Hide your Windows Messenger contacts from your Outlook Express list

If you use Windows Messenger and Outlook Express then you would already know that the Windows Messenger contacts will automatically appear in your Outlook Express address book. If you delete a Messenger contact in Outlook Express then it will also be deleted in Windows Messenger, which may not be what you wanted to do. So the solution is to hide your Windows Messenger contacts.

Messenger contacts are visible	Messenger contacts are hidden

If you are like me and have had enough of Messenger contacts always being present, then hide its contacts!

Here is how it can be done:

Click Start, Run and type regedit. Click on OK and you will have the Windows Registry open in front of you.

Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Add a new DWORD value called Hide Messenger and give it a value of 2 in the input field.

You can also download this reg file that will take care of the changes for you!

It is not necessary to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect, close Outlook Express and open it again to notice all of the Messenger contacts have disappeared.