ms messenger crash crash crash

Everytime Messgener (7.5 or 8) loads, and then that "news" or whatever window opens, Messenger crashes. I am pretty sure its that "news" window that's doing it, but I can't get it to stop loading. I tried going in and switching it off, but it crashes before taking effect. Any other way to kill this stupid thing? BTW, when I installed Messenger 8 with XP, it does the exact same thing. I'm guessing it doesn't like my hosts file, but I have no intention of removing it.

Everytime Messgener (7.5 or 8) loads, and then that "news" or whatever window opens, Messenger crashes. I am pretty sure its that "news" window that's doing it, but I can't get it to stop loading. I tried going in and switching it off, but it crashes before taking effect. Any other way to kill this stupid thing? BTW, when I installed Messenger 8 with XP, it does the exact same thing. I'm guessing it doesn't like my hosts file, but I have no intention of removing it.