Signing on as Invisible

It is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out how to sign on as invisible or
hidden or appearing offline, or that I cannot just selectively show or
conceal myself with individual users easily. What happened to that
functionality?

Can we no longer sign on as hidden?

Furthermore, in an effort to find a quick way to pose this question, it has
taken me several days and tons of clicks to even find this group. Does
Microsoft not care about supporting users? I've been using messenger since
at least 2000 and, frankly, I'm extremely frustrated and annoyed that it's so
difficult to a) find a simple answer for a function that has been possible
for all of that time, and b) ask a question of someone who supports the
product.

I use messenger for work purposes, or I'd like to, and I don't want to have
to always appear to everyone on my list when I want to use the tool for
coworkers. If I can't find a solution with this product, I'll just use
another one of the free tools that doesn't make it so difficult.

No thank you,

Greetings Ed,

Like previous versions, you can choose your status before you sign-in. However, it's
possible that your existing saved status was removed, so here's how to get it back.

Load up Messenger as-per-usual. If it automatically signs you in, right-click on the icon in
the notification area (by the clock), and choose Sign out. Double-click the icon and bring
up the main Messenger window.

Now under 'Sign in as', just select the status you want (aka Appear Offline), make sure
'Remember me' (and any of the other saved options you prefer) is selected and click the Sign
in button. It will now retain this for future sessions.

I've complained about the lack of a link here too, unfortunately it's a bit hidden now.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Ed Milner" <> wrote in message
news:F3FBAF5E-2B20-4A30-8529-...
> It is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out how to sign on as invisible or
> hidden or appearing offline, or that I cannot just selectively show or
> conceal myself with individual users easily. What happened to that
> functionality?
>
> Can we no longer sign on as hidden?
>
> Furthermore, in an effort to find a quick way to pose this question, it has
> taken me several days and tons of clicks to even find this group. Does
> Microsoft not care about supporting users? I've been using messenger since
> at least 2000 and, frankly, I'm extremely frustrated and annoyed that it's so
> difficult to a) find a simple answer for a function that has been possible
> for all of that time, and b) ask a question of someone who supports the
> product.
>
> I use messenger for work purposes, or I'd like to, and I don't want to have
> to always appear to everyone on my list when I want to use the tool for
> coworkers. If I can't find a solution with this product, I'll just use
> another one of the free tools that doesn't make it so difficult.
>
> No thank you,
>

Thanks Jonathan,

I did find it, although since I first started having the problem I've loaded
the most recent version of messenger from the Live site, so it's different
once again from the one where I first had the issue.



"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings Ed,
>
> Like previous versions, you can choose your status before you sign-in. However, it's
> possible that your existing saved status was removed, so here's how to get it back.
>
> Load up Messenger as-per-usual. If it automatically signs you in, right-click on the icon in
> the notification area (by the clock), and choose Sign out. Double-click the icon and bring
> up the main Messenger window.
>
> Now under 'Sign in as', just select the status you want (aka Appear Offline), make sure
> 'Remember me' (and any of the other saved options you prefer) is selected and click the Sign
> in button. It will now retain this for future sessions.
>
> I've complained about the lack of a link here too, unfortunately it's a bit hidden now.
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
> --
>
> "Ed Milner" <> wrote in message
> news:F3FBAF5E-2B20-4A30-8529-...
> > It is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out how to sign on as invisible or
> > hidden or appearing offline, or that I cannot just selectively show or
> > conceal myself with individual users easily. What happened to that
> > functionality?
> >
> > Can we no longer sign on as hidden?
> >
> > Furthermore, in an effort to find a quick way to pose this question, it has
> > taken me several days and tons of clicks to even find this group. Does
> > Microsoft not care about supporting users? I've been using messenger since
> > at least 2000 and, frankly, I'm extremely frustrated and annoyed that it's so
> > difficult to a) find a simple answer for a function that has been possible
> > for all of that time, and b) ask a question of someone who supports the
> > product.
> >
> > I use messenger for work purposes, or I'd like to, and I don't want to have
> > to always appear to everyone on my list when I want to use the tool for
> > coworkers. If I can't find a solution with this product, I'll just use
> > another one of the free tools that doesn't make it so difficult.
> >
> > No thank you,
> >
>
>

I agree that this was difficult to find. It should be under the Options
section as a choice. However, I found this thread very quickly at
microsoft.com by doing a simple search of the site.

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings Ed,
>
> Like previous versions, you can choose your status before you sign-in. However, it's
> possible that your existing saved status was removed, so here's how to get it back.
>
> Load up Messenger as-per-usual. If it automatically signs you in, right-click on the icon in
> the notification area (by the clock), and choose Sign out. Double-click the icon and bring
> up the main Messenger window.
>
> Now under 'Sign in as', just select the status you want (aka Appear Offline), make sure
> 'Remember me' (and any of the other saved options you prefer) is selected and click the Sign
> in button. It will now retain this for future sessions.
>
> I've complained about the lack of a link here too, unfortunately it's a bit hidden now.
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
> --
>
> "Ed Milner" <> wrote in message
> news:F3FBAF5E-2B20-4A30-8529-...
> > It is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out how to sign on as invisible or
> > hidden or appearing offline, or that I cannot just selectively show or
> > conceal myself with individual users easily. What happened to that
> > functionality?
> >
> > Can we no longer sign on as hidden?
> >
> > Furthermore, in an effort to find a quick way to pose this question, it has
> > taken me several days and tons of clicks to even find this group. Does
> > Microsoft not care about supporting users? I've been using messenger since
> > at least 2000 and, frankly, I'm extremely frustrated and annoyed that it's so
> > difficult to a) find a simple answer for a function that has been possible
> > for all of that time, and b) ask a question of someone who supports the
> > product.
> >
> > I use messenger for work purposes, or I'd like to, and I don't want to have
> > to always appear to everyone on my list when I want to use the tool for
> > coworkers. If I can't find a solution with this product, I'll just use
> > another one of the free tools that doesn't make it so difficult.
> >
> > No thank you,
> >
>
>

Hi Billix,

Good to know it's under search, I hadn't checked that. I think most people hit the support
pages first though which has no link to here.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"Billix" <> wrote in message
news:A663FEBF-FE11-4653-9A29-...
> I agree that this was difficult to find. It should be under the Options
> section as a choice. However, I found this thread very quickly at
> microsoft.com by doing a simple search of the site.
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Greetings Ed,
>>
>> Like previous versions, you can choose your status before you sign-in. However, it's
>> possible that your existing saved status was removed, so here's how to get it back.
>>
>> Load up Messenger as-per-usual. If it automatically signs you in, right-click on the icon
>> in
>> the notification area (by the clock), and choose Sign out. Double-click the icon and
>> bring
>> up the main Messenger window.
>>
>> Now under 'Sign in as', just select the status you want (aka Appear Offline), make sure
>> 'Remember me' (and any of the other saved options you prefer) is selected and click the
>> Sign
>> in button. It will now retain this for future sessions.
>>
>> I've complained about the lack of a link here too, unfortunately it's a bit hidden now.
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Kay
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
>> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
>> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
>> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
>> --
>>
>> "Ed Milner" <> wrote in message
>> news:F3FBAF5E-2B20-4A30-8529-...
>> > It is driving me nuts that I cannot figure out how to sign on as invisible or
>> > hidden or appearing offline, or that I cannot just selectively show or
>> > conceal myself with individual users easily. What happened to that
>> > functionality?
>> >
>> > Can we no longer sign on as hidden?
>> >
>> > Furthermore, in an effort to find a quick way to pose this question, it has
>> > taken me several days and tons of clicks to even find this group. Does
>> > Microsoft not care about supporting users? I've been using messenger since
>> > at least 2000 and, frankly, I'm extremely frustrated and annoyed that it's so
>> > difficult to a) find a simple answer for a function that has been possible
>> > for all of that time, and b) ask a question of someone who supports the
>> > product.
>> >
>> > I use messenger for work purposes, or I'd like to, and I don't want to have
>> > to always appear to everyone on my list when I want to use the tool for
>> > coworkers. If I can't find a solution with this product, I'll just use
>> > another one of the free tools that doesn't make it so difficult.
>> >
>> > No thank you,
>> >
>>
>>