Yahoo Messenger, as almost all Internet users will agree is one of the most popular online chatting and instant messaging client. Yahoo Messenger allows users to interact with each other in the real time. The only requirement is that you need to be connected via Internet and logged in to your Yahoo Messenger. Besides chatting, the messenger also allows you to listen to online radio stations and check your emails.
Although the benefits of Yahoo Messenger are many, certain situations may require you to uninstall the application. Examples of a few such situations are listed below:
- Yahoo Messenger fails to load due to corrupt or damaged installation files.
- You are not able to upgrade your Yahoo Messenger to its latest version.
- Yahoo Messenger is adversely affecting your systems performance by hogging your system resources.
- You are continuously getting system errors due to Yahoo Messenger.
- You simply wish to use another messenger for online chats.
Steps to manually remove Yahoo Messenger
The following steps will guide you on how to manually remove Yahoo Messenger from your computer:
- If you are logged in to Yahoo Messenger, then first log out and exit the application.
- Now, go to Start menu and select Control Panel.
- Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
- Browse through the list of programs mentioned in the Add or Remove Programs window and highlight the Yahoo! Messenger option.
- Now, click the Change/Remove button.
- In the Yahoo! Messenger dialog box, click the Finish button.
- Restart your computer, in case the uninstallation process does not restart your system automatically.
- Double-click on My Computer icon on your desktop. Navigate to Yahoo folder (By default, the location is C:\Program Files\Yahoo) and delete it.
Note: The above action may cause you to lose all of your saved archives. It is recommended that you take back up of your archives before deleting the Yahoo folder. - Finally, go to Start > Run, type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor window. Locate and delete the entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Yahoo, and exit the Registry Editor window.
Caution: The above step requires you to manually edit windows registry. Any mistake while editing the registry may cause irreversible damage to it and may render your system unusable. That is why it is recommended that you use a reliable registry tool, such as RegGenie, to make a back up of the registry before proceeding with the changes. You can also use this tool to perform a thorough scan of the registry and get rid of any left behind Yahoo Messenger keys to ensure complete removal.
In case you are not comfortable in performing the above steps, you can take help of an efficient third-party uninstaller program, such as Perfect Uninstaller. This is a simple tool that allows you to get rid of all the unwanted programs on your machine in a jiffy.