Inside Windows Live Messenger:: Blog

A weird white box or Office logo.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:34:36 GMT

posted by Aaron

Hey Messenger users, Aaron here. We are seeing an issue where Messenger versions 8.1 and 8.5 are experiencing a technical issue that is causing a blank white box to appear in the conversation window. If you are the 9.0 beta you might be seeing an Office Logo. Believe it or not this is the same bug. The issue does not impact your ability to send and receive messages. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working hard behind the scenes to lose the box and the logo. Hang tight, it should be back to normal before you know it!

Join a new Windows Live user community.

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:21:41 GMT

posted by Aaron

We here at Windows Live love to create software that makes keeping in touch with your personal community fun and exciting. If you love to chat on Windows Live Messenger, use Windows Live Writer to post to your Windows Live Spaces page and post photos from Windows Live Photo Gallery then we have just the community for you.

We are looking for people to share their stories, tips or tricks, or product reviews of Windows Live with others. We’ll show the world what amazing things you can do with Windows Live.

You can start by taking this quick survey so we know where to get you plugged in.

Thanks for being part of our Windows Live community!

URL Blocking: Problem now fixed

Sun, 11 May 2008 16:51:11 GMT

posted by Dharmesh

Greetings Messenger fans –

As some of you noticed, we had a problem from Friday night to Saturday morning where our Messenger service was incorrectly blocking some legitimate IP addresses. We sincerely apologize for any difficulties this caused our users. And we want to thank those of you that reported this problem to us so that we could quickly fix it. Because of your help, the incorrect block was only in place for a few hours.

As you can imagine, we are very serious about our efforts to block virus, malware and other harmful URLs from being passed on to our users. And we're continually working to improve this process so that we can keep our users safe without having a negative impact on your Messenger service.

There have been some pretty outlandish speculations on what happened so I'd like to give you some facts about our process for trying to block unsafe URLs and about what happened Friday night:

There are a number of factors that can be used to determine whether a URL is potentially harmful: number of times a URL is sent, the frequency of the URL being sent, the number of accounts the URL is sent from, manually checking the URL, comparing with other "block lists", etc.
When a URL is deemed harmful, a block can be instated for a specific URL (i.e. www.<domain>.com/<page>) or an entire domain (i.e. *.<domain>.com)
This entire process for Messenger is managed by a 3rd party that is a Microsoft partner
On Friday, Microsoft did not request to block any of the URLs that were accidentally blocked
The blocks were made by our partner as a result of their process to block harmful URLs
We are still investigating the specific reason our partner made these incorrect blocks and we will work with them to improve their process for detecting harmful URLs while not blocking safe ones

As always, we're open to feedback on how to make Messenger an even greater service. And again, our apologies to the users that were impacted by this.

Hotmail joins Messenger to expand the i'm initiative

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:08:00 GMT

posted by Dharmesh

Greetings Messenger fans –

I have a great follow-up to the recent news about an incredibly successful first year for the i’m Initiative. Windows Live Hotmail announced today that they are joining in on the i’m Initiative started with Windows Live Messenger. This means that now you can use either Messenger or Hotmail (or both) and help raise money for the cause of your choice. Check out Hotmail’s blog for the details.

This means that for all you passionate i’m participants out there, now’s the time to double down and start having your email use help make a difference like it has with Messenger.

New to ? Then go to http://im.live.com to learn more.

i’m Initiative donates $1.3M in its first year

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:13:11 GMT

posted by Dharmesh

Greetings Messenger fans –

Let me first introduce myself as I’m new to MessengerSays. My name’s Dharmesh Mehta and I lead the Windows Live Messenger product management team. Although I’ve been a user for many years, I just joined the team that builds and delivers Messenger. It’s been a busy and interesting time as I’ve been learning a ton about the vast array of Messenger capabilities, features and initiatives – some of which I’d never seen before (for a cool game, check out Fishticuffs). So the reason I’m posting here today is to share progress we’ve made with what I think is one of our coolest initiatives.

Many of the things we build are geared at making Messenger better for you – our customers. However, this initiative is about a great thing that Windows Live Messenger lets our customers do for the broader community. The program I’m talking about is the i'm Initiative – where every time someone who has chosen to participate in the i’m Initiative has a conversation using Messenger, Microsoft shares a portion of our advertising revenue with the organization selected by the customer. We started this initiative a year ago, and we’re happy to report that thanks to the support of many great Windows Live Messenger customers, Microsoft has donated $1.3 million to ten of the world’s most effective social cause organizations.

Because of your enthusiasm, we’re also excited to announce that we will be continuing this program. And with no set limit on the amount donated to each organization, the more i’m conversations people have, the more money that goes toward addressing some of the world’s most urgent social issues.

That basic idea is that we believe every successful business has a responsibility to use its resources and influence to make a positive impact on the world and its people, and Windows Live Messenger is helping to further this commitment. The organizations currently involved in the i’m Initiative (and their emoticon codes) are the

American Red Cross - ready to help, code = *red+u
Boys & Girls Clubs of America - providing a positive place for kids, code = *bgca
The Humane Society of the United States - saving animals = *hsus
National AIDS Fund - fighting AIDS, code = *naf
National MS Society - joining the MS movement, code = *mssoc
ninemillion.org - helping 9 million refugee kids, code = *9mil
Sierra Club - exploring and protecting the planet, code = *sierra
StopGlobalWarming.org - stopping global warming, code = *help
Susan G. Komen for the Cure - finding the cure, code = *komen
UNICEF - helping kids survive, code = *unicef

There are of course many other organizations out there that are confronting our world’s urgent issues that we know people would love to see as a part of the i'm Initiative, and rest assured we’re researching others to add on in the future.

The i’m Initiative is currently open to all residents of the US and you can join at http://im.live.com. It’s completely free for you to join and use Windows Live Messenger, and it takes only a minute to get started. We’re also exploring possibilities for expanding the program internationally in the future, but for the time being this remains a US-only program.

Lastly, on behalf of all of the organizations involved in the i’m Initiative, a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported the effort. Just by doing what you do every day, you are making a difference. Keep it up!

Messenger, games, prizes.....what more could you want!?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:44:00 GMT

Hey all you Messenger lovers! Everyone loves games, so we wanted to tell you about the Windows Live Messenger Jigsaw Too Sweepstakes going on now through February 28th, 2008 on MSN Games.

You can play the sweeps every day to see if you are an instant winner of a one month free subscription to the Instant Games Clubhouse which grants you all access to exclusive games on Messenger! Also, you will automatically be entered to win a chance at the Grand Prize which is a Canon Powershot digital camera prize package. We'll be giving away 3 Grand Prizes, so there are even more chances for you to be a big winner!

If you haven't played Messenger Jigsaw Too: Photo Edition yet, you have to go check it out. You can upload your own pictures from your "My Pictures" folder right into the Jigsaw Too: Photo Edition game and bammo....you and your friends are putting together your favorite pics from that awesome trip you took together! Pretty sweet, huh?

Now, go play and stay tuned for our next sweepstakes in March '08. You can win a 50" plasma screen TV!!

Upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 8.5 is coming!

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:12:37 GMT

posted by Jura

Hi all,

Back in November we shipped the final version of Windows Live Messenger 8.5 along with several other Windows Live applications and services. A lot of you have already upgraded, and for that we thank you and hope you’re enjoying it as much as we enjoyed building it. Starting soon, we’re going to make it easier for those of you who haven’t upgraded yet to get onto our latest and greatest.

This will happen in two phases. First, everyone running Windows XP or Windows Vista will get a prompt encouraging you to upgrade. When you accept the upgrade, the new unified installer will launch and start upgrading Messenger. While it’s installing, you’ll have the option to download and install other Windows Live applications. You don’t have to take any of them, but we think you’ll like them and hope you’ll give them a try.

It will take a couple of weeks for us to get this upgrade out to all users, so if you don’t get it right away don’t worry, it’s coming. If you don’t want to wait, you can go to http://get.live.com/messenger/overview to download and install Messenger 8.5 right now.

After everyone’s gotten the optional upgrade, those of you still running a beta version of Messenger 8.5 will receive a required upgrade to the final version. When this phase kicks in you’ll be blocked from logging in until you complete the upgrade. The final version is even better and more stable than the beta versions, we want you to have the best experience possible!

A special note for those of you running Messenger 8.5 Beta on Windows XP 64-bit or Windows 2003 Server: the final version of Messenger 8.5 will not install or run on your OS. We don’t want you to get stuck out in the cold so you will not receive the mandatory upgrade to the final version. However, these operating systems won’t be supported by future Messenger versions. You may stay on your current beta version, or to get to a more stable final version we recommend that you uninstall Messenger 8.5 and go back to Messenger 8.1.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

IM Me from the Web - In Color!

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:35:31 GMT

posted by Casey

Hello again! A while back I posted some exciting news about the Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control which allows you to show your presence and receive IMs from web users by adding a little chunk of HTML to your web page.

We've gotten a lot of great feedback about the IM Control, and we've just released IM Control Beta 2 with a couple of improvements to help keep your web page lookin' good!

First of all, you are no longer stuck using the lovely Windows Live™ blue! Now, when you go to the Create HTML page you can choose to use one of the seven sample Themes for your IM Control. Also, you can change the dimensions of the IM Control so YOU decide how much space it will occupy on your web page. Personally, I'm a fan of the seafoam green, and I like my IM Control a little bigger than it was originally - it's easier for the person sending me IMs to see more of our chat history.

Also, there is now a Button you can install on your web page if you don't want to devote very much real estate to the IM Control itself. When a user clicks on the Button, which also conveniently shows your Presence Status Icon, it launches a pop-up version of the IM Control window, which looks like the screenshot below. Starting a conversation in the pop-up is the same as it is in the original IM Control window.

Something I especially like about the new Button is that I can navigate away from the web page containing it, and my IM Control pop-up will allow me to continue my IM conversation. With the original IM Control, if I accidentally navigated away from the page, I would lose my IM conversation. Now I am free to continue browsing and continue to chat in the smaller pop-up window instead!

If you are feeling super ambitious and want to use even MORE of the new features from the IM Control, head over to dev.live.com/messenger where you can learn about Inviting Users to Use the IM Control and Querying the Windows Live Presence API.

Don't forget! If you haven't already, you'll still need to opt-in to show your presence and receive IMs from the web by visiting the Web Settings Page in order for the IM Control to work. Once you've done that, put a better-fitting IM Control and Button on your web page - and match it to your website's color scheme!

Enjoy!

Mixing It Up With "Music Mix"

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:07:08 GMT

posted by Eric

Hey There Readers,

Eric from the Spaces team guest blogging today. I wanted to share my thoughts on a relatively new Messenger feature that I’ve really been digging lately – “Music Mix”. In case you haven’t discovered it yourself, “Music Mix” allows you and a buddy listen to a shared music playlist simultaneously.

For example my old friend Scott, who is a huge music fan, lives in New Jersey and I live in Seattle. We chat on Messenger all the time. Now with “Music Mix” he can play me all the cool new songs he’s been listening to right from a Messenger window and I can share my favorite tracks instantly with him. It’s like having your own little private jukebox. Both people can add songs to the “Music Mix”, fast forward or rewind and the changes will instantly be mirrored on each other’s mix. So if one person declared “whoa, awesome drum solo” the other would have just heard said awesome solo at the same time.

To start listening to music with your friends click on the Activities tab and select “Music Mix”.

Here I am schooling my pal Rob on some classic Prince:

And if you want to share a playlist of songs you are particularly proud of you can create a Music List on Windows Live Spaces. You can make this list look extra cool by adding album covers from Amazon.com (note: this part is only available in some markets).

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If you have thoughts on this post or "Music Mix" feel free to leave a comment. For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Congratulations to the Humane Society (and Facebook users!)

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:10:03 GMT

posted by Aaron

Steven told everyone about the “i’m Making a Difference” group on Facebook this past Wednesday. I’m pleased to announce the winning cause organization is the Humane Society of the United States! Over 50,000 people joined the challenge with the HSUS receiving the most votes. It is our privilege to present a $50,000 donation in honor of Windows Live on behalf of the Facebook group and its members!

The Humane Society has been working since 1954 to celebrate animals and confront cruelty in all its forms. As the nation’s largest and most powerful animal protection organization, they work tirelessly to advocate for a population unable to advocate for itself. We hope this contribution helps them continue their great work.

To everyone that joined the group: Thank you! Thank you for joining, thank you for telling your friends, and thank you all for speaking out passionately on the wall and the message boards. Together, we are truly making a difference!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

You IM, We Give

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:43:49 GMT

posted by Steven

Hey people: It is time for another great release of Messenger as well as all of the Windows Live suite of applications and services. This is our biggest and best release to date and I want to make sure you have the latest versions of all of our great applications including Messenger, Mail, Writer and Photo Gallery.

Secondly, I want to make sure that you have joined us in the i’m initiative, which gives real dollars to important charities like UNICEF, The Sierra Club, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and others. In November and December Microsoft will double the donations when you IM for a cause.

Also, if you haven’t already, go to Facebook and join the i’m MAKING A DIFFERENCE group to help us meet our Challenge Grant of donating $50,000 to celebrate the launch of new Windows Live suite. You can even vote on who gets the money! You must join the group by Friday, November 11^th though.

The creative people that thought up the i’m Making a Difference campaign are coming up with new ways for people to get involved with this great initiative. Now comes the part where students get to be involved and tell their story of how they support local and worldwide social causes. Windows Live Messenger has teamed up with mtvU to bring you a new reality series based on the lives of student activists. You can go to IM.LIVE.COM to watch the show. In each episode they will be profiling a different student leader, and you can see how they are using the power of the internet and Messenger (of course!) to change the world.

note: currently the donation only applies to Windows Live Messenger users in the United States. If you are in the US and you are IMing with a contact in another country your IM activity will be counted towards the donation.

Who wants IMs from the web? I do! I do!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:18:45 GMT

posted by Casey

Hi everyone! My name is Casey and I'm a new Program Manager on the Windows Live™ Messenger Server team. This is my first post on MessengerSays, and I am super excited to share with you a brand new feature called the Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control!

The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control lets people on the Web reach you in Messenger by showing your Messenger status on your web site, blog, or social networking profile. The Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control runs in the browser and lets site visitors message you without installing Messenger first. The IM Control is supported in IE6, IE7, and Firefox 2.0 on Windows and Firefox 2.0 on Mac OS. The IM Control is supported in 32 languages.

This is a nice addition to the IM button functionality announced in Ali's post. An important difference between the two is that the new Windows Live™ Messenger IM Control allows people to send you IMs without installing Windows Live™ Messenger, and the IM button requires that they have it installed and are logged in.

To use the IM Control:

1. Go to http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/websettings.aspx. Sign in with your Windows Live ID as needed.

2. Turn on your Web settings to show your presence and receive IM from the Web. Note that if you turn on Web settings, anybody on the Web who has permissions to view your web site can see your presence and send you IM messages. Since we are dedicated to protecting children and Family Safety Settings users from receiving IM messages from users they don't know, children and FSS users aren't eligible to sign up for this feature.

3. Pick a way to show your presence. I decided that I wanted to add an IM Control to my Space, so I chose Messenger.

4. Copy the HTML from the page and post it on your Web site. Since I added the IM Control to my Space, I added a Custom HTML Module, as shown in the screen shot below.

5. When a visitor comes to your page, they can see your presence, and click on “Begin a conversation” to start sending you IM.

Testing the IM Control

1. You can test the IM Control right from the Copy HTML page: http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/CreateHtml.aspx

2. Note that you cannot IM yourself from the Web (just as you can’t IM yourself in the Messenger client). To test sending a message to yourself, you can “Sign in with a different account” or “Send anonymous message.”

I decided to “Send anonymous message” to myself, and I left my name as the default, “Visitor.” I was required to pass a HIP Challenge (one of those character recognition tests) which helps to protect IM Control users from spam messages. Then I sent a message, and I can see that Casey (myself, logged in to the Windows Live™ Messenger PC Client) is writing a message back!

On the Windows Live™ Messenger PC Client, the IM appears as if it was sent from Visitor.

Back in the IM Control, I receive Casey's response and I can see the timestamp from when the last message was received.

3. The IM Control lets anybody on the Web IM you. If somebody you don’t know sends you a message, you will see a warning like below in Messenger. The IM Control lets people you don’t know reach you. If you don’t want people you don’t know to send you messages, then don’t allow messages such as this one, or restrict the permission setting on your web site to allow fewer or more trusted users. If you want to always enable new users to IM you from the IM Control, then allow messages from unknown senders.

That should be all you need to get started, so go! Generate some HTML, plant an IM Control wherever you please, and start chatting with visitors from the web!

Announcing Windows Live Messenger 8.5!

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:10:48 GMT

posted by Aaron

After months of work, and two beta releases the Windows Live Messenger team is proud to release Windows Live Messenger 8.5! We’ve listened to the feedback from our beta users and made this one of the best versions of Messenger ever!

If you were a beta user not much has changed for you. We worked hard to improve the overall quality of Messenger though, and we owe a big ‘Thanks!!’ to all of the beta testers that sent us feedback. If you haven’t been a beta tester you can read Nicole’s post about the new features in 8.5.

Windows Live Messenger isn’t the only program getting released today. In fact a lot of Windows Live products are celebrating a new launch today. Be sure and check out the blogs of Mail, Photo Gallery, and Writer for all of the new features, then go Get Windows Live!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Let your friends IM you from anywhere!!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:23:36 GMT

Posted by Ali

I am very excited! Now you can create your OWN IM button to put on your blog or in your email signature. Just go to www.messengerbuttons.com and create your own button, it has a lot of cool ways to personalize your button. This makes it even easier for your friends to find you on IM.

Once you have created your button, it is also easy to add it to your Windows Live Space, Outlook, Hotmail or Windows Live Mail! Here is a button I created.

Enjoy connecting with all of your friends and family!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Catch-up with your Messenger contacts with What's New

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:53:56 GMT

A few months ago, Jason and the folks at Messenger Says let me make a post about Messenger and Spaces. I’m excited to report that last week the Windows Live Spaces team had a big release that included updates to the “What’s New” that now make it easy to catch-up on recent activity from your Messenger contacts (and Spaces friends) in a single view:

The “What’s New” module now includes details on recent updates from your (two-way) WL Spaces “friends” and WL Messenger contacts. The type of information in the details is:

Photos – album title and thumbnails of up to five recently added photos
Files – folder title and icons of up to five recently added files; you can hover to see the file name as a tooltip
Blog entry – blog entry title and a text snippet from the
Lists – list title and the number of items in the list
Profile updates – a list of profile fields that were updated
New friend – when a friend (or messenger contact) of yours adds a new friend, you see the new friend’s display name and a link to invite them to be your friend (if they’re not already your friend)

The What's New module shows up to ~25 items, but you can also click the "What's New" module header to view a full What's New page with ~100 items.

Some other changes that we’ve made to the Spaces home include:

Upcoming birthdays are also in the What’s New module.
Recent comments now includes comments on your photos and guestbook and the module was moved above the fold
Invites to new Windows Live Events now show-up in the “Welcome module”
There’s a link to the Community page in the top right
New features are highlighted at the bottom of the middle column

My favorite part(s) of What’s New is that it’s comprehensive and up-to-date. Basically, if you have permission to see content on a contact or friend’s space, you’ll get it in your What’s New. Also, updates come through in minutes; so check back often for the latest updates from your contacts ;)

To get to the Spaces home / What’s New, just go to http://spaces.live.com and sign-in or click the “spaces” button in Messenger (shown right).

Enjoy—
--Rob

P.S. If you’d like to learn more, my colleague Dare has some more details on his space and there’s also more on my personal space including some safety/privacy tips.

Technorati Tags: Windows Live, Messenger, Spaces, What’s New, Microsoft

Messenger 8.5 Beta upgrades

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:28:34 GMT

posted by Jason

On September 5^th, I announced that the Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 release had come out. As part of that release, we’re now going to start upgrading users from Beta 1 to Beta 2. Please note that you are only affected by this upgrade if you’re currently using the 8.5 Beta 1. If you’re running an earlier version of Messenger (like 7.0 or 8.1) or have already upgraded to 8.5 Beta 2, you won’t be affected by this new upgrade process.

For all you beta 1 users out there, you should expect to start seeing the upgrade prompts. We’re testing a few different upgrade scenarios with this release, so it is expected that different operating systems will have different upgrade experiences:

Windows XP users will see the new unified installer experience as an optional update
Windows Vista 32- and 64-bit users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as a mandatory update
Windows XP 64 and Windows 2003 Server users will see the Windows Installer and MSI experience as an optional update

These scenarios are all part of our beta testing – thanks again for being a beta tester!

Other important details for 8.5 Beta 2:

Send feedback here
Talk about it here
Get support here

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 now available for Windows XP

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:19:14 GMT

posted by Anand

We’ve seen feedback from several people that they would like to stay on a version of MSN Messenger. Given that many of us currently on the Windows Live Messenger team also worked on MSN Messenger for years, we can appreciate the sentiment. Based on this, we have a new option we hope you’ll like.

For those of you on XP who are passionate about staying on MSN Messenger, we’ve now released the new, more secure build of MSN Messenger 7.0 build 0820 for Windows XP, and we recommend you install and use this build (rather than running MSN Messenger 7.5 on XP in Windows 2000 compatibility mode as we realize some of you are doing). If you currently have MSN Messenger 7.5 installed, we recommend you uninstall it via Add/Remove Programs and install MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cf49c56c-8b3e-4eae-9904-9505f47bed45.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Phase 2 Kicked Off

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:16:52 GMT

posted by Rick

Wanted to let you know that we’ve officially kicked off phase 2, as described in my last post, in which we will upgrade Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME users to a new version of MSN Messenger 7.0, build number 7.0.0820.

For those of you on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, or Windows ME, please note that MSN Messenger 7.0 requires Internet Explorer 6.0. If you are currently running an earlier version of IE, we recommend you install IE 6.0 first and then upgrade your version of MSN Messenger. IE 6.0 SP1 can be installed from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1e1550cb-5e5d-48f5-b02b-20b602228de6.

-Rick

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Rolling Mandatory Upgrades – Phase 2 starting soon

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:25:08 GMT

posted by Rick

Hi everyone, Rick here again. As you know, we are in the middle of a multi-phase rolling upgrade of the Messenger network that started last Wednesday, September 12. I wanted to give you an update on where we are in the process and what's coming next.

The first phase of the Mandatory Security Upgrades focused on the Windows XP operation system and getting the rest of the XP user base onto Windows Live Messenger 8.1. Focusing on just XP has allowed our customer support teams to focus on Windows XP issues and it also reduced some of the network load created by the upgrades. We have seen some issues in these upgrades that we are trying to address in the newsgroups and through customer support. Your postings to the newsgroups and this blog have been very helpful in directing our support efforts to those areas that are preventing usage of the 8.1 client. Thank you for your postings, and please continue to let us know what kind of issues you are seeing with 8.1 on XP and Vista.

In the second phase, we are turning on the Mandatory Security Upgrades for Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME. As noted in the security bulletin, we have built a new version of MSN Messenger 7.0, build number 7.0.0820, that will run on Windows 2000. This version of MSN Messenger has also been tested for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME. Users should expect these upgrades to start soon.

To recap, the set of Messenger clients that do not have the webcam security vulnerability are:

Windows Live Messenger 8.1 (for XP and Vista)
MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 (for Windows 2000 and Windows 98, SE, ME)
Windows Messenger – all versions (XP only)
MSN Messenger 5.0 for Windows 95.
Microsoft Messenger for Macintosh (all versions)

and ... Windows Live Messenger 8.5 which many of you are using in beta form.

The third phase of the upgrades will focus on a small number of remaining clients that exhibit the webcam vulnerability. We're still working out the time line for this third phase, and we will keep you posted about when you can expect to see that upgrade roll out.

Again, please continue to send us your feedback.

Rick

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Securing Messenger

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:12:42 GMT

posted by Rick

Hi everybody, I’m Rick Eames, Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger. First off, I want to thank you for all your feedback over the last few days as we’ve rolled out the client upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 8.1. We’re actively reading all your feedback and are working within the Messenger team to investigate the problems folks are having so we can be as helpful as possible in resolving them. This upgrade will impact about 1/4 to 1/3 of the Messenger user base. Most people on the network were already running the 8.1 client.

Why we’re upgrading your Messenger Client

I wanted to write this blog post to talk a little more about why we’ve issued the mandatory upgrade. A lot of the feedback I’m reading in the blog comments and newsgroups has the sentiment of “Hey, I don’t need Microsoft keeping me safe. This is my machine, I know what’s best for it, and I can be responsible for my own actions.” That argument certainly makes sense in the context of an individual person & their machine.

The nature of IM networks and certain security bugs, though, is that they may allow the attacker to use your machine to attack other members of the Messenger community. As you can imagine, in a highly connected network like Messenger it would not take long before all Messenger users could be under attack. Because these types of scenarios are possible, we felt we needed to take action to protect all our users and issue the right fix. Another way to think about it is to imagine the security bug to be a disease and that it’s our responsibility to inoculate the network so that the disease can’t spread. The more clients that are safe, the lower the risk to the entire community.

Also, many of the readers of this blog and the participants on the newsgroups are pretty savvy computer users – you understand how to look out for viruses, worms, phishing schemes, etc. – but there is a larger portion of the Messenger user base that is not that savvy. Have we optimized for these folks? Yes. Why? Because we know that they are the majority of our user base and we have a responsibility to keep them safe. You probably noticed that we took a similar stance a few weeks ago when a URL worm found its way on to the Messenger network.

What we’re doing with your feedback & issues

Many folks on the Messenger team are actively working to investigate the problems you’ve reported around not being able to sign in, contacts that aren’t showing properly, and emoticons and other content having gone missing. We will be posting responses on the public Windows Live Messenger newsgroup. I encourage you to look there for resolutions to your issues, and I’d request that you post there if you’re having a problem with the upgrade that hasn’t yet been reported. The benefit of posting your issues on the newsgroups rather than as blog comments is that we are able to reply to your newsgroup post directly and connect with you if we need more information about your particular issue.

We realize that being forced to upgrade is not ideal and can be painful (inoculation shots can hurt L), but we do believe we’re doing it with the best intentions of keeping the network safe and secure so that all our users have a good experience.

Thanks for being such a great Messenger user, and thanks again for all your feedback. Keep it coming.

Rick

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

We hear you!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 23:36:48 GMT

posted by Jason

A few days ago, we announced that we were upgrading all users on Windows XP and later operating systems to Windows Live Messenger 8.1. Since then, a large number of users have been successfully upgraded and are happily using our latest client. (Actually, most users were already on 8.1.) However, several of our users are having problems after installing the upgrade. The Messenger team wants you to know that we hear you and are working as fast as we can to fix these issues.

Having Connection Problems?

If you’re having problems connecting to Messenger and/or sending IM’s, we encourage you to try the some of the following suggestions:

1. Make sure that your firewall is properly configured to allow Windows Live Messenger 8.1 to function properly.
Behind a corporate firewall: The 8.1 client uses far more web services, and it is possible that the network administrator for the corporate firewall will need to put a few more URLs on their web address white list. The client needs to send web requests to “*.hotmail.com”, “*.live.com”, and “*.msn.com”. (The asterisk (*) is a “wildcard” character meaning that anything can come before “live.com”.) Your network/ firewall admin will understand this jargon if they see it.

On your PC at home: Many personal firewall products learn what a client does on the network, sometimes asking the user for permission to allow the applications to access the Internet and then remembering these answers. When the new client changes its network behavior, some personal firewall products don't learn fast enough about how to let the client function properly on the network. To test this you can temporarily turn off your firewall and see if you can sign-in. Be sure you turn the personal firewall back on after your experiment. If you can sign-in, then it is likely that your personal firewall needs to reconfigure itself. Many products allow you to see the list of filters it is using, and by removing the filter entries for messenger (or msnmsgr.exe) you can force the personal firewall to re-ask you for permission to grant the required network access to the new 8.1 Messenger client. Sometimes you have to let the client fail a few times while the firewall is learning, and then restart the client.

2. Try to using the Connection Troubleshooter (you don’t have to login to Messenger to do this). You can find it in Messenger -> Tools -> Options -> Connection tab:

3. If you are using a proxy server, click on ‘Advanced Settings’ and configure the proxy settings.

4. If IE is NOT set as your default browser, launch IE (you don’t have to set it as default) and visit any webpage to make sure that the internet connectivity and network configurations are properly set.

Is Messenger Crashing?

If you are using Windows Vista, you may encounter crashes if you don’t have the latest version of Adobe Flash installed. You can install the latest version of Adobe Flash at http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIOW.

If you have a computer manufactured by Acer, you may be using Acer eDataSecurity software. Please upgrade to the latest version at http://global.acer.com/support/winvista/t-faq.htm.

Error Codes

For more information on specific error codes, please visit the Messenger Support Space. You’ll find lots of information and troubleshooting tips there.

More Updates to Come

Check back here often for updates on other issues. If you’re having a problem, please head over to the newsgroups and post there! The benefit of posting your issues on the newsgroups rather than as blog comments is that we are able to reply to your newsgroup post directly and connect with you if we need more information about your particular issue.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Video Call Improvements in Beta2!

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:55:43 GMT

My name is Aaron, and I’m a PM for the Messenger Voice, Video and Sounds team. We recently released an update to our earlier 8.5 Beta (which Jason pointed out earlier) that has many improvements to video call, especially on Vista. If you’ve occasionally run into audio jitter or noise in a Video Call, our latest version should help. We also improved echo support and a small issue with the volume sliders.

There are other updates as well, so head on over to http://get.live.com/betas/ and try the latest version.

Upgrading to Messenger 8.1

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:10:11 GMT

posted by Anand

Hi, I’m Anand, the security PM for Windows Live Messenger.

If you are using a Windows XP or later system, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t be using the latest and greatest released version of Messenger. Messenger 8.1 was released earlier this year. It the most stable and reliable version of Messenger. It also has the latest security updates.

There is a security vulnerability in the earlier versions – MSN Messenger 6.2, 7.0 and 7.5 and Windows Live Messenger 8.0. This is discussed in the security bulletin MS07-054. However, this security vulnerability doesn’t affect Windows Live Messenger 8.1. There, I gave you another reason to upgrade to Messenger 8.1.

Unfortunately, not all of our users read this blog and so we have found another way to make sure that they protect themselves by using Messenger 8.1. Some of you might remember that upon logging in to Messenger you occasionally get toasts recommending an upgrade. Well, with this new security issue gone public, we need to raise it up a notch in order to protect the users.

We will soon configure the service such that any user on Windows XP or later system has to use Windows Live Messenger 8.1. When a user using an older version of Messenger tries to login, the client will help the user with a mandatory upgrade to Messenger 8.1.

Some of you might feel this inconvenient, but in order to protect you and protect the health of the network we have chosen to take this step.

Do users have to upgrade?

Yes, once a user has been given a mandatory upgrade notice, they will have to install Windows Live Messenger 8.1. Most users have been given an optional upgrade notice since January 2007.

I am not seeing a mandatory upgrade right now and I am running a bad version of the client, why?

The Messenger network uses a rolling upgrade mechanism across the network. It will take several days to get a mandatory upgrade and new bits to all users.

What can users do now to protect themselves sooner?

Users running Windows Live Messenger 8.1 do not need to take action. Users running earlier versions of Messenger should visit http://messenger.live.com and install Windows Live Messenger 8.1.

I use Windows 2000. How can I protect myself?

Because Windows 2000 isn’t supported by Windows Live Messenger 8.1, we will provide an updated version of MSN Messenger 7.0. We will upgrade Windows 2000 users to the updated version of MSN Messenger 7.0 after the Windows Live Messenger upgrades.

Till then, as a precautionary measure, don’t accept a webcam or a video call invitation from a contact that you don’t trust.

If I’m running the new Windows Live Messenger 8.5 beta, am I protected?

Yes. Messenger 8.5 beta users are not affected by this vulnerability.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 released!

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:59:50 GMT

posted by Jason

Yes, it's that time again! The Windows Live Messenger team is proud to announce our Beta 2 release! This beta is available in 35 languages - that's a lot of IM's!

Important Details:

Get Messenger 8.5 Beta 2 here
Send feedback here
Talk about it here
Get support here

So... what's new in Messenger Beta 2?

If you downloaded our Beta 1 build, you may not think that much has changed. While the look and feel is almost the same, we listened to your feedback and fixed many of the top issues reported by our customers. THANK YOU to all of our beta testers who reported issues.

For those of you who didn't download our Beta 1 build, you can see a recap of what's new in Nicole's earlier post.

What else is new around Windows Live?

Windows Live Mail, Photo Gallery, Writer, Toolbar, and OneCare Family Safety are also releasing betas today.

What's the best way to get Windows Live?

Starting today, you’ll be able to install the entire suite of these downloadable Windows Live services at one time, from one place, instead of going through separate installations for each service. Of course, if you don’t want the entire suite, you can still get each application individually.

You get the best experience that Windows Live has to offer when you download the suite! Visit http://get.live.com/wl/all to download it all today!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Instruction manuals are boring.

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:12:25 GMT

Posted by Aaron

Hi, I'm Aaron, a PM for Messenger on the Voice, Video and Sounds team.

A year or so ago I bought my wife a new digital camera. It came with a very detailed, and very boring, instruction manual. We never read it. The camera was a basic point and shoot camera, nothing fancy. It did what we needed. It was only 11 months later, during a vacation to France when we asked a random person to snap a photo of us did we discover a really cool feature. It turns out, this gentlemen had the same camera, and had read the instruction manual.

Instruction manuals give you an overview of what your new camera, or new software application can do, but why do they have to be so boring!

The Messenger team has put together an awesome introductory video for Windows Live Messenger. This video is SO much better than an instruction manual! The onscreen guide walks you through many of the features of Messenger to give new and long-time Messenger users insight into what Messenger can do.

Don’t let some stranger tell you about cool Messenger features, find out for yourself with this great video!

http://imagine-windowslive.com/Messenger/Launch/en-GB/Default.aspx

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

Safety in Numbers

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:42:59 GMT

Posted by Stacia

Hi there, I’m Stacia, one of the Lead Program Managers for Messenger. I’ve been working on Messenger for a whopping three years now and love building this product for folks like you – our avid users.

With over 280 million accounts using Messenger, one of the things we take very seriously here is safety. We want you to feel safe in the conversations you have, and we want you to feel confident that the people you care about are protected as well. To support these goals, I'm excited to tell you that one of the new features in the Messenger beta is integration with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. As a parent myself of two little girls, I'm personally excited to see this type of functionality become available. Ensuring my daughters can have fun and learn in a safe, secure way is super important to me.

If your family has signed up with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety, parents can set limits so that Messenger usage can be blocked or allowed. This setting can be controlled by the parent from any machine, so adjustments made at work can take effect on the child’s account at home. Windows Live OneCare Family Safety also provides contact management for parents who want to allow their child to use Messenger but want to restrict the conversations to only those individuals the parent approves. We recognize that Windows Live Messenger can be a major social outlet for kids, so we’re thrilled to support this integration in a way that lets families decide what level of usage makes sense for them.

One great part of the Family Safety integration is how simple and straightforward it is to set up. Parents simply go to the Windows Live OneCare Family Safety web site, click Get Started to set up their account, add their child’s Windows Live ID, and apply the right settings for their child. There are Family Safety settings for a growing number of Windows Live services (including Spaces!) and you can rest assured that we’ll be adding more settings in the future. The goal is to provide the parent with as much (or as little!) control as they like over their child’s experience on the computer and with Windows Live.

Note that because Messenger and Family Safety are in beta, this functionality isn’t currently available in all markets and all the usual beta caveats apply.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

GIRLZ RULE!

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:23:21 GMT

Posted by Ali.

This post is a bit off topic, but I wanted to write about an awesome program at Microsoft called DigiGirlz.

Digigirlz is a technology program for High School girls, where the girls go to different Microsoft campuses during the summer to learn about different technology and what it is like to work at a company like Microsoft. This week I got the privilege of being a job shadow for a Digigirlz camper. We went to meetings together and she got to see firsthand what it is like to be a program manager on one of the coolest projects in the world, Messenger! She was very enthusiastic and asked a lot of great questions. I got an earful about what is now considered cool/un-cool about IM. I think this is an amazing opportunity that I wish had been available to me when I was in high school. So to all the girls out there, check out http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlz.mspx and come experience life at Microsoft next summer.

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.

The Humane Society of the United States joins i'm Initiative

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:06:49 GMT

posted by Jason

The Windows Live Messenger team would like to extend a warm welcome to the Humane Society of the United States, the latest charity to join the i'm Initiative.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has worked since 1954 to celebrate animals and confront cruelty in all its forms. With nearly ten million members and constituents, The HSUS is the nation’s largest and most powerful animal protection organization, working in the United States and abroad to defend the interests of animals.

You can start giving to the Humane Society of the United States by adding *hsus to your Messenger Display Name. While you're at it, show your support for the Humane Society by downloading their theme pack.

Again, THANK YOU for your generous support of these charities!

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If you have a comment on this post please comment! For other questions/concerns/discussion topics/rants/raves/etc - please head over to the Windows Live Messenger Newsgroup.