A while ago I tried to install MSN Messenger and it didn't work.... the internet would stop working on my computer until I uninstalled and deleted it. I tried it again like a month later and the same thing happened.

Has this happened to anybody? What should I do?

We'll need more information from you in order to try to answer this. What type of Internet connection to you have? (dialup, cable modem, DSL, etc.).What Windows operating system are you running? (Win98, WinXP, etc.). What version of MSN Messenger did you try to run? Program version information is available in the Help/About... menu.

From your other posted question here at AnswerPool, I'm guessing that you're running the Firewall program ZoneAlarm (which is good). Was the MSN Messenger program given Internet Access? If not, it would not be able to function.

I hope something here will help!

Dwight

I have a cable modem and Windows 98. THe version I tried to run as far as I know was the latest one at that time specifically for Windows 98 so I know I didn;t download it for XP or anything. I can't check now since it's uninstalled and deleted. When I tried to run it I answered yes for always allow this program to access the internet. But with it installed the internet wouldn't work at all.... AIM, explorer etc wouldn't connect.

Thank you for the follow-up information. From what you're describing I would guess that the MSN Messenger install didn't install the MSN Messenger program correctly which caused the program to fail to run correctly. If it "hung", then it is likely to have caused assorted other problems.

Since the second attempt to install also failed in the same way, I would guess that the program left some elements in your system which are conflicting with the second install.

You can try removing all the .tmp files on your system (these are "temporary" files and will not harm anything if removed).

One way of removing .tmp files is to restart the computer in "Safe Mode" and then running a "Find" / Files or Folders for *.tmp files in your C:\ drive.

Restart your computer. At the first screen or the Power On Self Test (P.O.S.T.) beep, repeatedly press the F8 key. When you see the Windows Start Menu, use your arrow keys to scroll to #3, Safe Mode. When #3 is selected, press the "Enter" key.

In Safe Mode, go to Start/Find/Files or Folders and type in *.tmp in the "Named" box. Set the "Look In" box to C:\ and click the "Find Now" button.

Select whatever .tmp files are found press the "Delete" key on the keyboard.

While in Safe Mode, you may wish to run the Scan Disk and Disk Defragmenter.

Right click on the "My Computer" icon and choose "Explore". In the Windows Explorer look in left pane for your C:\ drive. Right click on it and choose "Properties". I suggest you run the Disk Cleanup tool and allow it to clean out junk files. Then click the "Tools" tab and run both the Scan Disk (Standard Mode / Automatically fix problems checked) and then the Disk Defragmenter.

If you have a screen saver set to run, you will need to set "None" while the defrag is running to prevent the defrag from having to start over constantly.

Right click on any unused portion of your Desktop and choose "Properties". In the Display Properties window, select the Screen Saver tab. In the selection box, select "None" and click on OK.

Depending on how long it has been since you last defragged your system, this may take a couple of hours or more to run. You can leave this running overnight if you wish.

Once all this is done, restart your computer. It will restart in Normal Mode. Reset your Screen Saver as desired.

If you like, you can print out this long list. There is a "Printer Friendly" tool you can use.



You can try the MSN Messenger program again. MSN Messenger When this page opens, click the Down Load Information button and choose the "Change Operating System" link. Choose the Windows 98 or Windows ME option Win98 or WinME Option

Good luck with this and I hope you'll find this information to be helpful.

Dwight

Dwight, I'm going to print out your response because, I too, have the same situation. It usually happens when I get a message from MSN saying that there is a new version of Messenger. I hate updating because it never fails - every time I do my internet gets hung up and/or crashes. And I end up uninstalling MSN Messenger.

And I use a dialup connection (very slow) for a laptop with Microsoft 2000.

Good luck with this Georgia85. As I'm sure that you're aware, there are some differences in the procedure between what I wrote for Windows 98 and your Windows 2000 Operating System. In the past, I've had similar problems with MSN Messenger updates. When that happens I usually just revert back to the previous version until whatever bugs the new version has are worked out. Often I will wait for several weeks after a new version is released to see if others report problems before updating. As I write this, I'm using MSN Messenger, version 6.0.062 for Windows 98.

Dwight

I've always had problems using MSN, that's why I seldom use it. I much prefer Yahoo.

Last night I uninstalled and deleted all the temp files. Amazingly my internet ran much smoothly. Then an hour or so later I reinstalled it (only took an hour to do that). I haven't tried it out yet but if I continue to have problems I'll just take the whole darn thing off my computer!

I use msn messenger and have mainly had no problems with it.
However, when I talk to my friend in the States which I do daily, his messenger frequently goes off and he has to sign in again each time. The problem is this he knows even less about computers than I do and I suspect he has other problems he doesn't know of. He runs ME and uses a dialup connection. Today, for example when he switched his computer on he could not get into messenger at all and this is happening to him a lot.

I know you have little to go on here but if anyone has any possible (simple) suggestions to make to me as to any probable causes of this, perhaps I can relay the info to him.

Micawber, the instructions (posted 03-15-04) written above for IndigoFlavours are appropriate for Windows ME, too. They may help with your friends system.
Dwight

Thank you very much Dwight I shall pass this on.
Very odd thing I'm signed in here all the time, yet today I had to log in as I was not recognised - strange!

InfoPop just finished an overhaul of the AnswerPool site and I think that everyone has to sign in again on their first visit back.

Dwight

Following up on Dwights reply
The sure way of getting back your "log on "
status and repeat it if this happens again in future
Open Internet Explorer find "Options" on the top of the page then "Tools" on the dropdown menu
On the next page click on the delete cookies button in the middle of the page then press the appy and Ok button to save and exit the window
Return to Answerpool and log on manually and tick the "Remember me" box onderneath before pressing the Login button(which means you automatically log on) Just go to the menu list save as a "Favourite"(And start from that point with no log on procedure )

IndigoFlavours, Dwight, Micawber & Georgia85:

I just went to the latest MSN Messenger
Version 6.1.0211 about a week ago. I have had no problem with this Version so far.

I had all kinds of problems with the previous Version(s) of Messenger.

Maybe they fixed all of the glitches in Messenger in this latest release.

However I do have problem, on occasion, with MSN 9.0 Dial Up. It seems as though MSN 9.0 Dial up always wants to come on screen even though I do not want to be on the Network. Its annoying.

Don