gHacks technology news » messenger http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:31:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Yahoo Messenger Dat File Access http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/13/yahoo-messenger-dat-file-access/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/13/yahoo-messenger-dat-file-access/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:18:36 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=14363 yahoo messengerYahoo Messenger is one of the popular Instant Messengers available for the Windows operating system. Messages that are send in the messenger are stored in so called .dat archive files that are encrypted and cannot be accessed directly. Going online will decrypt the messages to that they are encrypted. There might be times where conversations need to be accessed offline. This can be useful when the Internet connection is down or if a conversation from another user needs to be analyzed.

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.

yahoo messenger dat

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/13/yahoo-messenger-dat-file-access/feed/ 1 Backup Messenger And SMS Online http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/07/backup-messenger-and-sms-online/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/07/backup-messenger-and-sms-online/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:20:21 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=14186 message backupMany users with more than one computer system face a problem if they use Instant Messengers: How can they make sure that the data of all messenger clients is synced. This might not be a problem for users who simply chat and forget but what if you use a messenger for business and need to be able to check previous conversations regularly?

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.

backup im

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/07/backup-messenger-and-sms-online/feed/ 1 Windows Live Messenger Content Retriever http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/04/windows-live-messenger-content-retriever/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/04/windows-live-messenger-content-retriever/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:23:38 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10914 If Windows Live Messenger is your instant messenger of choice you might like the idea of retrieving all the content that you have accumulated over time including custom emoticons, avatar pictures, backgrounds, deluxe display pictures or dynamic backgrounds. Creating a backup of the multimedia contents of MSN Messenger can be useful if the data has to be transferred to a new computer system or if someone else wants to have access to it.

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.

windows live messenger

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/03/04/windows-live-messenger-content-retriever/feed/ 2 Show The Song That You Are Playing In Yahoo Messenger http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/18/show-the-song-that-you-are-playing-in-yahoo-messenger/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/18/show-the-song-that-you-are-playing-in-yahoo-messenger/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:35:32 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5423 I was not very pleased with the guys who decided to publish the songs that they were listening to in public IRC channels back in the days when I was using IRC daily. It always had a spammy feeling to it and I used to add those users quickly to my ignore list so that I would not see what music they were listening to.

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.

yahoo status changer

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/18/show-the-song-that-you-are-playing-in-yahoo-messenger/feed/ 0 MSN Messenger blocks links to Youtube http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/11/msn-messenger-blocks-links-to-youtube/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/11/msn-messenger-blocks-links-to-youtube/#comments Sun, 11 May 2008 07:50:08 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=4089 I’m slowly changing my view on several aspects of my “geeky” life. I used to jump on bandwagons as soon as someone started reporting about the latest evil scheme of a big cooperation or country. While it is definitely legit to call them out and make the issue public it is in no way justified to assume that what you know and are reporting is the real reason.

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.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/11/msn-messenger-blocks-links-to-youtube/feed/ 0 Nokia text messenger Vista gadget http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/04/nokia-text-messenger-vista-gadget/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/04/nokia-text-messenger-vista-gadget/#comments Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:55:42 +0000 Daniel Pataki http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/04/nokia-text-messenger-vista-gadget/ Although I’m not a big messaging fan, this is one gadget I would find really useful. I owned Nokia phones for about ten years and I loved every one of them. The company has just come out with an official text messaging application for Windows, to help you read and write messages in a jiffy.

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

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/04/nokia-text-messenger-vista-gadget/feed/ 5 Windows Live Messenger 8.5 leaked http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/28/windows-live-messenger-85-leaked/ http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/28/windows-live-messenger-85-leaked/#comments Mon, 28 May 2007 20:56:49 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/28/windows-live-messenger-85-leaked/ If you can’t wait to use the upcoming Windows Live Messenger 8.5 you could try and download the leaked version of it which is not official of course. The language of the leaked Live Messenger 8.5 is Spanish but you could download the English language file as well to change the language to English.

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
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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/28/windows-live-messenger-85-leaked/feed/ 9 Skype 3.0 final has been released http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/13/skype-30-final-has-been-released/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/13/skype-30-final-has-been-released/#comments Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:05:49 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/12/13/skype-30-final-has-been-released/ A new version of the communications suite Skype has been released today. Just head over to the Skype homepage and download the version for your operating system. Skype 3.0 introduces some new features and bugfixes, please take a look at the release notes if you are curious about them. The interface has seen some slight changes and some new features like public chat have been introduced.

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.

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