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Using Yahoo on my PC - TEXTing Problem: I can send all the text messages I want and people receive them. 1). I am not receiving their replies nor their New Text message if I’m not right there when it comes in. 2). If I sign out and sign back in, I will not receive their texts they sent while I was “out”. As long as I do not break the flow, I will receive messages but I have to be signed in and open to keep the messages flowing back and forth. Please help - I have missed a lot of important text messages over this.

Your problem could be occurring for a number of reasons. Read through the suggestions here and try the ones that seem to offer the best advice for your particular scenario.

Troubleshooting Missing Offline Instant Messages on Yahoo Messenger

It is important to note that you MUST read your offline messages as soon as you log back on Yahoo after being away. Look for the orange alert tab that lets you know you have received texts while you were offline. If you don’t read these right away, you lose the opportunity to do so.

Troubleshooting Not Being Able to Receive Texts on Yahoo Messenger

Unfortunately, this glitch appears to be somewhat common. The best way to resolve this issue of not being able to receive texts while you are offline is to uninstall Yahoo Messenger and reinstall it.

How to Retrieve Instant Messages on Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo Messenger has a bit of a trick to retrieving instant messages. Follow these steps to see if you can receive instant messages that arrived while you were offline.

1.    Click the “Contacts” option from your Yahoo Messenger menu.

2.    Search through the left-hand side of the pane in the folders for the contact whose messages you wish to view.

3.    Double click on the name of the contact. This action opens a conversation window.

4.    Select the option “Show Recent Messages.” The first entry that you see will be the latest message the individual sent to you.

5.    To look at an older conversation for this contact, look above the conversation that is showing and select the option “View Full Archive.”

Setting Your Preferences to Save IMs

If you haven’t yet set your preferences to archive your instant messages, then you won’t be able to review past conversations. To set your preferences to save (archive) messages, follow these steps:

1.    Click the “Preferences” option from your Yahoo Messenger menu.

2.    Select “Archive.”

3.    Select the button that offers the option to archive your text messages.

4.    Select “Apply,”

5.    Click “OK.”

As soon as I updated Internet Explorer I noticed that I cannot sign in my MSN messenger.

Lost Stored Passwords after Internet Explorer Updates

After updating Internet Explorer or clearing your Web history, it’s not uncommon to lose your stored passwords. If you suspect this may have happened, try signing in to MSN manually.

Windows Live Messenger

Another possibility is that the update itself has changed your settings. The latest incarnation of MSN Messenger is Windows Live Messenger. You might double check to see if your computer now has Windows Live Messenger installed. If it does not, you will need to install it. In fact, the following message appears on Microsoft’s Windows Live Help page:

“Starting September 15, 2009, users are required to have the latest version of Messenger installed on their computer in order to sign in and continue using the Messenger service. To download the latest version of Messenger, go to the Windows Live Messenger website.”

This message leads me to believe that your older version of MSN Messenger has been disabled by Microsoft either through the update or through Microsoft discontinuing support for that version. You can download the new version of Windows Live Messenger at: http://download.live.com/?sku=messenger

Windows Live programs include Messenger, Mail, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Family Safety, Toolbar, Silverlight, Office Live Add-in, and Microsoft Office Outlook Connector. You can download all of the programs at once or choose individual programs to download. All are free. If you do not have a Windows Live ID, signing up for one is easy.

Messenger Sign-in Errors

Other common causes of Messenger sign-in errors include firewall blocking access, incorrect computer date settings, or a clogged Internet cache. If you have already switched to Windows Live Messenger, you might want to clear your temporary Internet files and double check to be sure that your firewall is not blocking access to the Windows Live servers.

Let us know if you are receiving a specific error message as well as the version of Messenger you are using.

Can you please tell me how can I stop the Messenger window from popping up right in the middle of the screen?? If I am in the middle of something, it is really disturbing to have the text box for everyone to see! It used to be on previous versions in the tab bar and it became blue when somebody was trying to contact me.

With so many different versions and different instant messaging programs out there, there are quite a few variables. While instant messaging has its place, constant alerts, especially when they hijack your screen, can be extremely annoying and disruptive. Let’s use Windows Live Messenger as an example.

Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger is the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s MSN Messenger. Like its predecessors, Windows Live Messenger lets you interact with others by sending and receiving instant messages.

Windows Live Messenger Settings

Though the initial screen that appears is relatively small, there are a number of menu options hidden within. If you look along the top right next to the “Search Contacts” bar, you’ll see several icons. Click the one on the far right, the Show Menu icon. Click on Tools and another menu will appear. First, check and see if Always on Top is displayed. If so, remove the check mark by that if you do not want to always see Messenger displayed on screen. If you do want to see Messenger displayed on your computer screen, then leave it marked. This is a personal preference, so choose the option that appeals to you.

Next, click on Options. Once in Options, click on Layout option. Is “Show the Tab bar” selected? Make sure that it is so that any new alerts can show up there. Next, go into Messages and select the options that you want such as “Allow me to send and receive nudges.” If it’s currently selected, try deselecting it. Nudges usually result in a sound or window shake, but perhaps in the newer version, this setting also pop-ups the message?  

Next, go to Alerts and adjust your alert settings. For example, if you don’t want to be alerted every time one of your contacts comes online, remove that option. In fact, you may want to restrict alerts to when a message is received.

It may take a bit of trial and error to get Windows Live Messenger to fully cooperate.

Is there any way to save my MSN history directly to an online location?

Saving MSN Histories

MSN Messenger, now known as Windows Live Messenger, has a feature for saving message histories. This feature is not turned on by default. If you want to save your histories, you must go into the Tools > Options menu and click on the Messages option. Once in the Messages section, find the Message History section and place a mark in “Automatically keep a history of my conversations.” Just below that, you’ll see an option labeled “Save my conversations in this folder.” Typically, you would browse to a location on your C drive and select it as the storage folder for your MSN histories. However, you want an online storage folder, so we’ll need to get creative.

Creating an Online Storage Drive

Several online storage and backup services allow you to map your online storage account as a network drive on your computer. You will need to sign up for an account with one of these services that feature “virtual network drives.” A virtual network drive appears on your computer as a drive letter just like your regular hard drive and CD drives. For example, if you had an OnlineStorageSolutions account, your computer would have a local drive letter, let’s say the “H” drive, that is mapped to your online storage account. So, instead of choosing the C drive and a subfolder to store your MSN history, you would instead choose the drive letter for your online storage account, in this example the “H” drive.

You will first need to find an online storage account that allows drive letter access. While a number of online storage services offer free personal accounts, finding one that allows uploading of files via a drive letter for free is tougher. OnlineStorageSolutions charges $19 per year for this service.

Another option is to try the free account offered at DropBox.com. DropBox offers 2 GB of free online storage. It works by synchronizing the local “DropBox” folder with your online account. In this case, you would instruct MSN Messenger to save the history file in your DropBox folder. From there, Dropbox would upload it to your online DropBox account.  

Accessing Your Saved MSN Histories

Once set up with an online virtual drive, your MSN histories will automatically be stored online where you can access them from any computer. Accessing the MSN histories will depend on the online account that you have set up for this purpose. For example, if you use DropBox, you’ll need to sign in to the DropBox.com Web site with your user name and password where you can then access your files.

I am having a problem with Windows Live Messenger. This has been an issue ever since I got the PC on both Windows Vista and Windows 7. The PC is not even a month old and Windows Live Messenger installs fine. Sometimes I can access it on a rare occasion. Most of the time it is running the process tree when I look but still can’t open up the actual program. I try closing it from the Task Manager and reopening but it doesn’t help. I can click on the icons over and over and it just loads more instances of the messenger. I have no idea what’s causing this. Any ideas?

Many users have had issues with Windows Live Messenger and its predecessor MSN Messenger failing to load properly. One of the most common issues is with the router though it’s also possible that you have a bad installation on your computer. Let’s take a look at some steps you can try.

Reset the Router

The first step is to reset the router. Your router should have a reset button on it. If not an actual button, there may be a tiny hole in the back where you can insert an unbent paperclip. If your router does not have a manual way to reset it, simply unplug it from the power source and let it sit for a minute or two. Plug it back in and see if the problem resolves itself. Resetting the router has solved this issue for many Windows Live Messenger users.

Repair Windows Live Messenger

You can also try repairing your installation of Windows Live Messenger. Go to Start and type “Programs and Features” into the Search bar and then click its link under Programs (or go to Control Panel > Programs and Features). Find Windows Live Essentials in the list of installed programs and click on Uninstall/Change. Choose the Repair option and click Continue. This will repair your installation of all Windows Live Essentials programs, including Windows Live Messenger.

Update Windows

Whenever a program fails to respond as expected, it’s not a bad idea to update your operating system to take advantage of any potential “fixes” that may have been issued by Microsoft. For example, if an external program or device is known to interfere with Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft has created a patch that fixes the issue, the patch will be released as an Update. Go to Control Panel > Windows Update and check to see if any updates exist addressing this issue.

Use the System File Checker Utility

You can also try running the System File Checker which will scan your operating system for file corruption which could be interfering with your computer’s performance. Press the Windows Flag key and the ‘R’ key at the same time to open the Run dialog and then type in: sfc /scannow

Follow the prompts to allow the System File Checker to scan your computer for missing or damaged operating system files. You may need your original installation discs to replace these damaged files.

Uninstall and Reinstall Windows Live Messenger

Another option is to try uninstalling and reinstalling Windows Live Messenger.

When trying to access MSN Messenger I get the message, “Host files contain Windows Live Messenger related entries - may interfere with name resolution.” How can this be fixed to allow access to MSN Messenger?

MSN Messenger Symptoms

In further conversations with the questioner, it turns out that this computer is used by several users, all of whom sign into the computer using the same user account. All of the users except for one can sign into Messenger without a problem, but one user consistently receives this error message. Another interesting symptom is that when signed into this particular MSN Messenger account, the CPU usage spikes to over 100 percent.

MSN Messenger vs. Windows Live Messenger

MSN Messenger has since been replaced by Windows Live Messenger. If you haven’t already, upgrade to the latest version of Windows Live Messenger. While this may not solve the individual user’s error message, it might. Plus, you’ll have the latest fixes and all the bells and whistles offered by Windows Live Messenger.

Troubleshooting the Host Files Error

Since this error is specific to a single user account, it’s not likely an issue with the computer’s set up. While many MSN Messenger users have solved a similar error by rebooting their routers, this didn’t work in this situation. Most likely, something is going on with this one user’s MSN Messenger settings. Once you upgrade to Windows Live Messenger, you can run the built-in Connection Troubleshooter to see if it can solve the problem for you automatically. Do this by clicking on the Show Menu button, then click on Tools followed by Options.

Now, click on the Connection link in the left side pane and then click on the Connection Troubleshooter’s Start button. You can also click on Connection Settings > Advanced Settings to run a few diagnostic tests.

Comparing Settings

If the Connection Troubleshooter doesn’t solve the problem, consider comparing every single user setting in the Options dialog with those of another user. Which settings are different? Perhaps the user’s display photo is oversized and gobbling up system resources as Messenger tries to display it? Maybe the other users’ Connection Settings are set up to use a proxy server and this user’s account is not set up that way (or vice versa). Look for anomalies.

For example, Microsoft recommends deleting the entries under SOCKS in the Connection > Advanced Settings section as a troubleshooting step when you can’t connect to Messenger.

Clear DNS Cache

Finally, try “flushing the DNS cache.” Go to Start > Run and type in: cmd

Press Enter and then type: ipconfig /flushdns

Press Enter one more time.