Problems w/ Windows Messenger

Off topic chat and stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.
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Jim
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Problems w/ Windows Messenger

Post by Jim »

Most people probably like the newer versions of "Windows Messenger"; but I don't. What started out as a mild dislike, has gradually turned into outright hatred.

What I want from "Windows Messenger" is best supplied by the older simpler versions. That is : 1) A direct, (one click), link to my E-Mail inbox; 2) A list of my contacts; 3) A means of sending instant messages to my contacts; 4) All this up front, one click away, while using the least possible desktop space; so it can run silmultaneously w/ other applications without being in the way.

Newer versions are like Cadillacs in my opinion. Loaded with unnecessary gizmos and geegaws, (ranging from heated toilet seats to sattelite downlinks to camel racing in Dubai), all of which consumes desktop. e.g. 1) A thoughtfully supplied screen of advertizing; 2) A row of buttons down the left side, connecting to everything from sex to who knows what, etc.

I have resisted updating, in spite of MS's efforts to persuade me to do so, because I am one of those people who don't like to be forced to do anything, especially change from something I like, (that I paid for), to something I don't like just because the @s, (for "@" substitute a seven letter word, which "@" graphically represents, - the "s" just makes it plural), at MS are too lazy to continue to support my old version.

If you have been following my other posts, you know that I had a "Windows Corruption" problem that KachiWachi very kindly helped me to solve. Imagine my surprize when I had reinstalled Service Pack 2, and found that my old version of "Windows Messenger" no longer worked, and "Windoze" was demanding that I install a "Security Update" to re-enable it.

With grave reservations, and high suspicion, (well founded), I installed the "Security Update". Thats right children, MS updated, not just my "Security"; but also my "Windows Messenger" GRRRRR!!!

I won't go into further details, except to say they had removed all traces of an uninstall for "Windoze Messenger"; and I had to get a little "fancy" to get rid of it, and reinstall my original version, which I have saved copies of the install routine for; (which incidentally got it working again)..

So here is my "ODE TO MS" , any singers and dancers out there feel free to use it; - no charge.

MORONS--T ~ By Jim ~ For tap dancing troupe in evening clothes.

We're the Capitalist B-st-rds ; We like to sing this song ;
And if we've F----- you lately ; Then won't you sing along ?
Our software's really shoddy ; In time it fails to start ;
What ! Fix it ? My dead body ! That wouldn't be too smart ;
We like it bug infested ; For us it's best that way ;
You'll need support ; So be a sport ; Sign up with us and PAY !!
You've agreed to our EULA ; And sister now you're sunk ;
In legalese ; It guarantees ; You're stuck with worthless junk !
You ask us how that that can be ; Well I'll give you a hint ;
Cause Morons--t ; has printed it ; in MICROscopic print !

EVERYBODY !

We're the Capitalist B-st-rds ; We like to sing this song ;
And if we've F----- you lately ; Then won't you sing along ?
Don't talk to us of Linux ! Those brainless pinko jerks ;
Have had the nerve ; To dare to serve ; Up an OS that works !
We think that's really funny ; Cause they don't get the hitch ;
They won't make tons of money ; Its bugs that make us rich !
Their stupid thing runs faster ; And stable as can be ;
Not making them your master ; And worst of all its FREE !!
Now that's a filthy low blow ; Cause that part really hurts !
And but for fools ; Despising jewels ; We'd quickly lose our shirts !!
Last edited by Jim on Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:39 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

What versions are we talking about here?

IIRC, SP2 does upgrade you to the version it carries (though I haven't installed SP2 myself yet).

I know I've read stuff about uninstalling, etc...I just forget where at the moment. Might have been at the Google/MSN site or at Jonathan Kay's site ( http://messenger.jonathankay.com ).

Eventually, they will not allow you to connect unless you upgrade...I guess you'll bite that bullet when that happens.
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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

OR convert to Yahoo IM & ancillories, personally I don't use MSN messenger and for IRC ChatZilla is perfect & FREE ;)
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

A couple of points here. First KachiWachi, -- Wise move, I wish I had never installed SP2, 1a worked perfect for me. 2 has not been really bad; but not perfect. My "WM" version that I use is 4.7. I have 5.1 saved as a last resort, but the high handed methods of MS sooner or later are going to push me over to Linux. The only reasons I have not already gone there are : 1) I am a pooch where software is concerned, the simpler the better for me. 2) I have a very complex setup, (see "Superpuppy 3 Setup" post); and I really don't want to do it over.

The interesting thing about what happened is, despite the fact that I am back on 4.7, they are no longer sending me popups urging me to upgrade, so in their books I am upgraded. What I did to achieve that was not really very fancy, though I was prepared to be if necessary.

I have ERD Commander, which allows one to delete anything, (including "Access Denied" items), [ How dare they talk to the owner of the machine like that?], so as to be able to do "manual uninstalls"; and I also have Registry First Aid and Registry Mechanic, to remove all traces of registry entries, to complete "manual uninstalls"; but in this case, all it took was to go into the "WM" folder, select all and delete all the files in the folder, then reinstall 4.7 into the same folder. Worked, and the popups are gone!!
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Post by Jim »

Note: Update on situation. Yes the popups urging me to update my "Windows Messenger" are gone on the XP side, though not the 98 side. Second the "Network Cable Is Disconnected" popups are back w/ a vengence on both sides. Very irritating.
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Post by Jim »

Known User Problems w/ MS Software that MS has NEVER Fixed. Why don't they fix them ? Well I think they design certain problems into their systems to generate business for their "Support" division.

1) MS DOS : There is no excuse whatsoever for this one not having been fixed a long time ago. When a user w/ more than one HDD uses "FDISK" to delete the partitions on their primary master drive, then creates new partitions on that drive; they must restart the machine in order for the new partitions to take effect. (Fine so far).

Exiting "FDISK" however is similar in appearance to a restart, and if the user is lulled by this into forgetting to do a real restart, and proceeds to format the partitions that he or she has just created, for example typing "FORMAT C: /U" the problem begins. What happens then is DOS comes back with "WARNING ALL DATA ON NON REMOVABLE DRIVE C: WILL BE ERASED". Because the user has already deleted that partition, and made a new one, that is fine with them. They want to Format "C", so they type "Y" and hit enter to indicate "Go ahead with the format"

At this point they are irrevocably committed to the format. Then, and only then, does DOS give them another bit of information. "FORMATTING 8.5 GIG DRIVE C:" At this point, when it is too late, the user realizes that this is not drive "C", it drive "G", (The first partition on the other HDD, the one they did not delete the partitions on). This happens because once having wiped the partitions on the first HDD, the drive letters change; and the first partition on the second drive assumes the "C" letter. So the user winds up formatting the wrong partition.

"Q": How hard would it have been for Moronshit to say "WARNING ALL DATA ON (Size) DRIVE C: (Volume Name) WILL BE ERASED" instead of saying "WARNING ALL DATA ON NON REMOVABLE DRIVE C: WILL BE ERASED" thereby alerting the user to the fact that they were about to format the wrong drive before they are irrevocably committed to the format?

I have talked to an MS Support Engineer, who said he had lost hundreds of GIG that way. Yet they let it go for years. It still isn't fixed. Make a 98 boot disk and that problem is still there. Windoze Update, - What use is it if they do things like that?

(More to come, WIN98-SE bugs, and WINXP-PRO bugs to follow)
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Post by Jim »

The Windoze 98 SE bug that I have in mind is also a well known one, which again despite being known for years MS still has not fixed. Like the other previous one mentioned it too is a fairly serious one; because for the average user, the only way to correct it is format their "C" drive, and reinstall Windoze. (Going to switch over to my 98 boot and finish this one from there). Just checked, in spite of all the latest updates it is still there.

This bug shows up when you go to open a file, and a little box pops up "Open With" up at the top left hand corner, a list of programs provided from which you may choose to open the file, 3 buttons, (ok, cancel, & other), which enable the user to cancel the operation, or browse to some other program with which to open the file; and finally the ok button is the exe in effect.

The problem is there is one other thing in this little box. Down at the bottom left hand side there is a check box which is checked by default; with the words "Always use this program to open this file"

If the user fails to clear that check box before hitting the OK button, that will be the only program that they can ever use to click open not only that file; but all other files with the same 3 letter extension. The reason for this is, once allowed to take effect, the always option is permanent; and cannot be revisited to UNCHECK the check box. And yet the box is checked by default!! The user must manually clear it every time they go to open a file by this method, or all files with the same 3 letter extension as the one being opened will only click open, (if they can open with the program selected), with that program.

"Q" What if the user installs new software replacing some "Always" program. They cannot use it to click open their files till they wipe Windoze and start over, because once set, the checkbox can NEVER be reset as long as Windoze is installed. More brilliant ideas from Moronshit.
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Post by cake »

The "Always use this program..." association can be cleared by doing the following ;)

Open Windows Explorer->Tools->Folder Options->File Types

Locate the file extension you want cleared, mark it and hit the "Delete" button.

Quirky yes.

IIRC you can also temporarily override the default program by holding
down the Shift key and then right click on the file you want to open
and you should have a "Open with" menu item.
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Post by Jim »

You just taught me a couple of things. I will stand by what I said however, because you are not an average user. The "open with " option, BTW, does not come up when you have inadvertantly or otherwise allowed widoze to apply the "Always open with this program".
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Post by Jim »

Finally the XP "bug". This is not so much a bug as a situation, which in the long term, will cause trouble for a certain percentage of users.

It pertains to the accumulation of "System Restore Points", and the manner in which Windows "Disk Cleanup" deals with excessive ones.

Obviously if one never weeds one's accumulated collection of "System Restore Points" eventually the amount of space devoted to them will become excessive. Microsoft therefore has thoughtfully provided a method of weeding your "Restore Points" in their "Disk Cleanup" utility.

The "Disk Cleanup" utility offers the user two choices w/ respect of restore points. 1) Keep em all
2) Delete all but the most recent one.

"Q" 1) If you always "keep em all" won't some people run short of drive space?
"Q" 2) Which of all the "System Restore Points" is most likely to be corrupt?

So that is your choice, keep em till you choke on em, or save the one most likely to be corrupt and delete the rest. Neat eh? I personally think it would be a good idea if they allowed you to save one or two known good restore points in addition to the latest one; but don't expect Morons--t to think of that.
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Post by KachiWachi »

Probably not the best place (thread) to discuss this (my apologies to the OP), but not being an "XP Wizard", I really don't get System Restore.

To me, that means go EXACTLY back to a previous machine state. To do this, System Restore would need to do a FULL and COMPLETE drive image, and keep it wherever it keeps it. I'm sure this is not what is done.

Why wouldn't a simple uninstall work just as good...assuming of course that the uninstaller actually removed EVERYTHING that was installed by its installer?

I also thought that System Restore policed itself...you can't go back three years...maybe three months though...
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Post by Jim »

I am no XP expert either; but I believe that the "restore points" generated by XP, (Quite frequently; at least with every software install, though not sure what other events trigger the automatic creation of a "restore point"), are essentially registry backups, with a few other items tossed in. I have seen a "System Restore", bring back a virus which had been previously deleted on Sonia's machine.

As for how far you can go back, well that depends on what "restore points" you have. I do not believe there is any inherant time limit though I could be wrong.
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