How do I remove email addresses from my WinXP Account?

I have Windows XP. When I boot up my computer I get to the user screen. It says "To begin, please click on your username" and under my username says: "426 unread mail messages"

When I move my mouse to this, it brings me a pop up and tells me that 426 unread messages from 3 different email addresses. The problem is, my friends have checked their email on my system and now I'm seeing their messages as well as my own! How can I delete their accounts?

Dave's Answer:

I think that you're confusing Windows XP with the Windows MSN Passport system since it's unlikely that your computer actually knows about mailboxes on other computers or that your friends email is being downloaded to your computer automatically.

In fact, WindowsXP has a way of slipping extra accounts into your Passport, which is nice if you have more than one account, but frustrating when they're not actually accounts you want to track.

Fortunately, that's not too hard to fix.

First off, go to Start --&bt; Settings --> Control Panels and choose User Accounts from the many options shown there. Here's what you'll see:

Choose your account, then you'll switch to:

Windows XP User Accounts: Change Account

Now, notice on the top left the link Manage my network passwords. Choose that and you'll have another window pop up:

Windows XP User Accounts: Stored Usernames

All you have to do here is identify your friends' account information and "Remove" it. "Passport Net\* (Passport)" is your base account, however, so keep that one intact.

When you've removed your friends accounts, close down all the windows, log out, and log in again. You should be all clear!

Categorized: Windows PC Help (Article 4184, Written by Dave Taylor)
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Comments

I can't find a place that tells me how to remove a couple of my no longer used e-mail addresses.

Where do I find that information?

Posted by: Doug Swain at October 7, 2005 2:10 PM

How to switch the e-mail addresses.

Posted by: Anil at December 14, 2005 9:19 PM

hey so i only had the .net passport in the stored pass and user names window i deleted it but still it shows 3 emails that are not even mine in the log on screen is there anything else i can do ?? thanks alot for your lp !

Posted by: alex at August 30, 2006 12:59 PM

I did what you mentioned above but my email was not on the list of accounts. How is it possible that it still shows my email? What else can I do to remove it from the pc? Thank you.

Posted by: Marco at September 6, 2006 11:47 AM

I have been trying for weeks to remove names from my personal contact list - no luck - how do I do this?

Posted by: Michael Schweiger at March 18, 2007 7:26 AM

click start, run, type regedit, press enter

at the top click edit, find

enter the first part of the email address in question (before the @ symbol) click find

this should show a tree, expanded to Unread Mail, click on the email address in this tree and press delete, yes to confirm, this should sort your problem

NOTE: this involves editing your registry, which is done incorrectly could damage your OS, please back up your registry before following the above steps.

Posted by: gav at March 23, 2007 12:29 PM

Hey Dave,
ummm...i have no clue if someone has already complained about this before me...but i'd really like to know how come "unread messages" with the email address info is still visible? Personally, i haven't signed up for a "NET Passport" account...and well, i don't see how my computer could have stored that information. I share my computer with a roommate, and i'm not comfortable with him seeing my personal information. If you could get back to me on this issue, i'd really appreciate it.

Posted by: Vee at March 27, 2007 6:25 AM

This answer doesn't work for Windows Live Messenger. How can all the MSN Windows Live Messenger accounts on an XP machine without reinstalling ?

Posted by: dan at May 24, 2007 2:42 PM

How do you remove your own name from an older, but very serviceable computer that you are about to give away. Other information has been deleted but the comuter comes up automatically?

Posted by: Nick at August 9, 2007 5:09 PM

In an earlier response you said,
' "Passport Net\* (Passport)" is your base account, however, so keep that one intact.' Well, I accidentally deleted it. How do I get it back?