnd the next unreadmail key. When you find it, repeat the expand and delete on any accounts you wish to remove.

    Exit the Regedit program. When you next see your Welcome screen, you should only see the entries for the accounts you care about. However, anytime you use either Messenger or Hotmail on Windows XP to check those accounts again, the reg keys for that account will be added again, meaning you will have to remove those keys again if you do not wish for others using the computer to be able to see that account name and the associated unread mail count.

    Let me know if you need any more help with this, and again, be very careful using Regedit if you are not familiar with it.

    Dexter...
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