Here is a couple of tips for MSN Messenger, get rid of the annoying stuff.
Remove the Tabs on the left hand side.
> Tools > Options > Secuurity > Enable "This is a shared computer dont show my tabs"
Remove the advertising marquee at the bottom.
this also removes the Tabs.
In windows XP open your C/: drive, and go Windows/System32/drivers/etc and open the "Hosts" file in notepad.
Dont worry this is safe - you cant break anything:
add this line at the very end of the text file below the other entries exactly as written;
127.0.0.1 config.messenger.msn.com
There is a free Patcher that modifies these things and more, but as that requires making changes to the microsoft code, it is illegal and is never guarenteed to be reliable. However i tested it and it works on my machine ok.