History of MSN Messenger

Before the product was renamed Windows Live Messenger, it was known as "MSN Messenger Service" from 1999 to 2001 and "MSN Messenger" from 2001 to 2005. During that time, Microsoft released seven major versions as follows.
The first version of MSN Messenger Service, version 1.0 (1.0.0863), was released July 22, 1999. It included only basic features, such as plain text messaging and a simplistic contact list. When it was first released, it featured support for access to America Online's AIM network. America Online continually tried to block Microsoft from having access to their service until eventually the feature was removed, and it has not re-surfaced in any later versions of the software. Since then, the software has only allowed connections to its own service, requiring a Windows Live ID account to connect.
Microsoft released the first major update, version 2.0 (2.0.0083), on November 16, 1999. It included a rotating advertising banner and the ability to customize the appearance of the chat window. It came as an install option for Windows Me. This version was followed the next year by version 3.0 (3.0.0080), which was released May 29, 2000. It included file transfers and PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone audio capabilities with Net2Phone, one of the first VOIP providers.
Along with the release of Windows XP came version 4.6 of MSN Messenger, on October 23, 2001. It included major changes to the user interface, the ability to group contacts, and support for voice conversations. In this version, the client software was renamed from "MSN Messenger Service" to just "MSN Messenger," while the underlying service became known as ".NET Messenger Service," the name it has kept ever since. This version was only compatible with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, and 2000, because Microsoft provided a scaled-down new program for Windows XP, called Windows Messenger, that it originally intended to replace MSN Messenger on Windows XP.
That strategy changed when version 5.0 of MSN Messenger was released on October 24, 2002. It was the first version that was allowed to be installed along with Windows Messenger on Windows XP. It included UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) based file transfers, minor changes to the user interface artwork, and a Windows Media Player interface plug-in.
The next year, version 6.0 of MSN Messenger was released July 17, 2003. MSN Messenger 6.0 was a major overhaul of the whole platform, upgrading its simple text-based interface to include customizable elements such as emoticons, personalized avatars, and backgrounds. An update, version 6.1, focused on improvements to the conversation window, enabling users to hide the window frame and menu bar, and also the ability to change the theme color. The theme color could be set differently for each user. Another update, version 6.2, was released April 22, 2004, and it was the last version of the MSN Messenger 6 series. The most notable changes were a dedicated Mobile group for mobile contacts, a connection troubleshooter, and the Launch Site feature was renamed to Fun & Games.
MSN Messenger received a major upgrade to version 7.0 on April 7, 2005. This version brought wink features that were previously only available in threedegrees. This version also advertised items to sell to you including animated display pictures, emoticons and backgrounds. The contact list window style was also updated to match instant message windows. This version also introduced the Xbox Live Integration feature. This is the last version of MSN Messenger that runs on Windows 98 and Windows Me. This version also introduced digital ink and handwriting recognition support.
The last version of MSN Messenger before the name change, version 7.5, was released August 23, 2005. New features included the Dynamic Backgrounds feature and the "msnim" protocol handler, which allowed Web sites to provide links which automatically add a contact or start conversations. Additionally, a new Voice Clips feature allowed users to hold down F2 and record a message for a maximum of 15 seconds and send it to the recipient. The window for conversations was changed slightly with an added video button. This version also introduced the Windows Installer for its auto-update feature.

Windows Live Messenger 8.0
As part of Microsoft's Windows Live effort, which rebranded many existing MSN services and programs, MSN Messenger was renamed "Windows Live Messenger" beginning with version 8.0.
The first beta of the newly renamed Windows Live Messenger, Beta 1, was released on December 13, 2005. It remained online and usable for around a month until an auto-update feature forced one to install Beta 2, rendering this version obsolete. Known bugs within this version include the offline conversation feature: although still advertised in the yellow bar at the top of the conversation box, it was useless to anyone who had not received an invitation (i.e., downloaded it from another site). Majour changes and additions included offline messaging, an option to change the color theme of the windows, separated send and search boxes, a word wheel search box in the main window, and additional details for contacts when hovering over their names in the contact list window.
The second beta of version 8.0, Beta 2, was released on February 26, 2006. The overall theme of this version was improved, fixing and improving several smaller places in the program. This version has become obsolete, forcing users to update the program. Major changes and additions included the introduction of Windows Live Contacts, the reintroduction of single file transfer, improvements to the "Add a Contact" dialog box, improved color themes, minor changes in the conversation window, and revert of the "Busy" status icon back to the normal dash icon. The final beta version, Beta 3, was released on May 2, 2006, was nearly identical to the final. Major changes and additions included new icons for the program, PC-to-phone calling, an updated look for the Windows Live Call window, a new default display picture, the Windows Live Today window, improvements to the grouping of sequential messages from each contact, Rhapsody integration in the U.S., and an option for sounds to be edited and/or turned off.The final and official release of Windows Live Messenger version 8.0 was on June 19, 2006. Although no notable changes were made between Beta 3 and the final version, the change from MSN Messenger to Windows Live Messenger brought some additional changes, such as, the status "On the phone" from the previous version was renamed to "In a call" due to the addition of Windows Live Call, customization for the nicknames of individual contacts, timestamps on messages, the ability to see a contact's name only once if the same person writes multiple messages in a row, and color schemes for the entire application. Also when Windows Live Messenger was officially released, the main authentication system, Microsoft Passport Network, was replaced with Windows Live ID.
An update, labeled the Refresh to version 8.0, was released on August 10, 2006. It included audio and video improvements and fixed up minor bugs.

Windows Live Messenger 8.1
The first update to Windows Live Messenger was previewed on October 30, 2006, with the release of Beta 1 of version 8.1. No major changes were made, but several minor changes were included. The changes and additions included the addition of the roaming identity feature (so that a user's display name and picture would appear on any computer), a new contact card appearance, a "recently used" list for the emoticon, wink, display picture and background menus, an SMS phone book in the main menu allowing the association and editing of a phone number to the contact and allowing text messaging to a contact, a "sign out" button the status menu, a "report abuse" option in the help menu, the ability to chat with Yahoo users introduced with 8.1, and improvements to user status on Windows Vista, so that Windows Live Messenger automatically changes to "Busy" when in presentation mode. A minor update, the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Beta 1 Refresh, was released on December 13, 2006. and fixed bugs that were causing some people to be unable to sign in and others unable to see their contact list.
The final version 8.1 was released on January 29, 2007. No changes were made from the Beta 1 Refresh. All versions of Windows Live Messenger below version 8.1 were rendered obsolete on September 12, 2007, due to a security issue identified when a user accepts a webcam or video chat invitation from an attacker.

Windows Live Messenger 8.5
The news web site, LiveSide, reported a leaked build of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 on May 27, 2007, available in Spanish. The first English beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Beta 1, was later released on May 31, 2007 to the U.S., the UK, Canada, Ireland, India, France, Japan, Germany, China, and Spain. An update was released on June 21, 2007, to test updates being installed by Microsoft Update. This version required Windows XP SP2, compared to previous versions requiring Windows XP SP1. It was the first version to be installed in a "Windows Live" folder under "Program Files," with the shortcuts placed in a "Windows Live" folder in the Start Menu.
Major changes and additions in Beta 1 included a new installation program in conjunction with the release of Windows Live 2.0, a new look for all of its windows that matches the aesthetic styles of Windows Vista, a new "bunny" emoticon, and integration with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. Beginning with this version, updates could be downloaded and installed through Microsoft Update.
The second beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Beta 2, was released on September 5, 2007. Several issues were fixed in Beta 2, but no significant changes were applied. Compared with the first beta, the build does not say "Beta" on the top of the window, although developers had noted that it was not the final release. The new Windows Live Installer, which is used to install Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 2, does not run on Windows Server 2003.
The final release of Windows Live Messenger version 8.5 was released on November 6, 2007, and it introduced no major changes.

Windows Live Messenger 2009
Windows Live Messenger 2009 conversation window with friend's messenger "scene" on Windows Vista.
Windows Live Messenger 2009 was originally designated version 9.0, it was later assigned the technical version number 14.0, in order to be unified with the other Windows Live programs and Microsoft Office programs.
In a presentation to the Georgia Institute of Technology's IEEE Student Branch, Microsoft employee Andrew Jenks reported that the Messenger team had been working on multi-person audio/video chat, and they are also attempting to create interoperability with AIM/XMPP/ICQ users like the way Yahoo! Messenger works now; there is a basic internal version that works with Jabber already. However, these features were not seen in any of the beta versions of Windows Live Messenger 2009 as of Milestone 3.
Microsoft sent an invitation to participate in the Windows Live Messenger "9" beta program to Microsoft Connect members on November 20, 2007; a week later, Microsoft began sending out emails welcoming them to the Windows Live Messenger "9" beta program for the first release, known as Beta 0.
A fan site for Windows Live Messenger, Mess.be, claimed to have a new build of Windows Live Messenger "9" on August 11, 2008, and published screenshots along with a brief summary of new features. The screenshots featured a new user interface design matching the "Wave 3" design in development by Microsoft. The images were later removed by the site after a DMCA notice was received. The installer for the same build was leaked through private forums on August 23, 2008. It would later be discovered this build was a preview of Milestone 2, or M2.
News web site LiveSide published an article on September 4, 2008, with screenshots of M2 of the newly minted "Windows Live Messenger 2009," which had become version 14.0 instead of 9.0 as previously expected. LiveSide summarized its new features, including protection against messaging spam, the ability to stay signed into the application from several computers (referred to as "Multiple Points of Presence Support"), animated GIF files in the photo area, per-contact customized sounds for various user actions, and clickable URLs in the status area.
Microsoft began the official beta program for Windows Live Messenger 2009 on September 17, 2008, when it released a new beta officially known as Windows Live Messenger 2009 Beta (Milestone 3, Build 14.0.5027.908), which was made available to the general public as a free download. The ability to submit feedback, however, was restricted to select participants of the Microsoft Connect closed beta program.
Notable changes in Milestone 3 include a new revamped and refined user interface to follow suit with the rest of the Windows Live "Wave 3" design, the removal of unnecessary buttons and the "Be right back," "Out to lunch," and "In a call" status options, the ability to set a "Scene" by customizing the background image and color of the contact list, and the display of these scenes in conversation windows for improved contact identification and window management. The Sharing Folder feature has been discontinued.
Milestone 3 also brings a new "Groups" feature that allows users to create a continuous group conversation between select contacts, newly redesigned and more easily identifiable status icons which now resemble small gems rather than the previous "Messenger Buddy" icons, a new default "Favorites" category in which you can place your favorite contacts for easy access to them, a new Photo Sharing utility that allows contacts to quickly and easily browse photos together, and a "What's New" section at the bottom of the contact list to outline recent contact updates. Display pictures have been moved over to the left side of conversation windows, and new colorful borders appear around display pictures to display the current status of that contact. Milestone 3 is the first version of Windows Live Messenger to use the standard window frame on Windows Vista in accordance with the user experience guidelines.
On December 15, 2008, Windows Live Messenger 2009 RC (Build 14.0.8050.1202) was released together with the other Windows Live Wave 3 software applications, now renamed as Windows Live Essentials. This version saw a removal of the custom sign-in sound feature however it is still possible to select a sound for other individuals, as well as changes to how the background image chosen is applied to the conversation windows. This build also included over 200 bug fixes including the widely hated "Custom Emoticon Bug" and saving of pictures when using the Photo sharing feature. On January 7, 2009, the same build was released as the final version of Windows Live Messenger 2009.


Interesting facts

>MSN provides outstanding messaging facilities to the users.>MSN Messenger was developed between 1999 and 2005.
>In the month of February in the year of 2006 , it was got the name Windows Live Messenger.
>There are many versions of MSN messenger.
>MSN Messenger 1 (1.0.0863) is considered to be the first among all the products launched by MSN Messenger. It is on the 22nd of July in the year of 1999 that this particularproduct was released.


Danger of Net Application

1. Issue with Internet content?
Unregulated
(i) Hate sites, fake sites, chain mail, hoaxes & scams

2. How to handle content on the internet?
(i) Do not forward Unverified information
(ii) Check with Reliable sources

• Online(Recommended sources, Cyber Wellness Metors)
• Offline(Teachers, parents, trusted adult friends, CRuSH trainers)

3. Using the internet for research?
When using the internet for research, it is important that the information that you gather is
correct. Determine whether the document that you are reading is:
(i) Comprehensive or Biased

• A good website would give you more facts and information.
• The author would not impose his views on others

(ii) Consistent or Different

• Use information from various sites to piece together an even fuller picture on the topic of your research

(iii) Current or Outdated

• If you are working on current issues, there will be new and lateset developments that you should include in your assignment.

4. Use content friendly
(i) Search engines

• Ask Jeeves for kids (http://www.ajkids.com/)

(ii) Educationally recongnized web-sites
Recommended web-sites for students:

• http://www.dictionary.com/
• http://www.encarta.com/
• http://www.britannica.com/

Beware of emails from onknown sources, promising you some quick bucks. These are likely to turn out to be scams or there might be a catch behind the 'great' offer. Just delete these and block the sender so that they cannot flood your mailbox with junk.

If you suspect a hoax is being passed around, you could check that credibility at http://www.vmyths.com/ , http://www.urbanlegends.about.com/ , etc.

Don't forget: Internet contenet cannot be effectively Regulated. You are the best
Filter

In order to investigate just how likely young children were to be approached online by adults, the BBC asked two detectives to pose as a 14-year-old girl and visit a range of unsupervised chat rooms. Despite the fact that Sydney, the name they chose for their character, only went to chat rooms with innocent titles, did not approach any other people online and was non-committal and passive in conversation, she was contacted by 30 men over a two-week period. One man went so far as to persuade her to meet up, having asked her questions about her sexual experience."

Cyber Wellness Tips

There are a total of four cyber wellnes values.
1. Be Street-smart
2.Be responsible and respectful
3.Achieve Balance
4.Embrace Inspirational use of the internet

Some cyber Wellness tips:

1.Have a COOL identity.
a)Cannot reveal gender & age
b)Original
c)Out of this world
d)something that you Like

2.Any information revealed online is PUBLIC. Once you placed the information online, it is
a)Freely Accesible to anyone
*All information revealed online is freely accessible to anyone
b)Not within your Control
*You cannot effectively control who looks at your online information.
Eg. Friendster, Blogger etc

3.Practice Selective Disclosure of information.
*There is no need to lie in order to protect yourself. You become a liar if you habitually tell lie.

There are 2 levels of information:
Public- It is okay for ANYONE to know such information about you. Basically they are
unable to contact you.
Private-Never reveal private information to online strangers which allow them to contact
you. E.g. mobile number, home address, blog, friendster

Remember: Information you reveal online is Public not Private!!!


Inspirational use of net application

Well, I don't really know a lot about them and I went to the net but still can't find any... I will just use what I know...

1. You can go to websites like http://www.yahoo.com.sg/ , http://www.google.com/ , http://www.answers.yahoo.com.sg/
and others to do your research. Often, you get the answers that you want and need. However,
the answers that you get is not necessary correct or true. Sometimes, you might get craps too.
It will be safer if you use the advanced search so that you can eliminate some words, phrases,
craps or information that you do not want to recevie.

2. You will get to meet new online friends. My advice is that do not ever ever give out your
personal information like I mentioned at the "dangers..." post. Do not trust them and meet
face to face with them. They might be people who make up their information. But, they are
also advantages. For example, you will get a variety of friends. If you are the only child in the
family, you might want to have online friends. You would not be able to get your friends from
school to accompany you home.

3. Learn online using http://www.asknlearn.com/ or others. Learning online also much easier.
Futhermore, it might not be so boring and the teacher can upload their powerpoint
presentation into asknlearn for students to revise.

4. Reading news. If you do not subscribe to the newspaper or didn't buy any newspaper, you can read the news online.

5. Use MSN to chat with your family members overseas

6. Use MSN to keep in touch with your friends who are in different schools now and you have no time to meet up with them

7. Use MSN to ask your friends for help with homework that you do not know how to do

8. Use MSN to remind your friends of upcoming tests or exams


Case Study

I was talking to a 40 year old man online...

'Sandra' has already had a scary chatroom experience and in her report she tells us that you should never arrange to meet anyone you've been chatting to online. "About a year ago, when I was 15, my friend and I went into a chatroom on the internet. We'd never done it before and thought it would be fun. Sounded nice We soon started chatting to a boy, he said he was 19. We would chat to him for an hour each day. He sounded a nice person and gradually he started to ask personal questions about us, even what we thought about going out with older lads. Said yes After a week he asked us if we wanted to meet him. We immediately said yes, we thought it would be Ok and we hadn't heard anything about chatroom dangers. And because there were two of us, we thought we would look out for each other. Nobody knew Three days later we agreed to meet him outside the local McDonalds because it was a crowded area and we didn't want to meet him anywhere that was too quiet. We didn't tell anyone about what we were going to do, we just thought it would be a laugh. He gave us his mobile number so we could call him when we arrived there. Two men At 8.00pm we were approaching McDonalds where we saw two men standing around looking like they were waiting for someone. We stayed back and rang the mobile number we were given. When we did this we saw one of the men answer his phone. Ran home We knew straight away that these men were waiting for us. First of all there were two of them and they were not 19, they looked more like in their 40s. We both got really scared and ran home. One of the guys kept ringing me to see where we were so I turned my phone off. He kept phoning for a couple of days, then he stopped. I didn't feel too worried because he didn't know where we lived. Very lucky The reason I'm telling my story is that I want other young people to know about the dangers of chatrooms. My friend and I put ourselves in a very dangerous situation but luckily we were Ok. From our experience we urge everyone not to give out any personal information about yourself in chatrooms. And definitely do not arrange to meet anyone, because you just don't know who you've been talking to." 'Sandra', 16, Middlesbrough


Question & Answer


How do I access MSN Web Messenger from another computer?
In one of the web browsers listed above, enter http://webmessenger.msn.com/?mkt=en-in in the address bar. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can add this site to your favorites by pressing CTRL+D.

What is the difference between Web Messenger and Messenger?
MSN Messenger is a fully featured instant messaging program that you install on your own computer or one you have permission to install on. MSN Web Messenger enables you to quickly and easily use basic instant messaging features on a web browser on any computer without installing any software. Tipped by HunterK, Mess.be was very proud to be the first site on the entire world wide web to announce Microsoft's "secret" plans of releasing a web-based version of its popular Instant Messaging service, allowing you to chat with your contacts very similar like you do with MSN Messenger (or Windows Messenger), but using just a web browser on any computer (at school, at work, at a friend's house or anywhere you can't install the MSN Messenger software). Much like -and probably as Microsoft's reaction to- the currently available third party services. After more than three months of beta-testing, the web-based Messenger went "final" halfway November. Here's an overview of the features in MSN Web Messenger: group conversations, customization of your text font, size and color, emoticons (no custom emoticons!), send and receive e-mail messages, add contacts to your contact list, toasts and sound alerts (for every new message received and when someone signs in). NOT included at the time of writing are audio/video conversations, "fun & games" applications, file exchange, display pictures, window backgrounds and custom emoticons. Like the contact list in MSN Messenger, your MSN Web Messenger contact list displays your current and pending contacts and information about their status. Unlike MSN Messenger however, your contacts are shown in fixed categories that cannot be renamed or deleted. You will see some or all of the following groups in your contact list: New e-mail messages, People who want to add you (click a name to accept or reject the invitation), Current conversations (click a name to open the current conversation window), Online (click a name to open a conversation window), Not online (click a name to send an e-mail message to this person)

What is the difference between MSN Messenger and Window's Messenger?
MSN Messenger is an instant messaging client for Windows (and some other platforms), targetted at the home-user. It offers a lot of personalisation options (adding your own emoticons, backgrounds, etc) to customise your chatting experience and express yourself like you want. It's homepage is right here. Windows Messenger is another instant messaging client but runs only on the Windows XP platform and later, Windows 2000. This IM client is targetted at corporations and offers a more clean, pro look. Windows Messenger is more tightly integrated with applications such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, or the Remote Assistance feature of Windows XP. It can connect to the Communications Service and Exchange Instant Messaging. . Either can be used to access the same .NET Messaging Service contacts, so if you're chatting with your friends and family, it doesn't matter which one you use and changing from one to the other is not a problem. You can even combine the use of both -only one will run automatically on startup- but not with the same .NET Passport. Uh-oh, that's not all yet. On Windows 2000 and Windows XP there is a service, called "Messenger Service", often unfortunately referred to as "Windows Messenger", that is used to present what can best be called network messages to a machine's user. This is not an instant messaging application, but rather software that runs in the background, listening for incoming messages and popping up a very simple box containing the message when one arrives. For example, in a corporate environment when you send a document to a network printer. The messenger service handles the pop-up message that the printer sends back when it has finished. Unfortunately the Messenger Service has been exploited by spammers to pop-up unwanted advertising messages on unprotected machines on the internet. Microsoft has decided to remove it from future versions of Windows, but in the meantime you'll have to remove it yourself if you want to get rid of the annoying spam. Read the related article about Messenger Service Spam for more instructions.

How do I remove Window's Messenger from Window's XP?
They do make it hard, don't they? Good for you d0pestar knows just how to remove Windows Messenger from Windows XP once and for all: 1) Go to Start > Run 2) Type this exact commando (you might want to copy paste): RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%INFmsmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove 3) Oh my God, you killed Windows Messenger! ;) If for some reason this doesn't work for you, try this: 1) Open a file named sysoc.inf with Notepad or another text editor. This file can be found in a folder named INF, which is a subfolder of the Windows folder (or in some cases the winnt folder, depending on how your OS was installed).2) Look for the following line:msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7 and remove the word "hide" while leaving the commas on place. Close and save the file.3) Now open the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel, and you will be able to remove Windows Messenger like any other program.

How can I get rid of the pop-up scam from the Window's Messenger Service?
People are often complaining of being spammed with popups from Windows Messenger Service. While this has nothing to do with the Windows Messenger this site is all about, a lot of confusion remains thanks to Microsoft's bad naming and we will help you out with this off-topic question. 1) Start > Programs > Accessories > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services & Applications > Services. 2) Double click Messenger, and set the Startup Type to Disabled. 3) You can also Stop the service at that same dialog.

How many servers does the MSN Messenger Service runs on?
The MSN Messenger server farm handles over 70 million concurrent sessions every single day. When they switched to Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition running on x64 hardware, they reduced the size of the farm from 250 32-bit servers to just 25 servers. The company had seen a 10-times performance gain from the MSN Messenger servers since they went 64-bit.

I'm unable to sign into MSN Messenger and I get error 0x81000301
Ah, you're a victim of the dreadful: "We were unable to sign you in to .NET Messenger Service, possibly because of a problem with the service or with your Internet connection. Please make sure that you are connected to the Internet. 0x81000301" #1 Changing your password I encountered this error myself last night and I must admit it was a bit scary as if Alzheimer kicked in already and I completely forgot my password. So what I did was change the password at Passport's Member Services. I had been signed out of my Passport account and the same, correct password was also being denied! So after answering my Secret Question I was finally allowed to change your password. That "passport password" combo did the trick for me, but I can imagine there's more to this error than just that, so feel free to comment. #2 Quick Delete and Fix Attempt (by Jonathan Kay) Even just trying this solution you will lose all your custom emoticons and display pictures. We recommend backing up your personalized images using the CE/DP Manager before advancing. Important: Close MSN Messenger completely until the tray icon is gone. - Windows 98 or Millenium users 1) Click Start > Run2) Type: %windir% and press enter.3) Open Application Data and then the Microsoft folder.4) Right-click the MSN Messenger folder and delete it.Note: if you're using Profiles with Windows 98/ME, you'll need to go to the Profiles folder, choose your username and then go to the Application Data folder (then continue with the sameprocess). If you don't know if you have Profiles setup, most likely you do not (if you don't have Profiles folder in the Windows folder, then you aren't).- Windows 2000 or Windows XP users1) Click Start > Run2) Type: %appdata%\Microsoft and press enter.3) Right-click the MSN Messenger folder and delete it.Now restart MSN Messenger and try to sign in again...

Why does MSN Messenger sometimes suddenly sign me off and tell me that I'm signed in at another computer?
Logically, you can't be logged in with one and the same MSN Messenger account simultaneously. So .NET Messenger Service automatically signs off the connected account when it's trying to log in again, be it from the same computer or somewhere else. So if you get disconnected because "you're signed in at another computer" it could mean two things: 1) Somebody logged in with the same account somewhere else. Chances are high this person knows your password and is abusing it. Change your password immediately and try use something only YOU would know. 2) Windows Messenger (or MSN Messenger) automatically signed you in, in the background. Or for example, if MSN Messenger beats Windows Messenger in signing in on startup, Windows Messenger will disconnect you. Go to Windows Messenger, select Tools > Options and click on the Preferences tab. Next uncheck both "Run this Program when Windows starts up" and "Run this Program in the Background" to disable Windows Messenger from interfering.

How come I get signed/kicked off without being aware of it?
Sometimes you get signed off from MSN Messenger and you only realise it when you change your display name, status or message someone. Here are some possible causes and solutions: 1) If you're using a third-party firewall (Sygate, ZoneAlarm, Norton, etc.) try uninstallingthem or set Messenger to "Permit All" or "Allow" type options in the firewall configuration.2) If you're using a router, make sure you have the latest firmware from your routermanufacturer. As well, you might try setting your computers local IP into the routers DMZsetting (see documentation on how to do this).3) If you see the disconnection problem on a corporate network, the network may be timing outyour settings -- in this case, you might want to ask your system administrator to adjust thecorporate internet sharing solution/firewall (if possible).4) Finally, this can also happen due to a lack of bandwidth. If you have Kazaa, WinMX, GNUtellaor some other file sharing-type application or something else that takes considerable amountsof bandwidth, you may want to shut it down and see if that helps the situation (even ifyou're using a high speed connection, these applications can use most of the resources ofyour connection).


What is MSN Messenger???