Re: Automatically keep history... reset by password change

Greetings Swifty,

It's actually a feature. The trigger for the "automatically keep a history" function is
purposely encrypted in the registry so someone outside your account can't trigger it on
without you knowing. So, your pupil must have had their password changed from outside their
account (if they do whilst logged into their account it will be okay), these encryption keys
change and anything that relies on it (like triggering this feature on), is disabled. Just
switching it back on will get the history working again.

Also, I'm sure you've noted the location where these logs are saved in that options window.
You can just head over to that folder on your PC and transfer the appropriate xml file to
your pupil, which they can then just open in their web browser when they need it for
reference.

Also to mention, if a message history/log is important to you, I certainly would not depend
on this feature to maintain it. Instead, using Messenger Plus Live
(http://www.msgplus.net)'s message log feature saves all the rich textual information (font
colours, handwriting, etc.) as well as saves "on the fly" as opposed to Messenger's feature
which simply saves when you close the conversation window (if your PC freezes, you lose it
all).

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Swifty" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I give spoken English lessons via MSN Live Messenger. My pupil (and I) have "Automatically
> keep a history of my conversations" checked.
>
> Or I did, until 26 Feb 2009. That was the day that I changed my Windows XP logon password.
> My pupil changed her password three days ago. She has no record of conversations since
> then.
>
> So it seems that changing your logon password is somehow resetting this setting.
>
> --
> Steve Swift
> http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
> http://www.ringers.org.uk

Jonathan Kay [MVP] wrote:
> Greetings Swifty,
>
> It's actually a feature. The trigger for the "automatically keep a history" function is
> purposely encrypted in the registry so someone outside your account can't trigger it on
> without you knowing.

Ah, I'll add it to the list of things that I have to check whenever I
change my password then. I already check my encrypted files. I lose
access to them about 10% of the time, despite following the same
password change procedure each time.

I suspect the problems occur if I ever let the password expire, and then
have to change it during the logon process. I know that must have
happened the last time I changed my password, as it doesn't allow you to
change your password hint, and mine still refers to my previous password.

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk

Hi Swifty,

You mean EFS'd files? That's interesting, although I have to admit I'm not a big user of
that.

I'll give that expired password scenario a go in the near future to see if that's part of it
or not.

To be honest, no one has ever noticed this before

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Swifty" <> wrote in message
news:#WGV8H#...
> Jonathan Kay [MVP] wrote:
>> Greetings Swifty,
>>
>> It's actually a feature. The trigger for the "automatically keep a history" function is
>> purposely encrypted in the registry so someone outside your account can't trigger it on
>> without you knowing.
>
> Ah, I'll add it to the list of things that I have to check whenever I change my password
> then. I already check my encrypted files. I lose access to them about 10% of the time,
> despite following the same password change procedure each time.
>
> I suspect the problems occur if I ever let the password expire, and then have to change it
> during the logon process. I know that must have happened the last time I changed my
> password, as it doesn't allow you to change your password hint, and mine still refers to my
> previous password.
>
> --
> Steve Swift
> http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
> http://www.ringers.org.uk

> You mean EFS'd files? That's interesting, although I have to admit I'm not a big user of
> that.
>
> I'll give that expired password scenario a go in the near future to see if that's part of it
> or not.
>
> To be honest, no one has ever noticed this before

I don't know what an EFS'd file is, I use the encryption you get to via
the Advanced properties of a file/folder. I suspect they are the same.

I change my passwords by following a set of written instructions. I'll
update my "Windows Password" paragraph to remind me to keep notes on
just how I did it, and how my encrypted files/WLM settings survive.

It's the bane of my life that I tend to stumble on obscure problems.
Still, I made good money as a system tester for a few years based on
this. I even found bugs during scheduled power outages, by speculating
on bizarre combinations of settings/actions, then trying them when the
power came back on. It's the part of my brain that keeps whispering "I
bet you no one has ever tried ..." with my inevitable response of "That
sounds like fun".

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html
http://www.ringers.org.uk