messanger

Hello, could someone please suggest a fix for me.
I am running windows xp, messanger is default in the set up.  When I am connected to the internet, people can see me online. I would like to only have msn messanger when I want it.
I have gone into  Control panel, administrative tools, service shortcut, then scroll down and found messanger and I clicked to disable.  But this still didn't help.  Thanks if anyone can help solve this.

Click the little green man in the bottom right hand corner. Click 'Tools' menu, the 'General' tab and un-check the box next to "Automatically run Messenger when I log onto the computer".

The Messenger service in the MMC is not associated with Instant messenger (windows version or the MSN version) application.

Maybe someone can explain exactly what that service is used for?

Well the messenger serviceenables you to send and receive messages over any network, as long as destination address runs a NT based OS or any tool that  can intercept those messages.

A command to send a message over the network is : NET SEND [IP] [MESSAGE]. When you type this in a command screen, the [MESSAGE] will appear at the PC assigned to [IP]. NET SEND will fail when the service is disabled at that PC.

This service also enables certain spammers to just send messages right to your desktop. Very annoying and I disabled the service.

Thx for the help, I had already gone into that and uncheckecked the box.......thx