CharleyO,

huh ? ???

What does this have to do with what you see in the HJT-Log ?

I’d say the above entries:
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
http://sysinfo.org/startuplist.php?submit=&filter=msmsgs.exe
&
[msnmsgr] “c:\program files\msn messenger\msnmsgr.exe” /background
are indeed for instant messaging

What you mean, can maybe fixed the way you state on XP, but imho it’s based on:
C:\WINNT\System32\services.exe (w2k) or
\svchost.exe -k netsvcs (on XP):

Some (german) screenshots
http://www.trojaner-info.de/nachrichtendienst/index.html

???