You can disable it by having it not run at boot time either by going into tools/options or by using msconfig to edit your startup.

That was my first suggestion too, mj2c, but, nope, that didn't work. We tried it.

That's good to know, Mary, because that's the only way we got rid of it in my friend's computer. I have instructions on how to do it several posts above yours about the Dell rep calling you.

So, do you have any feeling for how you like Win 7 yet, Mary? It took me a couple of weeks to feel comfortable in it.

Draclvr,
I'm still trying to get the "feel" of Win 7. It is incredibly fast compared to my old XP, but then I splurged a bit on this computer.
So far, so good (except for that messenger nonsense). I'm not sure I like that toolbar sitting up at the top in the middle of the screen. I may move that yet. The icons are so big--I should look to see if I can make them smaller.
For the time being, I'm trying different things. This weekend will be the first time I will have some time to just experiment.
I've got to get accustomed to my new wifi printer, too. Actually, the Dell Rep asked about the printer, too.

mj2c,
This is my third Dell over the years; I don't remember anyone calling me about the other machines--maybe because the others were bottom of the line models?? It was a nice touch, though, and worked out for me.

You can make the taskbar and icons smaller by right-clicking the taskbar, select Properties and tick "Use small icons".

I got rid of the toolbar at the top, too. I only have my toolbar at the bottom of the screen and a couple of gadgets on the right and a couple of icons on the right.

I like the larger icons on the bottom taskbar, though. When I boot up my XP drive, the old ones look Lilliputian in size!

Toolbar at the top? You mean the main toolbar? Was already at the bottom when I installed?

There is the regular toolbar at the bottom, but there is another toolbar with large icons at the top.

Ah that might be something to do with your makers software. Now that you mention it when I first got mine it had a HP (Hewlet Packard) thing on there. It didnt stay long:-)


Think I might be getting my Taskbars and Toolbars mixed up:-)

I'll bet mj2c is right. I've worked on a couple of Dells that had that huge toolbar at the top - it was very annoying.

It's called the Dell Dock and this tells you how to disable it. Remove Dell Dock You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

I was able to stop mine by signing in and going to Tools-then options- then Preferences and unchecking the: Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts and unchecking: Allow Windows Mess. to run in the back ground.
That has worked for me on both machines destop and laptop

Computer manufacturers should be ashamed of themselves with all their bloatware.

I know some companies have really cut back, but it's still ridiculous.

The thing is, the people most likely to buy pre-built computers, are also most likely not to know how to remove all the bloat that comes with them.

I might be wrong, Winfrey, but I think things have changed with Windows 7. Your method worked for me on XP, but not on Win 7.

Winfrey,
I was trying to follow your instructions above, but I don't know where you're signing in to, and where to find the "tools" you go to.

Good to know Drac.
Mary I was going to my start button at the botton of your screen clicking on All Programs and finding Windows Messenger. clicking on it and opening it up. But if you have Win 7, as Drac just noted it won't work for you.

Well Ive got windows 7 and both methods work for me