Attn Jonathon (Gene@11:10)

[Gene]

Good Morning Jonathon,

Hope you don't mind I started this new thread. I wanted
you to get this ASAP. However, please read my last reply
at the old posting (RE: 9:45 a.m.) for an update. You
will know what I mean when I tell you now that I went
ahead and sent that Data Base Shortcut "Thumbs.db" to the
Recycle Bin before the reinstall.

Well, ALL WENT WELL with the reinstall of MSN8. Maybe a
little TOO well..lol I rebooted after the install, opened
my mail upon receiving the popup, activated my Outlook
Express, switched members to my 'other name" at Switch
Members and received that email alert and was able to view
the email with no problem. I see NO problem at this time.

When I say "a little TOO well" that's only being cautious
because when I did the MSN8 reinstall last Saturday, all
was ok until yesterday Monday when I again received
the ".MAILHOST" error message but, of course, that was
before we removed the corrupted files which have now been
replaced.

(I have on CNN on the tube and they are talking about the
LOVSAN and W.32.Blaster Worm. Scary stuff. I use
HiJackThis, SpyBot Search and Destroy (is not an AV I
know), Norton AV, TrendMicro House Call, SpyBlaster, and I
checked yesterday at MS / Windows Support and have all the
updates and patches as far as I can tell plus I get Auto-
Updates so, hopefully I'm ok)

Anyway, I will go ahead now and update to MSN v8.5 (my
Disk is v8.0) This is the one that takes about an hour due
to my Dialup and 56k modem.

Well, except for any unforeseen circumstances that could
occur (good ol' Murphy's Law) we are just about at the end
of our session. I want to thank you again for your
patience and excellent guidance throughout this fix.
Please let me know that you have read this and if you have
any additional "words of wisdom". I will follow up later
with one more reply to this Post as a final update.

Gene

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Gene,

Glad to hear it =).

You won't see any problems removing thumbs.db files. When you go into a folder in Windows XP
in thumbnail view, to speed up viewing of the folder in the future, these thumbs.db files are
created. There's no harm in removing them.

Just for the future, I think if you call MSN, they should be able to get a MSN 8.5 CD to you
(for free) (800) 386-5550.

As long as you're up-to-date on WindowsUpdate critical fixes
(http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) the latest "round" of worms, exploits etc. will have no
effect.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Gene]

Hi Jonathon,

Thanks for that number to MSN. I will order v8.5 on disk,
I sure don't want to have to go thru the upgrade process I
just went through, which is not done yet...lol Let me
explain....

For the life of me I could not remember where I went on
Saturday for the update to v8.5 I went to MSN Support, my
MSN Home Page, Help and Settings, "Searched" for MSN v8.5
and spent the better part of an hour and there is no where
to be found anywhere that I could see something that
says "Upgrade to MSN V8.5" There is a link from my MSN
Home Page to Support and there it has a link to "MSN 8 and
MSN 8.5" but nothing that clearly indicated a place to
update.

Then, as a last resort, I went back to my MSN Home Page
Help & Settings and clicked on "About MSN" on the bottom
it says "More Info" and from there is an update page with
the very small, 3-word link "Update MSN Now"

Ok, then I began the download of v8.5. This took about an
hour on Saturday. Well, guess what? After almost
completing today's download I got a message "MSN could not
complete the download at this time, come back later" or
words to that affect. My first thought is that I had been
disconnected from my dialup which does occur a couple of
times a day but, I still had the connection. So, no
explaination as to why the download was interrupted. I
will now be attempting to download v8.5 after this. By
the way, is there a v9.0 in the works. I'm sure there is,
when is the expected release? Or has one been set yet?

Ok, I'm off to download again. I'll let you know what
happens and that then should be our final comunique. I
need to let you go to help all those other users with
their various and sundry problems. I know how they must
feel...lol

See you a little later,
Gene

-----Original Message-----
Hi Gene,

Glad to hear it =).

You won't see any problems removing thumbs.db files.

When you go into a folder in Windows XP

in thumbnail view, to speed up viewing of the folder in

the future, these thumbs.db files are

created. There's no harm in removing them.

Just for the future, I think if you call MSN, they should

be able to get a MSN 8.5 CD to you

(for free) (800) 386-5550.

As long as you're up-to-date on WindowsUpdate critical fixes
(http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) the latest "round"

of worms, exploits etc. will have no

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Gene,

Internet connectivity may be a tad slow and unreliable today, just with all these worms going
around (a number of people, including myself, have been experiencing sluggish performance all
day).

There is a MSN 9 in development, I have no idea when the ETA is for that, but certainly
before the end of the year.

Good luck =).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Gene]

Hi Jonathan,

You're right, I didn't think about the impact of those
Worms on MS and its servers. That explains the
interruption in my download.

While I was out for a while I let the download run and
when I just came back it was done. I rebooted, went thru
all my mail programs and functions and everything looks
great!

I'm not any expert but, I will sure know what to do if I
or any of my friends ever get that .MAILHOST error
again...lol This has been quite an education.

Many thanks Jonathan, I sure am glad I found you when I
did. I was plumb out of ideas or avenues of recourse.

In addition, you should know, from us computer illiterates
out here how reassuring it is to find someone like
yourself to help us through those computer ills and
malfunctions that always seem to happen at the worse
times. You quell an awful lot of anxiety.

Except for Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and President Bush,
everyone has a boss. Can you give me someplace I can send
a small note of appreciation for what you have done? I'm
pretty good at things like that. I myself don't believe
in "unsung" heroes. I'm in Production Management and I
alwlays give to my staff credit where credit is due.

Let me know,

Many thanks again Jonathan,
Gene

-----Original Message-----
Hi Gene,

Internet connectivity may be a tad slow and unreliable

today, just with all these worms going

around (a number of people, including myself, have been

experiencing sluggish performance all