MUST I upgrade MSN Messenger to Windows Live Messenger?

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Interesting thing happened with Live Messenger yesterday.I was in a chat and I used the term 'gotcha'. My partner left the computer for a minute and next thing I know someone/something got into my chat window and sent all kinds of links that had the same term in it! It even said I had done a search... which I hadn't. I uninstalled it and now have updated to new version. BTW, I didnt click on any link. Have you ever heard of such a thing happening?

Since I updated to the new WLM, the little envelope that appears with my new EMail (numbers) doesn't come up....and I can't click on the drop down menu to make it stick....what is happening, I really miss that little icon? Thanks for your info on the Messenger, we are all confused.....Donna

The other day I discovered that I had been forced to "upgrade" to the new version of Hotmail. This is after I had repeatedly stated that I like the old version. I've already reported a bug to Microsoft. I hate it. :(

Try aMSN (Alvaro's Messenger).

As I described somewhere on http://www.mess.be, there's still a way to stick to MSN Messenger although it's a bit of a "back to the future" solution.

See, Microsoft released a new version of MSN Messenger 7.0 (build 820) that ISN'T vulnerable to the recently discovered webcam exploit.

You'll have to uninstall Windows Live Messenger 8.x first and then download (and install) 7.0 from the following location: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cf49c56c-8b3e-4eae-9904-9505f47bed45&DisplayLang=en

Actually if you goto the MSN Messenger Folder and right click msnmsgr.exe then choose RUN THIS PROGRAM IN COMPATIBILTY MODE and choose Win2000 you will then be able to re-install an older version of MSN.
Windows Live Messenger only works with WinXP and Vista so only those people using those Operating Systems are being forced to UPGRADE.
Hope that helps :)

Cactus

What are users who have windows 2000 supposed to do. I can no longer log in as it keeps saying I have to upgrade from version 7.0???? Help

I have Windows 2000 on the machine I use for chatting, so no "Windows 2000 compatibility" needed for me, but my messenger 7 refused to connect anyway.
I searched and found the solution involving build 820 and installed it, and yes: it now connects, but every time I start the program, appears a warning "Windows is repairing msn messenger" before lauinching the program itself.

MSN Messenger sucks with this mandatory sh*t... if they had left the same design to modify it with patch, at least.. (cause sometimes it's so bored).

I'm using yahoo messenger, thanks MSN!!

I did the upgrade, which I didn't want to but anyways, now I can't see any of my contact pictures when I view my contacts list. If I open a chat session I see their pic. On the old version I could see everybody's pic when viewing my contact list. I've set my options to show all contact pictures, doesn't make a difference.

Help please.
Thanks.

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