I installed Windows Live Messenger 2009 (aka Messenger 9) and
it’s not working for me so I want to uninstall it. Problem is
it’s not listed in Control Panel. Like others uninstalling
Messenger 9 I’ve deleted the files from the systems disk but
whenever I try reinstalling Messenger 8.5 it says that I’m still
using 9.0. Should I give up and just reformat my whole system?
•
I’ve been getting variations on this question a lot lately
because people can’t seem to resist installing Beta software. (Hint:
don’t – no matter what anyone says – unless you
really know what you’re doing.)
As with all Beta software, there may be problems and you may find
yourself wanting to revert to the previous version.
Except in this case Microsoft has done a nice job of hiding the
uninstaller. Yes, it’s there, it’s just not obvious. And no, a
reformat isn’t required.
•
I have to repeat myself about installing Beta software. To put it
bluntly, unless you really know what you’re doing, installing Beta
software is asking for trouble. So don’t be surprised at all when
trouble finds you.
The right way to install Beta software is to:
"… unless you really know what you’re doing, installing Beta
software is asking for trouble."
- Take a full image backup of your machine.
- Install the Beta software.
- Play with the Beta software to try it out and see if you
like it or not.
- Restore your machine completely from that
image backup to remove the Beta software.
Beta software shares at least one characteristic with viruses:
once it’s on your machine you don’t really know what it’s going to
do. It will have bugs, and there’s no guarantee that
uninstalling just the application, or updating the application to a
later version, will actually work. If you read the licensing
agreement for Beta software, you’ll typically find that they warn
you about exactly this.
I know we don’t always follow those rules, and that’s one way we
end up with systems that have problems and software that doesn’t
work.
Enough said.
Let’s uninstall.
I don’t normally run Windows Live Messenger, so this was a good
opportunity for me to download it and try it out. I was surprised at
the size of the installation, and it quickly became clear that
Microsoft was attempting to "bundle" a number of applications into a
single installation. Yes, you could choose only one, like Messenger,
but the download was still significantly larger than in versions
past. That was my first clue.
With Windows Live Messenger installed, I went to Control Panel’s
Add/Remove list, and sure enough, it wasn’t there. But something
else was:
"Windows Live Essentials" appears to be the umbrella uninstaller
for Windows Live Messenger and all the other Windows Live products
you may have installed. Click on its Change/Remove.
You’ll be asked if you want to Uninstall, or Repair a Windows Live
program. Select Uninstall and click
Continue. Then you’ll get the list:
Make sure that Messenger is checked and click
Continue.
That’s it. Windows Live Messenger has been uninstalled from my
machine, and hopefully now from yours as well.
