The message does appear in Messenger 2009 because Microsoft decided to block links, or more precisely active links, links that are clickable, in the instant messenger.

Why? Because of a malicious computer worm spreading this way. The worm replicates when a user clicks on a link posted in Messenger that links to a specially prepared website.

Windows Live Messenger 2009 users are still able to copy and paste links to their web browser to open the pages these links point to. Users who suspect that their system is already compromised should download a security software such as Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool to scan their PCs and remove possible infections.

This is a temporary solution for all we know, and it is likely that Microsoft will come up with a solution to block the worm from spreading without disabling clickable links in Messenger.

Windows Live Messenger 2011 is not affected by the worm thanks to its Link Safety feature. Messenger users who can should consider upgrading to Messenger 2011 for improved security features. (via)

A friend contacted me recently asking for help. He was frustrated that Windows Live Messenger started with Windows, and that he was not able to find a way to disable the program from doing so.

Experienced computer users know how to remove applications from starting up with Windows. Inexperienced users on the other hand usually do not, especially since Windows offers more than one location to place links to programs that should be started with Windows.

It was rather easy to determine for Windows Messenger. The excellent software Autoruns displayed Windows Live Messenger in the Logon tab. It is possible to remove it from system startup by unchecking the checkbox of msnmsgr there. Be aware that the program requires elevated rights to make changes to the system, and that it will request a restart with those rights if it is started with standard user rights.

But there is another option to remove Windows live Messenger from Windows startup, one that may be better suitable for most users as it requires no additional program.

A setting to enable or disable startup with Windows is available directly in Windows Live Messenger. To configure it click the Options link in the sign in to Windows Live Messenger window.

The sign in options open in a new window automatically. Locate the setting Start Messenger when I log on to my computer and uncheck it.

Once the option is removed from the sign in options Windows Live Messenger will no longer start up with the Windows operating system.

Many people were expecting this to have been released with the new Office 2010 suite recently but news soon came that it might be some time before it was released.

The Connector provides a stream of information from SharePoint, Windows Live and Social networking sites.  The connector is built into Outlook 2010 but will be available to download as a plug-in for Outlook 2003 and 2007.

The forthcoming version of Windows Live Messenger will also feature social networking integration and this is a tool that can prove useful in the business space if utilised properly.

The Outlook Social Connector (OSC) should be available for download later today.

UPDATE : You can now download the Outlook Social Connector HERE.

Windows users who open the Hotmail website in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer will for instance notice that Windows Live Messenger is opened automatically. This can slow down the startup of Hotmail severely with some users reporting that Hotmail did not work at all.

The integration of Windows Live Messenger, or previous messenger variants like MSN Messenger, is not a new phenomenon. The problem that Hotmail users face is the same, how to disable or remove Windows Live Messenger from starting with Hotmail.

Messenger is only loaded in Internet Explorer if Hotmail is opened. Other web browsers are not loading the instant messenger. One easy option is therefor to use a different web browser to access Hotmail.

But that’s not always possible. The integration of Windows Live is handled by add-ons. Disabling those add-ons ensures that Messenger is not loaded on Hotmail startup.

Here is how you stop Messenger from loading with Hotmail:

Open Internet Explorer and click on Tools > Manage Add-ons.

windows live messenger

A new window opens that displays a list of installed – but not necessarily enabled – add-ons.

Locate the two add-ons Windows Live and Windows Live Sign-In Helper. Their status is enabled by default. To disable the two add-ons do the following.

Left-click the add-on and select the Disable button in the lower right corner of the window. This disables the add-on in Internet Explorer. You can also right-click an add-on and select Disable and even select both at once and disable them together.

disable windows live

Make sure the status reads disabled next to both Windows Live and Windows Live Sign-in Helper. Close the add-on manager.

Hotmail will now open without loading Windows Live Messenger as well, this should speed up startup quite a bit, especially on slower computer systems.

In a statement for Microsoft, Michael Chang, Group Product manager for Windows Live Messenger said…

“While Messenger for iPhone is relatively new, for many connecting with Messenger friends on your mobile phone is not new. In addition to the more than one million iPhone Messenger users, there are over 24 million people who connect with Messenger friends from other mobile phones through a client application, their phone’s browser, or SMS. Along with Messenger Connect, Messenger IM in Hotmail, and the coming integration with Xbox LIVE, the new iPhone app is just one more way that we are bringing Messenger to you across the web and on your phone. We’re very excited about the new Messenger beta available now and thank you for being part of the Windows Live family.”

The release came as part of Microsoft’s new Windows Live Wave 4 launch, some aspects of which, such as the new Hotmail rollout have hit problems.

It was reported yesterday that so far only 1% of Hotmail users have received the update to the web interface they can use to access their email.  Other products, such as the beta for the new Windows Live Essentials Suite have gone smoothly.

1 Million downloads doesn’t necessarily mean 1 Million happy customers and we’ll be keeping an eye on the reaction to the new iPhone software from consumers.  So far though it looks like Microsoft is still firmly still in the game when it comes to Internet communications and social networking.

Only the Web Setup installer is offered on the site. The setup routine on the local system downloads and installs the different programs automatically upon execution.

windows live essentials beta

Two different clients are offered on the Explore Live website. The first wlsetup-webd.exe will automatically download and install the Windows Live Essential applications, the second wlsetup-webc.exe offers a selection menu to install only specific applications as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

windows live essentials programs

The available programs are:

Messenger
Writer
Family Safety
Outlook Connector Pack
Photo Gallery and Movie Maker
Sync
Messenger Companion
Mail
Bing Bar
Microsoft Silverlight

It is recommended to download the second client to prevent the installation of programs that are not needed (by clicking on Choose the programs you want and selecting a language)

This beta release of windows Live Essentials is focusing on two things: Connecting Windows to the cloud and making everyday tasks simpler.

We’ve designed Essentials to connect your Windows experience to the web services you already use – not just the ones from Microsoft. The new betas of Windows Live Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Mail, Writer, and Messenger connect to photo and video sharing (SkyDrive, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, SmugMug), social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin), email (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail), blogging (Spaces, WordPress, Blogger), and document productivity (Office Web Apps) services. And the new Windows Live Sync keeps your files synchronized across multiple PCs and in the cloud. You can even directly access your PC over the web with Sync’s new remote desktop feature.

People like to get creative on their PCs as much as they like seeing what everyone else has been up to. Whether it’s Retouch, Panoramic Stitch, or Photo Fuse in Photo Gallery, Auto Movie in Movie Maker, or photo email in the new Windows Live Mail, we think you’ll be excited by the new additions to Essentials that make advanced tasks, well, easy. If you haven’t yet tried PhotoFuse to merge together the best of several photos, it’s a lot of fun.

Windows Live Essentials is only compatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7 but not the widely used Windows XP operating system. Windows Live users need to make sure to follow this link to the beta page over at the Windows Live website to be able to download the beta installation clients. No direct link is provided on the Windows live page.

The Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder has been created for exactly that purpose. The program can read Yahoo Messenger dat files and convert their content to txt or rtf file formats so that they can be accessed directly without needing the messenger at all. The user does need to locate the data file manually using the built in file browser.

Pretty much everything else is handled by the application afterwards. It will try to automatically detect the username using either the file path, file name or Windows Registry. Conversations can be displayed with date, time and username. There is no password needed to display the information.

It is possible to save all dat files of a directory as txt or rtf or only selected ones. The Yahoo Messenger Archive Decoder (via Techie Buzz) is a handy program for users who need to access .dat files without being able to go online or having the password needed to access them.

One option is offered by Dexrex, a company that is providing the means to backup these messages and SMS online. Support are a wide variety of clients and networks including Skype, Windows Live, AOL, Yahoo, Jabber, ICQ, Blackberry and Google Talk. It is possible to sign in with the network accounts at the Dexrex website to initiate the backup of the data. Some users might be concerned about security and privacy.

There is obviously always a risk when entering data in third party websites. Dexrex uses the https protocol to transfer data between the client computer and the server. Backups can either be started using the Conversation Importer, a Java program that can import old conversations, or so called Extensions which run in the background and import messages in realtime.

The conversations are available online after transferring them to the server. It is for example possible to search the conversations, use filters to filter by contact or date or to share conversations with trusted users. It is even possible to edit conversations online. SMS archiving is currently only supported for Blackberry cell phones. Users need to download an application to their Blackberry to backup the SMS.

Dexrex provides an easy way of backing up conversations and SMS from Blackberry devices. It can be a a useful services for users who work with multiple computer systems and messengers.

Windows Live Messenger Content Retriever (ConCon Retriever) is a portable software program for the Windows operating system that is compatible with Windows Live Messenger 8.1, Windows Live Messenger 8.5 but also the beta of Windows Live Messenger 9.

The software program displays the registered Windows Live users of a computer system and the different types of contents in a list. The file list is displayed next to that initial display containing all the files that are available to the selected Windows Live Messenger user.

A preview image of the content is displayed in the same interface as well. It is possible to open the content in the default viewer of the computer system or select a different application from a list of installed software programs.

A click on Backup will backup all selected contents of a user account with the option to restore the contents at a later time.

The settings can be used to access the contents of a different Microsoft Messenger installation on the computer system. Windows Live Messenger Content Retriever is an interesting backup utility for users who like to save their Windows Live Messenger multimedia files.

There might be a use for it though especially if you are among friends in a private channel. Y!Status Revolution brings that to Yahoo Messenger though. Users can select a custom status that includes information like song names and length among others. (A total of seven parameters are available to chose from)

Winamp and AIMP are currently supported to deliver those information and Y!Status Revolution acts as a proxy that changes the status message as soon as a new song begins to play.

There is no information available about supported operating systems or Yahoo Messenger versions. It runs fine on my English Windows XP Service Pack 3 system.

An article about MSN Messenger blocking links to sites like Youtube.com and probably several others. The user sending the link would receive the message “The following message could not be delivered to all recipients”. The outcry was heard loud and wide with stories appearing on Slashdot, Digg and probably a million other websites who were simply reiterating what one blog started.

The Internet loves conspiracy theories and some sites especially when they can fight against the root of all evil Microsoft. What I want to say is that no one but Microsoft (hopefully) knows the reason why those links have not been send to the recipient. It could be that they decided to filter some urls that belong to their competition, it could be a glitch, an error after server upgrades or a improperly configured spam filter.

The issue seems to have been fixed and everything returned back to normal. I have no means of testing if this is really true but from the multitude of comments on those popular news aggregator websites it seems that it is.

I’m still posting the workaround in case they are still blocked for some users. Stripping the url of the http:// prefix is all that needs to be done to be able to send the link.

I do not mean to be saying that webmasters should not report about the issue until they know what is going on but if they get hold of such a story they should not draw conclusions so easily.

Update: An Microsoft representative posted an article that explains what happened.

You should have Nokia PC suite installed for this to run, but that comes with your phone, or you can download it via the Nokia website. After you’ve installed it, head on over to Nokia Beta Labs (everyone seems to be coming out with beta labs lately) and download Nokia Text Messenger.

Following installation you will have two viewing options, you can either leave it in the sidebar, giving you a three message preview, or you can leave it floating around for a five message preview. I’ve always loved viewing messages on the PC, since it is a lot faster, especially when you reply. I takes me at least 2 minutes to write 150 characters, on my PC I shoot it out in about 10 secs.

Found via Sizlopedia

The program itself got a complete new user interface better suited for Windows Vista plus additional changes which have not been announced yet. Windows Plus users should download the msimg32.dll and place it in the appropriate directory to add plus functionality again. Not everything will be working though as of now.

I would probably make at least a complete backup of my system before I would install this leaked version. The above version appears to be without the adware that was added by the initial leaker. You should still scan the downloaded files before you execute any of them.

You should also note that support for plugins (add-ins) has been dropped.

Update: The above download links are not working anymore, try the following mirrors:

• Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Mirror 1, Mirror 2

I would not say that Skype made a big step forward, can’t see many other changes yet. Sure there are some new emoticons and stuff like that but this is not that important I think. In case you do not know Skype I decided to list the main features of it.

• Support of Windows, Mac and Linux
• Talk or chat with your buddies using Skype and a microphone (for voice chat)
• Video chat
• Cheap calls to (mobile) phones worldwide
• Send files using Skype
• Conference Calls

I’m using Skype mainly to see when my buddies come online. I know that instant messengers do the same but I never got used to one of those.