Launching Messenger changes resolution?!

[Homer J. Simpson]

Hi all,

I've been asked to diagnose a strange problem on a friend's machine--every
time you launch Messenger on this XP machine, the resolution drops to
640x480x16 color. I have to launch the display properties dialog box and
change the resolution/color depth every single time.

At first I thought I'd bypass the problem entirely by installing Windows
Live Messenger instead (since--AFAIK--Microsoft has stopped development on
MSN Messenger entirely anyway), but the problem is still there. So I'm
thinking it's gotta be some strange DLL that both messaging apps use...

Windows Update shows there's nothing newer available--the machine has all
the latest updates.

I've re-downloaded/reinstalled the latest drivers (the card is a GeForce4
MX)...same thing again.

As long as you don't touch Messenger, there's nothing wrong with this
machine otherwise.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Newbie Coder]

Homer,

I suggest you contact MSN then because it seems to only be related to
Messenger.

They are quite slow at answering though

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Homer,

I suggest you contact MSN then because it seems to only be related to
Messenger.

They are quite slow at answering though

I thought of doing so, but in this context, are MSN / Windows Live Messenger
really interchangeable, or are they two separate groups?

 

[Bob I]

Look at the program shortcut, specifically the "Compatibility" tab.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Look at the program shortcut, specifically the "Compatibility" tab.

Yeah--that turned out to be the case...I got the same suggestion in the
microsoft.public.windows.live.messenger group.

I have no idea why anyone would've used that though.

Thanks.