In the past, Microsoft has taken measures to stop propagation of viruses by blocking messages containing phrases such as gallery.php, download.php, .scr and .pif. I see no virus here.

YouTube now joins the list of blocked sites including eBuddy and MediaFire. eBuddy was supposedly blocked because of advertising messages when starting a new conversation, and MediaFire blocked to try stop distribution of the leaked Windows Live Messenger 9.0.

I’m completely baffled as to why a block would be placed against YouTube, and eagerly await an explanation. Trying to hamper competition like this just seems ridiculous, it’s not like this would go unnoticed, lots of users are complaining on forums already.

Workaround? Try the domain youtube.info instead, or remove the http://www.

This update will now catch error 800 from the server. The server imposes a limit of creating 8 IM sessions in any 60 second period and will throw this error if you try calling createSession a 9th time. As such, the script is not suited for sending messages to more than 8 contacts in the same login session. All other changes are programming improvements.

This will be the final update for a while, if there are any major bugs reported I will fix them, otherwise consider this stable.

Download and check out Troubleshooting phpListGrab if you are having connecting problems (phpListGrab uses the same code base). I will also be posting more troubleshooting information for other problems I have recently discovered with server configuration compatibility.

Over the weekend I modified the class with the following changes:

• Function to manually create an IM session with a user.
• Function to send a message on the newest IM session.
• Font face and colour support for the sendMessage() function.
• Better error handling when connecting to the messenger server.
• simpleSend() function to send a single message like the original version.
• error property to get socket error.

The popular Web Messenger has been rewritten from the group up to improve ease of use and performance (the current version often gives me browser lag).

From what I’ve read, one of the obvious changes will be that you can login to WLM, Yahoo! and AIM all at the same time from within one application (which most other multi-network Web messengers already support), as opposed to the current setup which uses separate browser windows for each IM network.

Sign In
The .NET Messenger Service is temporarily experiencing difficulty. You may be unable to sign in. Please try again later.
Last Update: 4/12/2007 3:00:00 PM Pacific Time (GMT -8:00)

As it says, just try again later. It doesn’t appear to be very widespread, I’m having no problems signing in and have the usual number of contacts online. But, traffic to this Web site has increased a little, so there’s definitely something going on.

Last September the same problem could be solved by changing the server which Messenger connects to, I’ve just tested it and it still works.

Update: Looks like I posted this shortly after the problem had already started to come right, I even missed the acknowledgment from Nicole at the Windows Live Messenger blog.

The Web sites below allow you to sign in using just a Web browser, no installing is required. If Windows Live Messenger has been blocked or disabled where you are, you may find some of these will be blocked too, as whoever is in charge has found out about them!

1. MSN Web Messenger
2. eBuddy
3. ILoveIM
4. Meebo
5. MSN2Go
6. IMhaha
7. KoolIM
8. Communication Tube
9. Messenger FX
10. Instan-t Express
11. Mabber
12. IMUnitive
13. Snimmer
14. NEW: RadiusIM

This page will be updated whenever I find another Web site to add to the list. Do you know of another one that’s not listed here? Please leave a comment here for other people to see!

Microsoft has given far greater awareness to beta testing and more people are keen to to get into it. Each new version seems to have more beta hype than the last, but I think it was around MSN Messenger 7 when it really took off.

So this brings me to the latest poll, have you beta tested Messenger? Whether it be through Microsoft Connect/BetaPlace, or public betas (just not leaked versions!).

Either you have or you haven’t, but as always I give more specific options to choose from, one of which is Yes, to get the latest version. There’s a trend where users get into the beta programme, not to provide feedback back to Microsoft, but to get the latest and greatest or have something most people don’t have. Be honest, have you done this?

Over 90% of visitors use Messenger everyday, some of them claiming they don’t bother signing out (always gotta be available, right?). Those who don’t sign in every day didn’t even make the 10% mark!

Considering this site is about Messenger, it’s no surprise the results show most people use Messenger regularly. Although I’m curious, who are the 20 that voted Never? What brought them here?

If you have recently purchased an Acer notebook or desktop PC with Windows Vista installed, you can now download a patch from Acer to correct the problem.

Leave a comment on whether or not the patch fixes the problem for you – I’m interested to see if there is anyone else having this problem but from different causes.

The biggest advantage of Communication Tube is that it’s completely Web based, no software download is required. It is convenient for people using the internet from internet cafes, school, or work. You can be connected to multiple IM networks simultaneously from its single Web interface. Sending and receiving messages are done without refreshing the page, which minimizes internet traffic and makes manual page refreshing unnecessary.

The service is still relatively new, so it doesn’t have too many flashy features and has a few glitches (eg. it’s showing I have some offline contacts whose display name is 2, 10, or 12). There is a feedback email link at the bottom, so if you can think of ways to improve it, why not let the author know?