hi im really new to this and i downloaded msn messenger for my imac and it froze with the beach ball spinning. so i shut off the computer and now there is question mark where the messenger should be and i just want to get rid of it.. how do i delete it completely off of my imac??? can someone pls help me???
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
help removing messenger off my imac
- Thread starter babsvii
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Did you install it to your applications folder? The question mark appearing generally means that the user has deleted the application from their computer. That would also explain the freezing, if you deleted something to do with it while it was running.
Or maybe it was run straight from the disk image, in which case it might show up on the dock but the application really doesn't exist anywhere, unless the disk image is mounted again.
getting rid of logins and other
messenger stores this info in the following folder:
/Users/ (your user name) /Library/Preferences/Microsoft
inside these files:
com.microsoft.Messenger.plist
com.microsoft.MessengerDaemon.plist
Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
That's where messenger stores info about the logins you've made.
So, to be able of cleaning it anytime you want, just do the following:
1- go to the folder and remove them
2- re-open messenger and go through the initial installation/login steps, making login with the account you want visible
3- close messenger
4- make a copy of these files (just renewed by messenger) in a separate folder (I just call it WHITE and keep it in the same place)
com.microsoft.Messenger.plist
com.microsoft.MessengerDaemon.plist
Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
They are now storing the "clean" info.
You can now open again messenger, make login with any other account for other friends, guests, etc...
Whenever you want to get rid of them in the login page, just close messenger, go back again to the folder
/Users/ (your user name) /Library/Preferences/Microsoft
and put back there the copy of them you keept in the "WHITE" folder. that will bring you again to the messenger nice login page with only one user account on the cache next time you open it.
And this is it!
It sucks however that mr. gates did not add a "remove login list" button in the login initial page...
messenger stores this info in the following folder:
/Users/ (your user name) /Library/Preferences/Microsoft
inside these files:
com.microsoft.Messenger.plist
com.microsoft.MessengerDaemon.plist
Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
That's where messenger stores info about the logins you've made.
So, to be able of cleaning it anytime you want, just do the following:
1- go to the folder and remove them
2- re-open messenger and go through the initial installation/login steps, making login with the account you want visible
3- close messenger
4- make a copy of these files (just renewed by messenger) in a separate folder (I just call it WHITE and keep it in the same place)
com.microsoft.Messenger.plist
com.microsoft.MessengerDaemon.plist
Microsoft Messenger User Cache.plist
They are now storing the "clean" info.
You can now open again messenger, make login with any other account for other friends, guests, etc...
Whenever you want to get rid of them in the login page, just close messenger, go back again to the folder
/Users/ (your user name) /Library/Preferences/Microsoft
and put back there the copy of them you keept in the "WHITE" folder. that will bring you again to the messenger nice login page with only one user account on the cache next time you open it.
And this is it!
It sucks however that mr. gates did not add a "remove login list" button in the login initial page...
^What does that have to do with anything?? 
Yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my head, which is why I asked if it had been installed to the applications folder.
@babsvii, the original file should be in your downloads still. Open it, and this time make sure to drag the Messenger icon from the window that opens into your Applications folder
Omni Geno said:
Yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my head, which is why I asked if it had been installed to the applications folder.
@babsvii, the original file should be in your downloads still. Open it, and this time make sure to drag the Messenger icon from the window that opens into your Applications folder
^ ya im a lil confused at what this is all about??..
^What does that have to do with anything??
Yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my head, which is why I asked if it had been installed to the applications folder.
@babsvii, the original file should be in your downloads still. Open it, and this time make sure to drag the Messenger icon from the window that opens into your Applications folder
when i downloaded it and then went through the process of installing it (i did everything it was telling me to do) well it was sitting there with the beach ball spinning i went into the application folder to see if it was there and there wasnt anything there... but there was the icon in my dock. once nothing was happening (i could see my whole friends list but couldnt click on anything or do anything) i decided that i would shut down my computer so i did and when i turned it on the icon in the dock was a questionmark... and there is nothing in the applications folder ever suggesting that i had downloaded messenger... really weird... a friend told me that it probably didnt work since there is nothing in the applications folder and that if i wanted to get rid of the ? mark to just drag if off of the dock so im going to try that when i get home... (at work right now so i cant try anything) then ill try downloading and installing it again...
i tried audium (or whatever its called) but i didnt really like it... i like the look of msn messenger... maybe cause thats what im use too. so i kinda want to stick with that... unless someone can suggest something better to use... i only have a hotmail account and thats what all my friends have so i need to stick with something that i can use hotmail with.
It might just be simpler to drag the question mark off the dock (like you said) then download messenger again and reinstall it. Just remember to drag the messenger icon into your applications folder if it doesn't do that during the installation process. I don't know why it wouldn't but I've had some annoying things happen when upgrading messenger and such.
Next time just force quite the application, almost certainly no need to shut the entire computer down, its not running Windows!
Hmm, just spotted i typed 'force quite' LOL. Force QUIT of course
Click on the Apple in the top left corner of the screen and select "Force Quit" then the app you want to quit (also, you can hold down the mouse button on a dock icon for several seconds and a Force Quit option will appear).
But yeah, the reason the question mark appeared is because you never actually installed it to your computer. Hence why it wasn't in your applications. It seems what you did was drag it straight from the install window to your dock, which will not work. You have to drag it to your applications folder, make sure it's in there, and THEN drag it to your dock from the Applications folder.
Hope that helps
http://freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/
Download and install AppCleaner it will help in deleting Apps and all the other files and stuff that are included.
Download and install AppCleaner it will help in deleting Apps and all the other files and stuff that are included.