This is a real basic how-to, but something I constantly find people asking about. Most people don’t like the new Microsoft Live messenger, and soon regret ever updating to it, hard to avoid in the first place as Microsoft flag it as recommended in Windows updates.
Not many people know, but Microsoft do keep the old messenger themselves, this is to account for people on Windows XP, which doesn’t support the new Live essentials stuff. Follow the steps below to uninstall live essentials and get the old messenger back, if you don’t have the new messenger skip to step 2.
- Removing the new Live Messenger and Essentials. This is the part most people have problems with. Click the Windows Orb (Start button) , then Control Panel. Under Programs click Uninstall a program. Go to the bottom and you’ll see “Windows Live Essentials 2011″, this contains Live messenger. Right click it then click Uninstall/Change. Select “Remove one or more Windows Live programs”, for the old messenger to install we need to lose all trace of Essentials, so select ALL of the boxes then click the Uninstall button. Afterwards you should restart your pc.
- Go to http://explore.live.com/windows-live-Messenger-XP. This is the old msn that everyone used to know and love, allowing you to block users, etc. I recommend getting it from here and not one of the 3rd party sites. Next to the download button, select your language, then click Download.
- Once it’s downloaded select messenger, you’ll probably want the
