Absurd. What if the user's computer can't handle it? My grandmother enjoys using messenger, but she has XP on a mere Windows 98 box. What she might have to do is just switch to Linux, because M$ is clearly set out to up system requirements and kill otherwise fine computers the world over.

That's really unfair , I didn't use the latest versions of MSN messenger cause they have alot of problems and they give (NOT RESPONDING) messages every time and then ..............!!!

I am downloading your forced version of msn and i am not happy about it you should have given us so many days to do it, its been 3 hours now that i have been trying to download this and half way through the download it aborts on to me and i have to start over. I have dial up internet so it takes forever anyway and if i had the option to download later i could do it while i was sleeping.This is the only way i have to communicate with my husband at the moment and cant get on msn to talk with him I am a bit pissed about this. And hopefully i don't get half way through the download again and it aborts and sends me to a site that won't upload to my computer.If you have any solutions to my problem please send it to me

Nice! so everyone is in tune. The same should happen with IE8 for standards and security reasons... including banks and all those who still are lazy stuck with IE6. The lockout should be a little more permissive but also communicated constantly for about 2 months before implemented.

This is BS! I opted for the upgrade when it first came out and couldn't use messenger untill I removed it and downgraded. Today I was forced to upgrade and again I can't use messenger. I am DONE with it. Webmessenger here I come until I notify my friends to forget contacting me.

This auto-prompting of upgrade for Window Live Messenger really SUCKS!!! It's an ignorance & disrespect to the MSN users like us --- without giving us an option to choose whether to upgrade or not!

The worst thing is ... The latest upgrade doesn't even work!!! Now i can't use MSN at all.

This sucks! It keeps sending me around in a circle. I can't install the new upgrade. It will not accept my Windows Live ID brianf@dccnet.com
What is going on?

The updated messenger doesn't work on my pc so I am now forced to use Trillion instead to access instant messenger.

Thanks :(

Smart move MS !

What about us in coorporate networks with user rights ?
You do know we lack the possibility to install the new version since it require administrative rights.
Its not like the IT dept. consider messenger a supported tool.

What a mess.....if it aint broke...don't fix it

Now it is much slower, more difficult to navigate, and often does not even logon after a few minutes of trying.

Another wonderful own goal from windows....and another potential convert to G-Mail

Could not agreed more!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will not be upgrading, I will not use MSN live messenger if I cannot use my favorite version. That is that. I encourage others to boycott the same. I am tired of this communist forced control from the big fish. There are plenty other chats out there I will use them.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, as this will not be offered as a stand alone download, it makes it EXTREMELY difficult for those of us on dial-up, to upgrade. It would be much more viable if we could download it on a computer with broadband and transfer via USB key etc, to our dial-up computers. Yes there are still places in this modern world, even in large cities like Auckland, where broadband is not available. Not very user-friendly ~ thanks Microsoft!
Now I have to convince my adult children that Messenger is no longer a viable option for our home :(

Dear MSN Officer,

I could not update the newer MSN, please tell me why and I need your help to get my MSN work.

When I try to update, I did the following:

In my screen, it said:

A newer version is abailable You must install the newer vesion in order to continue. Would you like to do this now?

I clicked: Yes

Then, it began to download. But afterwards, my screen gave me the following information:

uv 62 D. exe. Ordinal not Found

The ordinal 266 could not be located in the dynamic link library msi. dll.

I could not understand what the above information. Can you please tell me what’s wrong with my MSN, and can you please help me make my MSN work?

Thank you very much.

Alice

Hello,

I did -by force- upgrade my 8.5 to the latest one yesterday, but the BIG problem is facing the loss of your contacts ! i can't figure out how to get them back !

it's a shame on "windows live team" to force people to upgrade their msn's then force them to face CONTACT LOSS by their own !

waiting them to force-fix it = !

Thank you Marius.

The upgrade does not work so I cannot use MSN!!! Same on my wife's computer!!!

i dont like the new windows messenger i was forced to download it in order to sign in and none of my contacts came with it and i cannot add them again because its sayin they dont accept windows messenger wen clearly they do because they on it so now i cannot keep in contact with friends and i have no clue how to sort it so i say the new version is terrible and i wish i could go back to my older version which worked perfectly well.

I'm really annoyed about this. I don't understand why they had to *force* this upgrade; the only reason I can see is that nobody would actually want it.

I liked Messenger 8.1, I was perfectly happy with it, and so when I saw the option to voluntarily upgrade I declined. Many are the times I've seen a Microsoft "upgrade" ruin a formerly-perfectly-good program (e.g. Windows Media Player 9 -> 10; sure, it made it more reminiscent of iTunes, but I don't *like* iTunes, that's why I liked Media Player), and they've outdone themselves this time.

Not only does the upgrade install a lot of stuff I don't want without asking (Windows Live Call/Mail/Family Safety/Photo Gallery/Writer have appeared under the start menu, and my Spyware watchdog told me about half a dozen things being added to IE), taking incredibly long to do so, and tries to set Bing as the default search engine (although it does at least consult you about this), but the new Messenger is terrible.

Let me clarify; whilst there is no particular drop in functionality, there's no particular increase in it either. All the extra gadgets they've added over the years to try and turn it into a multi-purpose communications and networking tool are perhaps slightly more obvious, yes; but there's nothing *new* there that wasn't there before, the only difference being that instead of them being nicely tucked away in menus, where you could find them easily enough if you wanted them, they're now all over the place cluttering up the control interface. I just want to use an IM client, that's all I want to do, I don't need to see fifty bajillion buttons I'm never going to use. And the message windows now take up half my freakin' screen, I can't see past them. I'm sure the "medium" setting for display picture size has been increased, whilst "small" appears the same; leaving me with no happy size in-between. Speaking of display pictures, they have been moved from the right of a conversation to the left; whilst I can't argue this has any major impact on performance, it boggles the mind as to why they'd do this. It's horribly disconcerting to someone used to having them on the left, and there's no reason for it; nor can I find any option to move them back. The whole thing is just *ugly*; I don't know what it is, maybe it's that they've made the shift to Vista/XP-style smooth roundedness more obvious, which jars with my Windows 2000-style theme on XP, maybe it's all the white clashing with my black and green colour scheme...you'd imagine a Microsoft product at least would take its colouring cues from the operating system, but this new version cheerfully ignores it.

And to bring me to the most important point of this rant; it is SLOOOOOW. And I don't just mean the upgrade, which took half an hour to download and a further hour to install on my not-slow internet connection. My previous version of Messenger worked fine; okay, there'd be the odd occasion when it would start eating all the processor's power for no apparent reason, but closing it and reopening would quickly solve the problem and it would be back to normal. But this... It takes about thirty seconds to do something as simple as open a message window. Even minimising the screen takes an agonisingly long time. It's almost un-usable.

And yet, all this would not be so bad, IF the upgrade wasn't forced. I could, as I have done in the past, uninstall it, go back to my nice, cosy Messenger 8.1 and wait for them to go through another few iterations until the bugs are solved before finally upgrading to the next actually-decent version. But no, they had to force users to choose between a piece of trash, and no Messenger at all. I at least have a middle-ground; I'm not going to use this new Messenger, but I still have the nice, stripped-down-to-only-the-bits-I-actually-need BlackBerry version.

If you happen to use a old version of MSN on a OS that gets forced upgrades, you can use their very own "Compatibility Mode" to get around the forced upgrade, Windows98 works nicely btw :) Hopefully they wont "fix" this so I can keep using my 8.1 version forever!

i found that the video call is not available with the new messenger . if there is a solution for that can any one tell me how , after all i prefer the old program. thank you

It's a real pity - I got the ultimatum today, and so went to "upgrade",,, such a big bloated mess, even after I said 'no' to all the extras thrust into the whole complicated mix. Installed, and voila,still locked out! Can't log in at all. Got the alert patch notice, downloaded, guess waht? No result. Can't log in, gives an error message that can't be deciphered, no wonder people stick with others like ICQ. I stopped using MSN to chat with years ago, due to all the hacker intrusions.... so thanks for the waste of MY time and HD space, MS :) Good luck and all of that.

ever since being forced to download the new messenger 2009.............my contacts have been deleted and am unable to add contacts.........my score for this messenger is 0 out of 10............if any body has any suggestions please contact me.......regards gavin

gavin, we've been callling you, faxing you, knocking on your front door to give you suggestions, but you just don't answer. we've posted suggestions to your home address, we've advertised for you to contact us on milk cartons, i have a swat team combing the suburbs, church group volunteers are going door to door in the cities and rural areas inquiring as to your whereabouts, but no one can find any trace of you. we can only help people who want to help themselves.

Just upgraded following the notification.

The moment the installation completed I was unable to sign in.

Surprisingly, there are a fair few people with the same issue, but no resolution from Microsoft.

What a P.O.S.! Shall not be upgrading the other PC's on my network yet!

This Is BS, I took the new WLM & I do not like it, All my friends & family hate it too, Microsoft has made it nearly impossible to share files now, forcing you to load their virus scanner that will restrict several file types including password protected zip or rar files (big brother wants to know what you are sharing) & I don't buy all that security risk crap as today's anti virus programs scan messenger clients & their downloaded files.

The whole"windows live" thing is garbage taking control away from users & giving it to their advertisers. IE since hotmail went "live" there is no way to click off the add on the right side of the screen to allow the user to read their entire email message if it is written in in standard width, they also removed the communication option that used to allow you to comment to the development team about the product.

I have since re installed WLM 8.5.1 & it is working ok for the time being but now Microsoft is sending me emails to force me to take the new version. or access to service will be denied.

NOT going to happen, I will go with yahoo or linux IM service before I will let big brother sniff through all my online business

The day will soon be here when we will need a freedom from information act to prevent companies from tracking our every move.

as in the real world this is called stalking & it is against the law, why should it be any different on line just because they say its for your own protection.

No, Give me back my old MSN messenger & hotmail & I will be happy,
you mind your business & I will mind mine, If I brake the law then there might be cause to monitor my online actions,

Till that time Bill Gates & his corporate bum buddies are S.O.L. on this one

JoeNezZ

I am using Live Messenger 2009, but it have been disconnecting again and again.
do you have any solution for this?
we have good bandwidth ,after this the prbm remain same.

I installed it. Now, like THOUSANDS of other users, video call DOES NOT WORK!!. It worked flawlessly before I upgraded. Now, I cannot downgrade to an earlier version so unless it is fixed in a couple of days, BYE BYE messenger. They should test this crap before they force you to install. Thanks for ruining my thanksgiving M$.

Hey id recommend pidgin to those who got locked out its a billion times better, uses a bit more hdd space, but it uses alot less ram and cpu, and you can login multiple accounts, as well it has plugins for yahoo, facebook, google talk, twitter, irc, aim you name it pidgin can do it.

I havent looked back since i switched.

Hey guys rightclick the messenger shortcut or exe, go to compatibility tab change to old version of windows and then the upgrade messages go away, but they will force you to update eventually =[

Well there's a few way to solve this...

1. Kriss-"If you happen to use a old version of MSN on a OS that gets forced upgrades, you can use their very own "Compatibility Mode" to get around the forced upgrade, Windows98 works nicely btw :) Hopefully they wont "fix" this so I can keep using my 8.1 version forever!
" That idea should work. Easy for people to do as well.

2. www.ebuddy.com lets you chat with your Live account to your buddies. Also supports others too, like AIM and such.

3. http://www.oldversion.com/MSN-Messenger.html Downloads to older versions, plus a link for patch so you don't have to worry about forced upgrades (the patch is needed)

I'm not a fan of Microsoft trying to push people around to upgrade their OS, or software, or hardware, or whatever either. Although the MSN/WLM upgrade doesn't bother me, the push to get people to go to Windows 7 does.... not a big fan of any Microsoft OS past Xp...

Hopes this helps people.

I have been using messenger live 8.5 until today nov 5th 2009. sudently i could not log on. I need to upgrade it. HELL NO. I DONT WANT MESSENGER LIVE 9. What the hell can be done about this problem??????????????????????????????????????????

RIGHT CLICK: change compatability mode to Windows 2000

it will work, but you will lose your MSN PLUS patch which is sad

Unfortunately, one of Microsoft's strategies of controlling the market is forcing users to upgrade MSN Messenger: "You must install the newer version in order to continue".

However, there is a work around if you don't wish to be MS-Bullied into upgrading.

At the Messenger executable file (C:Program FilesMSN Messengermsnmsgr.exe)... Right click > Compatibility > Compatibility with Windows 2000. This avoids the update.

Should the Windows Live Messenger "Preparing To install' window appear - immediately click to cancel & your old version will appear & run normally.

(My trusted A-patched version is 2008 Build 8.5.1302.1018)

ok i have tried to do what everyone suggested, At the Messenger executable file (C:Program FilesMSN Messengermsnmsgr.exe)... Right click > Compatibility > Compatibility with Windows 2000. This avoids the update.

This is not working for me at all. I update to the new version and i still cannot sign in do to an error (code 8007000e) for 2 days i have been installing and reinstalling etc. I am very frustrated with this now. Can anyone help me out? Is there a easier way to do this?

THERE IS NO STEREO MIX FEATURE ON 2009.... WHY WOULD MICROSOFT REMOVE THAT OPTION BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT LAWS??? WHO THE HELL WOULD BURN A 10 SECOND MUSIC CLIP TO A CD AND PLAY IT AT HOME OR IN THEIR CARS?? ITS PATHETIC

JUST LET THE USERS DECIDE WEATHER TO UPGRADE OR NOT

I updated this last night and since it installed the update it has left my computer without an internet connection!?!?
Every other computer in my house works fine on the network we have still, but my computer just finds the network, says it is identifying, then loses it and then it goes round and round in a circle of finding, indetifying and losing it!
Can someone please suggest what the problem could possibly be and how i could fix it?!?!?

Can anyone positively tell me that using compatibility mode ie 2000, will work for version 8.5xx AFTER the 5 Nov,2009 disaster date?

first of all....they shouldn't be allowed to please themselves what they do.....thats the problem these days,companies are allowed to change whatever they want without any re-percussions...it has to stop...being monopolised with the corporate giants...it is totally unacceptable...for sure i wont be using msn anymore....come on you multi million dollar pirates....show some respect for the people who got you to where you are in the first place...

hello.. I just wanted to say is there anyway you can fix the way how when u click "download new msn" when it asks u too.. it usually says it cant work after.. Could u be able to fix that soon? because most of my friends arent able to go on msn anymore.

MSN will not get me to upgrade, I will just switch to Yahoo...BOO!!! over my dead body, Bill GatesZZzzz..