Windows Live Messenger 8.1 and 8.5

A couple of months ago I so called "upgraded" my messenger client to 8.1
(previous version unknown). Ever since then I haven't been able to upload
my display picture. Every time I select my picture it keeps saying that it's
an invalid image file. How could this be? It's the same exact jpg picture
I've been using in previous versions. I've even resized it to the
recommended 96x96 pixel size as it suggests in the help files. When I try
to use a picture from one of their galleries it seem like the link is dead.
A window pops up like it's trying to load but nothing loads. It seems like
all the links in the messenger client are dead. Clicking on "go to your
space" or "you have x pending requests" or even " you have new hotmail
messages" has the same effect.

Now I thought maybe if I installed the 8.5 beta version
(www.get.live.com/betas) it would fix my problems but I was wrong. I'm still
having the same exact problems. The only thing I can think of is that my
messenger client is having problems communicating with Internet Explorer so
I tried making FireFox my default web client. The problem I'm having here
is that I cant get the messenger to use FireFox instead of Internet
Explorer. Here's what I'm running:

Windows XP Pro (SP2)
Internet Explorer 7
Pentium 4 2.8ghz OC'd to 3.2ghz
2 gigs of ram

It does the same thing on my wife's computer too with a fresh install of
Windows XP and default settings. I've done a google search to see if anyone
else is having the same problems but I got no hits. Yes, I'm new the using
newsgroups. Any suggestions and/or info is much appreciated

Greetings Naustic,

Normally I would blame the display picture store for your account as being corrupt and show
you how to delete it as that generally solves the issue you're experiencing.

However, your one comment about the problem existing on your wife's fresh PC is a bit
puzzling -- did you try it -after- copying over your Messenger store (emoticons, etc.) or is
this truly a clean install?

Regarding the browser thing, Messenger only uses the default browser setting to open links in
conversation windows, everything else is done exclusively through Internet Explorer. I
assume Internet Explorer is working/browsing normally?

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
--



"Naustic" <> wrote in message
news:FEDBE356-4B4E-4895-8CFF-...
> A couple of months ago I so called "upgraded" my messenger client to 8.1 (previous
> version unknown). Ever since then I haven't been able to upload my display picture. Every
> time I select my picture it keeps saying that it's an invalid image file. How could this
> be? It's the same exact jpg picture I've been using in previous versions. I've even resized
> it to the recommended 96x96 pixel size as it suggests in the help files. When I try to use
> a picture from one of their galleries it seem like the link is dead. A window pops up like
> it's trying to load but nothing loads. It seems like all the links in the messenger client
> are dead. Clicking on "go to your space" or "you have x pending requests" or even " you
> have new hotmail messages" has the same effect.
>
> Now I thought maybe if I installed the 8.5 beta version (www.get.live.com/betas) it
> would fix my problems but I was wrong. I'm still having the same exact problems. The only
> thing I can think of is that my messenger client is having problems communicating with
> Internet Explorer so I tried making FireFox my default web client. The problem I'm having
> here is that I cant get the messenger to use FireFox instead of Internet Explorer. Here's
> what I'm running:
>
> Windows XP Pro (SP2)
> Internet Explorer 7
> Pentium 4 2.8ghz OC'd to 3.2ghz
> 2 gigs of ram
>
> It does the same thing on my wife's computer too with a fresh install of Windows XP and
> default settings. I've done a google search to see if anyone else is having the same
> problems but I got no hits. Yes, I'm new the using newsgroups. Any suggestions and/or
> info is much appreciated
>
>

If I remember right....XP comes with a version of messenger included in the
install. If this true I probably just upgraded it to 8.1 instead of
completely deleting the old version first causing the files to be
corrupt.....right? And the solution to my problem would be to uninstall and
delete the messenger folder and do a fresh install of 8.1?

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:5A07EACA-98FC-46F1-8A91-...
> Greetings Naustic,
>
> Normally I would blame the display picture store for your account as being
> corrupt and show you how to delete it as that generally solves the issue
> you're experiencing.
>
> However, your one comment about the problem existing on your wife's fresh
> PC is a bit puzzling -- did you try it -after- copying over your Messenger
> store (emoticons, etc.) or is this truly a clean install?
>
> Regarding the browser thing, Messenger only uses the default browser
> setting to open links in conversation windows, everything else is done
> exclusively through Internet Explorer. I assume Internet Explorer is
> working/browsing normally?
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> Associate Expert
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
> --
>
>
>
> "Naustic" <> wrote in message
> news:FEDBE356-4B4E-4895-8CFF-...
>> A couple of months ago I so called "upgraded" my messenger client to
>> 8.1 (previous version unknown). Ever since then I haven't been able to
>> upload my display picture. Every time I select my picture it keeps saying
>> that it's an invalid image file. How could this be? It's the same exact
>> jpg picture I've been using in previous versions. I've even resized it to
>> the recommended 96x96 pixel size as it suggests in the help files. When
>> I try to use a picture from one of their galleries it seem like the link
>> is dead. A window pops up like it's trying to load but nothing loads. It
>> seems like all the links in the messenger client are dead. Clicking on
>> "go to your space" or "you have x pending requests" or even " you have
>> new hotmail messages" has the same effect.
>>
>> Now I thought maybe if I installed the 8.5 beta version
>> (www.get.live.com/betas) it would fix my problems but I was wrong. I'm
>> still having the same exact problems. The only thing I can think of is
>> that my messenger client is having problems communicating with Internet
>> Explorer so I tried making FireFox my default web client. The problem
>> I'm having here is that I cant get the messenger to use FireFox instead
>> of Internet Explorer. Here's what I'm running:
>>
>> Windows XP Pro (SP2)
>> Internet Explorer 7
>> Pentium 4 2.8ghz OC'd to 3.2ghz
>> 2 gigs of ram
>>
>> It does the same thing on my wife's computer too with a fresh install
>> of Windows XP and default settings. I've done a google search to see if
>> anyone else is having the same problems but I got no hits. Yes, I'm new
>> the using newsgroups. Any suggestions and/or info is much appreciated
>>
>>
>

The IM client included with Windows XP is Windows Messenger
That IM client is not the same as Windows Live Messenger, and is not
replaced by Windows Live Messenger at all.

Forcefully removing Windows Messenger will not have any effect on your
Windows Live Messenger issues, and will actually have a negative impact on
some Windows Live Messenger functionality.

--
Jason Tsang - Microsoft MVP

Read my blog for the latest in Media Center topics
(and other topics that interest me)
http://jtsang.blogspot.com

More information by me
http://jtsang.mvps.org
http://www.classicsunveiled.com

Find out about the MS MVP Program -
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx



"Naustic" <> wrote in message
news:68CDD43D-DF90-4D72-B1F5-...
> If I remember right....XP comes with a version of messenger included in
> the install. If this true I probably just upgraded it to 8.1 instead of
> completely deleting the old version first causing the files to be
> corrupt.....right? And the solution to my problem would be to uninstall
> and delete the messenger folder and do a fresh install of 8.1?
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" <> wrote in message
> news:5A07EACA-98FC-46F1-8A91-...
>> Greetings Naustic,
>>
>> Normally I would blame the display picture store for your account as
>> being corrupt and show you how to delete it as that generally solves the
>> issue you're experiencing.
>>
>> However, your one comment about the problem existing on your wife's fresh
>> PC is a bit puzzling -- did you try it -after- copying over your
>> Messenger store (emoticons, etc.) or is this truly a clean install?
>>
>> Regarding the browser thing, Messenger only uses the default browser
>> setting to open links in conversation windows, everything else is done
>> exclusively through Internet Explorer. I assume Internet Explorer is
>> working/browsing normally?
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Kay
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
>> Associate Expert
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
>> Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2007 Jonathan Kay.
>> You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> "Naustic" <> wrote in message
>> news:FEDBE356-4B4E-4895-8CFF-...
>>> A couple of months ago I so called "upgraded" my messenger client to
>>> 8.1 (previous version unknown). Ever since then I haven't been able to
>>> upload my display picture. Every time I select my picture it keeps
>>> saying that it's an invalid image file. How could this be? It's the
>>> same exact jpg picture I've been using in previous versions. I've even
>>> resized it to the recommended 96x96 pixel size as it suggests in the
>>> help files. When I try to use a picture from one of their galleries it
>>> seem like the link is dead. A window pops up like it's trying to load
>>> but nothing loads. It seems like all the links in the messenger client
>>> are dead. Clicking on "go to your space" or "you have x pending
>>> requests" or even " you have new hotmail messages" has the same effect.
>>>
>>> Now I thought maybe if I installed the 8.5 beta version
>>> (www.get.live.com/betas) it would fix my problems but I was wrong. I'm
>>> still having the same exact problems. The only thing I can think of is
>>> that my messenger client is having problems communicating with Internet
>>> Explorer so I tried making FireFox my default web client. The problem
>>> I'm having here is that I cant get the messenger to use FireFox instead
>>> of Internet Explorer. Here's what I'm running:
>>>
>>> Windows XP Pro (SP2)
>>> Internet Explorer 7
>>> Pentium 4 2.8ghz OC'd to 3.2ghz
>>> 2 gigs of ram
>>>
>>> It does the same thing on my wife's computer too with a fresh install
>>> of Windows XP and default settings. I've done a google search to see if
>>> anyone else is having the same problems but I got no hits. Yes, I'm new
>>> the using newsgroups. Any suggestions and/or info is much appreciated
>>>
>>>
>>