One thing I don’t understand is why the latest Windows Live Messenger has to take up a space in the Windows 7 taskbar area? In Vista and XP, whenever you click the Windows Live Messenger’s X button at the top right, it doesn’t really terminates the program but instead it minimizes to the notification area or some people call it the traybar. But in Windows 7, when you click the X button, the messenger icon is still showing in the notification area and also takes up a space in taskbar which I find it annoying! Other than being annoying, I’m sure some of you wouldn’t want your boss to see that you have Windows Live Messenger running at taskbar.

In Windows 7, they have this new feature where you can pin programs to the taskbar so when you easily launch your most frequently used programs. However this is not the case for Windows Live Messenger in Windows 7. IF Windows Live Messenger is being auto pinned to taskbar, you should see “Unpin this program from taskbar” instead of “Pin this program to taskbar. After doing a little research, I’ve found out how to easily remove Windows Live Messenger from the taskbar and just leave it only in notification tray area.


Just follow the few simple steps below on how to remove Windows Live Messenger from taskbar. Before you start, make sure that Windows Live Messenger is not running. Simply right click on Messenger and select Exit.

1. Click on the Windows 7 Start Menu button

2. Click on All Programs and look for Windows Live Messenger shortcut.

3. Right click on Windows Live Messenger shortcut and select Properties.

4. Go to Compatibility tab.

5. Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select Windows Vista (Service Pack 2).

6. Click OK to close the Windows Live Messenger Properties window.

Now when you run Windows Live Messenger, sign in and click the X button, it will only show the messenger icon at notification area but nothing at Taskbar. A good tip to keep your taskbar neat.