A
ArjanDotOrg
Messenger Plus! Extension v3.50.124
Overview :
This software is designed to add functionalities to the Instant
Messaging program from Microsoft called MSN Messenger (also known as
Windows Messenger). This program is absolutely free to use so give it a
try! Ever wondered how to... automatically save your chat logs? -
quickly hide your conversations from your boss, at work or at school ?
- personalize your away status ? - know how many mails are waiting for
you on your POP mail ? - use cool colors and formatting in your
discussions ? - let your contacts know why you're away, and when you'll
be back ? Stop wondering, and start using the greatest addon for your
Messenger! Messenger Plus! 2 does all of the above and much, much more
! Every feature you've dreamed of for your Messenger is now a couple of
clicks away... so what are you waiting for ? it's free!
What's New:
* Complete support has been added to MSN Messenger 7! Just like it
was the case a year ago for Messenger 6, a lot of work was required to
insure that the same features you enjoyed with Plus! and Messenger 6
could be available with Plus! and Messenger 7 almost without any
noticeable change.
* The "Hide Advertisement Banner" that was in the program since
Messenger Plus! 1.00 has been removed from MSN Messenger 7. From now
on, it will only be available for MSN Messenger versions 6.2 and below.
Several reasons are pushing me to remove this option, including the
fact that I do not want to go against the new business model Microsoft
has implemented in Messenger 7. I hope some of you won't take it too
badly, I will not changed my mind so please, do not write me about it.
Thank you for understanding.
* The Plus! icon that was appearing on the left of contact names in
the contact list is not available in MSN Messenger 7 anymore (I'm
working on an alternative).
* A Configuration Wizard has been added to Messenger Plus!.
o The configuration wizard is always displayed the first time
someone signs-in on a computer. It is designed to help new users
configure some basic features of Messenger Plus!.
o If you are online when the wizard is displayed, Messenger
Plus! changes your status to "Busy" (and reverts it back when you exit
the wizard).
o The wizard allows direct configuration of the following
options: chat logging, logging encryption, Event Viewer window, Allow
Sounds (includes "Automatic custom sound play" and "Allow built-in
sounds"), Auto-Accept, Boss Protection, and floating windows.
o Every option displayed in the wizard is applied instantly
and actions cannot be canceled. This means for example that enabling
the Event Viewer window will instantly display the window on screen.
o Users are introduced to the Preferences Panel with three
links: configure external (POP3) emails, add sign-in/sign-out sounds,
and create word filters.
o The last screen summarizes some of the most used features
of Messenger Plus!.
* Messenger Plus! is now compatible with Windows Messenger 5.1
(when used with the .NET Messaging Service).
* A Messenger Plus! icon has been added to the top toolbar of MSN
Messenger 7
o The icon's menu contains all the useful items of the main
Plus! menu. It's main use is when the window frame of the contact list
is hidden and the normal Plus! menu is inaccessible.
o In MSN Messenger 7, the normal E-Mail message cannot be
changed easily. For that reason, why using the POP3 Mail feature of
Plus!, the email count is now displayed in this popup menu. If several
accounts are used, one line is displayed for each of them that contains
emails. Clicking on the menu opens the client specified in the
preferences (program or http link).
* Brand new Messenger Plus! feature: Custom Emotion Sounds.
o The statistics that were added to Messenger Plus! 3 months
ago revealed that the number one used feature so far was the Sounds
Commands. That fact pushed me to develop the Custom Emotion Sounds
feature, which brings sounds integration in Messenger to the next
level. This feature is not l33t, it's just fun
.
o Custom sounds can be sent to all your contacts as long as
they have the latest version of Messenger Plus! installed. If your
contact does not have the sound you sent him in his sound library, it
is downloaded automatically from the server.
o Sounds are automatically sent to the Messenger Plus! server
when used for the first time. They are then downloaded from the server
when your contacts need them. This has two main advantages: preventing
firewall problems and making sound sharing possible (when you create a
new sound, you can mark it private to avoid public sharing).
o There are four distinctive ways to add new sounds in the
sound library:
+ by creating sounds based on existing sound or music
files (like mp3),
+ by recording your own sounds by using a microphone or
another line-in device,
+ by importing sounds previously saved in a Sound Pack,
+ by getting a sound at random from the server, in the
specified category.
o The Sound Library is shared between all users of the same
Windows account, by default. This allowed downloaded sounds to be
available to every user without the need of exporting/importing sound
packs. To make the library private, use the new "CustomSoundsPrivate"
registry setting.
* The sound section of the Preferences has been reworked:
o The old MCI-related options are gone as Messenger Plus! now
uses its own sound libraries to decode sound files (see below).
o The custom sound panel height can be increased if necessary
(if you want to display more sounds per page).
o By default, new sounds are automatically downloaded and
every sound is played as soon as it's ready to be played. Both of these
behaviors can be disabled, you can then chose to download and/or play
each sound, directly in the chat window, in a similar way you play
winks for example. Note that regardless of these options, if a sound is
already playing, new sounds sent are not played automatically and will
wait for your input.
o When you receive new sounds, their are automatically added
in your sound library and show in the sound panel. If you don't want
new sounds to be shown in the sound panel, you can use the appropriate
option in the preferences.
* Many changes have been made to the way sounds are played in
various features:
o If you're not interested in technical details, you should
just know that Messenger Plus! now supports more sound formats and
plays all of them more reliably: more features, less problems!
o The various open file windows displayed in Messenger Plus!
to select a sound now support previewing the sounds selected.
o Messenger Plus! now uses dedicated sound libraries to read
sound files: Libsndfile and Lame_enc. Thanks to these great pieces of
work, Messenger Plus! does not have to rely on the various codecs
installed on a computer anymore. The list of supported file types is
now fixed and constant for everyone: AIFF, AU, IFF, MAT4, MAT5, MP1,
MP2, MP3, PAF, PVF, SF, SND, SVX, VOC, W64, WAV (PCM, A/u-law, ADPCM,
GSM). It is important to note that some of these formats come in
various sub-formats and that not all of them are supported by
Libsndfile and Lame_enc.
o MCI is not used to play sounds anymore. Instead, Messenger
Plus! sends PCM data directly to the default sound device installed in
the system.
o The "SoundMCIType" registry setting has been deprecated and
is no longer loaded by Plus!.
* A big Custom Sounds wizard has been added to the software to add
new sounds and exporting existing ones.
o The maximum length for a custom sound is 10 seconds. This
may not seem like much but it should be more than enough to send
something funny to your contact and not bore him/her with a minute of
something he doesn't care. Also, this will prevent copyright problems
related to music sharing.
o Sounds can be saved in high or average quality. High
quality is best suited for music and other similar sounds, however, it
reduces the maximum length of the sound to 8 seconds.
o Each sound has a name and a category assigned to it.
Categories are fixed in the software and may be expanded in the future.
As each sound is assigned a unique identifier internally, several
sounds can have the same name without causing conflicts.
o Sounds are by default available for random downloading by
other users. This can be prevented by setting the private flag during
the creation of the sound. In that case, the sound will still be sent
to the server, however, people will be able to download it only if
someone else sends it directly to them.
o You can create sounds based on existing files. Many formats
are supported (see below) and can be imported in the wizard. Cutting
the sound to the appropriate length is done directly in the wizard,
you're the one who chooses when the sound starts and when it stops.
o When cutting a sound, the user interface precision limit is
1 second. If you want more precision (up to the millisecond), you can
double click on the selection bar or selection marks.
o Sounds can also be recorded live. The wizard offers basic
but effective commands for live recording, including direct volume and
input control. You can record for several minutes and cut the sound
later in the wizard, allowing you to do some "free style" recording.
o On every sound longer than 500 milliseconds, a fade-in and
fade-out effect of 70 milliseconds is automatically applied to avoid
annoying "clicking" noises.
o Sound Packs can be created by exporting existing sounds.
They can then be shared with your contacts but are more suitable for
web sites and other similar types of sharing. The import wizard allows
you to enter http and ftp links directly to import new sounds directly
from the internet!
* The integration of the Messenger Plus! enhanced icon in the chat
window has been improved:
o The toolbar of MSN Messenger 7 being much more "occupied",
a new toolbar is now created for Messenger Plus! features. This toolbar
occupies a small 25 pixels of width on the left side of the "type a
message" edit box.
o For now, the toolbar has two buttons: a Plus! button that
displays the same menu as in previous versions, and a sound button that
displays the new custom sound panel.
o The menu displayed by the Plus! button is skinned to match
the general MSN Messenger theme more closely.
o Of course, if you don't like this toolbar, you can disable
it in the preferences.
* A new custom sound panel is available in chat windows.
o There are three ways to display this panel: by clicking on
the sound icon in the new Messenger Plus! toolbar, by pressing Ctrl+Q
and, if the Messenger Plus! sidebar is disabled, by using the "custom
sound" entry of the Plus! main menu of the chat window.
o Custom-sounds are classified by categories. Built-in sounds
(the old sound commands) are still available, in a separate category.
o Statistics of use are is played in the panel in two
columns: "More Used" and "Last Used". The statistics can be reset at
any time with the "Reset" link in the panel.
o By default, clicking on a sound sends it. You can enable
"preview mode" (top right icon) to hear the sound when clicked and send
it when double-clicked.
o For each category, random sounds can be downloaded from the
server. That way, lots of sounds can be added instantly, without
breaking a sweat!
o You can get as many random sounds as you want. When you get
a sound that you find inappropriate, you can report it to the
moderators and help keep a clean database for everyone's enjoyment.
o For keyboard lovers, these keys can be used in the sound
panel to do various operations: left arrow, top arrow, right arrow,
bottom arrow, Page Up, Page Down, Enter, A, P and Ctr+Enter (used in
preview mode).
* A /sound command has been added to send custom sounds. The
parameter can be the identifier of the sound (prefixed with #) or the
name (or part of the name) of a sound.
* Every sound played by Messenger Plus! is now volume normalized.
This means that every sound is supposed to be played at approximately
the same volume. Messenger Plus! detects the peak volume of the sounds
it needs to play and adjusts the volume of the whole sound to match its
maximum peak volume. The default is 70% and can be changed with the
"SoundPeakLevel" registry setting.
* A new registry setting called "SoundDevice" allows changing the
sound device used for playing and recording sounds.
* Once again, improvements related to the the sponsor program: you
can now click on a "+" button to display the agreement in a separate
bigger window, in case you would want to take a closer look to it
(neither C2Media or myself have anything to hide, I hope this addition
will make that fact clear for everyone).
* The uninstaller has been improved
o When the sponsor program is installed, you now have the
choice to only uninstall it and keep Messenger Plus!. Many people
requested that change, I hope it will please everyone.
o When the sponsor program is not installed, a message is
displayed to inform the user about it. Nowadays, many people who report
adware being present on their computer are being told to uninstall
Messenger Plus!, sometimes for no reason at all. This message should
help prevent that.
o A link to a help page on msgplus.net is displayed to get
more information about Messenger Plus! or its sponsor if desired.
* You can now use the Personalized Status window to set an
automatic message and keep your "online" status. Note that you can't
record predefined status with "online".
* When new "contacts on desktop" are created from the popup menu,
their position is set on the current cursor position and you can move
them directly when you want them to be.
* Environment variables can now be used in shared file paths and
the /dropfile command.
* Several system-related improvements have been made in this
release. Users of older computers should definitively appreciate the
change (and give Messenger Plus! another try if they previously
uninstalled it because of its impact on their system).
o A new DLL has been added to the software, called
MsgPlusLoader.dll. This DLL is now the one that will be loaded by
Windows for the global hooking operations. This modification should
lower considerably the impact of Messenger Plus! on older systems as
this light-weight DLL doesn't allocate more than a few bytes of memory
in any situation. It may also reassure some of the people who wonder
why Messenger Plus! gets loaded by Windows in several other processes
(this DLL contains almost no code so there can't be any risk involved).
o A memory leak has been fixed preventing Messenger Plus! to
leak system handles in some occasions.
o A memory leak has been fixed preventing Messenger Plus! to
leak GDI objects in some occasions (MSN Messenger 6 and above).
* I'm very happy about the following improvement, I've been trying
to do something like this for almost 3 years now and I finally
succeeded! The sad thing is that nobody will probably ever care about
this UI improvement: richedit controls displayed by Messenger Plus! in
Windows XP now use the current theme to display their border. I've
released the code on some newsgroups with the hope that it will help
some of the other people who have been having this problem since
Windows XP was released.
* The various richedit controls present in the Messenger Plus!
windows do not accept formatted text anymore when copy/pasting
(translation: bug fixed).
* Logging-off in a Windows 98/Me network doesn't prevent Messenger
Plus! to work properly at next log-on (this bug was introduced recently
and is now fixed).
* Support has been added in the Quick Icons panel for custom
animated emoticons (thanks in part to the formidable CxImage library).
The middle frame of the animation is the picture shown in the panel.
* The Custom Names feature has been largely improved
o The preferences panel "custom names" section and the Rename
Contact dialog box have been completely redesigned to accommodate the
new options.
o The new "Attach the original name" option lets you easily
attach the real name of your contact at the end of the custom name. In
MSN Messenger 7, the real name is added with a special grey color for
enhanced display quality. Also, when you use this option, the real name
is not displayed during conversations for more clarity.
o The new "CustNameAttachTagFmt" registry setting lets you
modify how the "Attach the original name" feature formats the name
(using the (!N) and (!M) tags).
o Users of MSN Messenger 7 now have access to a new set of
special formatting options. These options let you change how each name
appears in the contact list and the instant messages windows. The text
can be bold, italic, and have its own custom color.
o A new option can be enabled in the preferences to display
the special custom names formatting during a chat.
o Additional formatting options can now be set anywhere in a
custom name thanks to the usual multi-format shortcuts keys (Ctrl+K,
Ctrl+B, ...).
o The new "custom names" preferences panel allows quick
editing of every custom name. Just press enter while in the "custom
name" editbox and the next contact in the list will automatically be
selected, allowing you to set its name immediately without touching to
the mouse.
o There is no need to set a special name to a contact to get
the special formatting options applied! if you just want to set a
special color or a bold/italic attribute to one of your contacts, just
do so and the original name will automatically be used with the
formatting you applied.
* Floating windows have been improved to match the color and other
formatting attributes set to a custom name. By default, if a color is
set to a name from the Custom Names feature, the same color will be
applied to the text of the floating window. In that case, the menu
"Text Color\System Default" becomes "Text Color\Custom Name Default",
allowing you to change it back to one of the floating windows presets
if desired.
* Floating windows now use the Tahoma font to match the contact
list of Messenger (and it looks better too).
* The position of floating windows is not reset automatically with
resolution changes when the Lock In Place option is used.
* The Bold and Italic buttons displayed in several windows of
Messenger Plus! are now displayed with their own associated formatting
( = they look better).
* Internet links and file paths are not touched by the World Filter
feature anymore (except when using the * wildcard).
* The POP3 E-Mail feature has been improved:
o A new option now allows to activate SSL encryption to
communicate with the mail server. This option is recommended if your
mail server supports encrypted connections and is mandatory if your
server requires it (like GMail does). This option is available for
Windows 2000 and above only.
o Messenger Plus! now tries to automatically associate a web
page to known e-mails addresses (for example, if your e-mail is
(e-mail address removed), clicking on a "new e-mail" notification will bring you
to www.gmail.com).
o A "Test Settings" button has been added in the preferences
to verify if the information entered are correct. When the connection
is successful, the success message also indicates the current number of
e-mails.
o The option to enable/disable the POP3 feature has been
removed from the preferences panel to make room for the new stuff. It
is now on by default. To disable it, you can use the new
"EnableExternalMail" registry setting.
* A /nudge command has been added for MSN Messenger 7.
* Fixed a bug that prevented some features (like come-back messages
and log encryption) to function properly when the "Open Messenger main
window" option of Messenger was disabled and "Allow automatic sign in"
was enabled.
* A /logging command has been added to enable or disable logging of
a specific chat. Use it with parameters "on" and "off". Note: this
command is a "Tom's special".
* Fixed a bug preventing sounds associated to custom notifications
to be played.
* Fixed a bug that cause the Enhanced Plus! icon in the chat window
to be displayed at the wrong position.
* A bug has been fixed in the download of auto-update files. If
auto-updates didn't work for you before, they should now.
* "Change Name" notifications always display the old user's name
properly now.
* Floating windows are always hidden properly when you sign-off
(this fix also covers personalized-status being removed when you
sign-off).
* Come-back messages are not tried to be sent when your status is
Appear Offline.
* The emails of contacts saved in the registry for the Logging
Archive and Floating Window features are now encrypted.
* Changes to the Messenger Plus! API:
o All the API is now compatible with MSN Messenger 7.
o An internal tag has been added to allow plug-ins like
Stuff-Plug to properly add text like timestamps.
* Background colors in action messages and auto-messages are not
displayed anymore.
* Messenger Plus! now automatically scans and fixes XML logs
generated by MSN Messenger 6 and 7. This improvement suppresses error
messages when chat windows are closed saying that logs couldn't be
opened.
* The minimum and default parameter for the /clear command is now
2.
* A "LogViewerProgram" registry key has been added to ask Messenger
Plus! to use another program that the default text editor to open the
chat logs.
* Fixed a bug that prevented Plus! notification windows to be
displayed sometimes.
* In Messenger 7, you can't use Ctrl+S to add a strike-out tag
anymore. Please use Ctrl+R instead, then press S.
* Messenger Plus! sounds are not played anymore when the current
user is not logged-in. You can change this behavior with the new
"PlaySoundsNotLoggedIn" registry setting.
* No web page is now opened at the end of the setup (the new
Configuration Wizard made it obsolete).
* Bug fixed when trying to import a preferences file generated in
Windows 98/Me, in a Windows 2000/XP station (true for the inverse too).
* A lot of other bug fixes have been done since the last beta,
everyone should be able to enjoy this new version in Messenger 7
without any major problem.
Homepage: http://www.msgplus.net/
For related software, check out:
http://www.arjan.org/?Internet:IRC/Instant_Messengers:MSN
Kind regards,
_____
Arjan
E-mail: (e-mail address removed) (remove NOSPAM)
Homepage: Arjan.org's Absolute Freeware Links (http://www.arjan.org)
Overview :
This software is designed to add functionalities to the Instant
Messaging program from Microsoft called MSN Messenger (also known as
Windows Messenger). This program is absolutely free to use so give it a
try! Ever wondered how to... automatically save your chat logs? -
quickly hide your conversations from your boss, at work or at school ?
- personalize your away status ? - know how many mails are waiting for
you on your POP mail ? - use cool colors and formatting in your
discussions ? - let your contacts know why you're away, and when you'll
be back ? Stop wondering, and start using the greatest addon for your
Messenger! Messenger Plus! 2 does all of the above and much, much more
! Every feature you've dreamed of for your Messenger is now a couple of
clicks away... so what are you waiting for ? it's free!
What's New:
* Complete support has been added to MSN Messenger 7! Just like it
was the case a year ago for Messenger 6, a lot of work was required to
insure that the same features you enjoyed with Plus! and Messenger 6
could be available with Plus! and Messenger 7 almost without any
noticeable change.
* The "Hide Advertisement Banner" that was in the program since
Messenger Plus! 1.00 has been removed from MSN Messenger 7. From now
on, it will only be available for MSN Messenger versions 6.2 and below.
Several reasons are pushing me to remove this option, including the
fact that I do not want to go against the new business model Microsoft
has implemented in Messenger 7. I hope some of you won't take it too
badly, I will not changed my mind so please, do not write me about it.
Thank you for understanding.
* The Plus! icon that was appearing on the left of contact names in
the contact list is not available in MSN Messenger 7 anymore (I'm
working on an alternative).
* A Configuration Wizard has been added to Messenger Plus!.
o The configuration wizard is always displayed the first time
someone signs-in on a computer. It is designed to help new users
configure some basic features of Messenger Plus!.
o If you are online when the wizard is displayed, Messenger
Plus! changes your status to "Busy" (and reverts it back when you exit
the wizard).
o The wizard allows direct configuration of the following
options: chat logging, logging encryption, Event Viewer window, Allow
Sounds (includes "Automatic custom sound play" and "Allow built-in
sounds"), Auto-Accept, Boss Protection, and floating windows.
o Every option displayed in the wizard is applied instantly
and actions cannot be canceled. This means for example that enabling
the Event Viewer window will instantly display the window on screen.
o Users are introduced to the Preferences Panel with three
links: configure external (POP3) emails, add sign-in/sign-out sounds,
and create word filters.
o The last screen summarizes some of the most used features
of Messenger Plus!.
* Messenger Plus! is now compatible with Windows Messenger 5.1
(when used with the .NET Messaging Service).
* A Messenger Plus! icon has been added to the top toolbar of MSN
Messenger 7
o The icon's menu contains all the useful items of the main
Plus! menu. It's main use is when the window frame of the contact list
is hidden and the normal Plus! menu is inaccessible.
o In MSN Messenger 7, the normal E-Mail message cannot be
changed easily. For that reason, why using the POP3 Mail feature of
Plus!, the email count is now displayed in this popup menu. If several
accounts are used, one line is displayed for each of them that contains
emails. Clicking on the menu opens the client specified in the
preferences (program or http link).
* Brand new Messenger Plus! feature: Custom Emotion Sounds.
o The statistics that were added to Messenger Plus! 3 months
ago revealed that the number one used feature so far was the Sounds
Commands. That fact pushed me to develop the Custom Emotion Sounds
feature, which brings sounds integration in Messenger to the next
level. This feature is not l33t, it's just fun
.o Custom sounds can be sent to all your contacts as long as
they have the latest version of Messenger Plus! installed. If your
contact does not have the sound you sent him in his sound library, it
is downloaded automatically from the server.
o Sounds are automatically sent to the Messenger Plus! server
when used for the first time. They are then downloaded from the server
when your contacts need them. This has two main advantages: preventing
firewall problems and making sound sharing possible (when you create a
new sound, you can mark it private to avoid public sharing).
o There are four distinctive ways to add new sounds in the
sound library:
+ by creating sounds based on existing sound or music
files (like mp3),
+ by recording your own sounds by using a microphone or
another line-in device,
+ by importing sounds previously saved in a Sound Pack,
+ by getting a sound at random from the server, in the
specified category.
o The Sound Library is shared between all users of the same
Windows account, by default. This allowed downloaded sounds to be
available to every user without the need of exporting/importing sound
packs. To make the library private, use the new "CustomSoundsPrivate"
registry setting.
* The sound section of the Preferences has been reworked:
o The old MCI-related options are gone as Messenger Plus! now
uses its own sound libraries to decode sound files (see below).
o The custom sound panel height can be increased if necessary
(if you want to display more sounds per page).
o By default, new sounds are automatically downloaded and
every sound is played as soon as it's ready to be played. Both of these
behaviors can be disabled, you can then chose to download and/or play
each sound, directly in the chat window, in a similar way you play
winks for example. Note that regardless of these options, if a sound is
already playing, new sounds sent are not played automatically and will
wait for your input.
o When you receive new sounds, their are automatically added
in your sound library and show in the sound panel. If you don't want
new sounds to be shown in the sound panel, you can use the appropriate
option in the preferences.
* Many changes have been made to the way sounds are played in
various features:
o If you're not interested in technical details, you should
just know that Messenger Plus! now supports more sound formats and
plays all of them more reliably: more features, less problems!
o The various open file windows displayed in Messenger Plus!
to select a sound now support previewing the sounds selected.
o Messenger Plus! now uses dedicated sound libraries to read
sound files: Libsndfile and Lame_enc. Thanks to these great pieces of
work, Messenger Plus! does not have to rely on the various codecs
installed on a computer anymore. The list of supported file types is
now fixed and constant for everyone: AIFF, AU, IFF, MAT4, MAT5, MP1,
MP2, MP3, PAF, PVF, SF, SND, SVX, VOC, W64, WAV (PCM, A/u-law, ADPCM,
GSM). It is important to note that some of these formats come in
various sub-formats and that not all of them are supported by
Libsndfile and Lame_enc.
o MCI is not used to play sounds anymore. Instead, Messenger
Plus! sends PCM data directly to the default sound device installed in
the system.
o The "SoundMCIType" registry setting has been deprecated and
is no longer loaded by Plus!.
* A big Custom Sounds wizard has been added to the software to add
new sounds and exporting existing ones.
o The maximum length for a custom sound is 10 seconds. This
may not seem like much but it should be more than enough to send
something funny to your contact and not bore him/her with a minute of
something he doesn't care. Also, this will prevent copyright problems
related to music sharing.
o Sounds can be saved in high or average quality. High
quality is best suited for music and other similar sounds, however, it
reduces the maximum length of the sound to 8 seconds.
o Each sound has a name and a category assigned to it.
Categories are fixed in the software and may be expanded in the future.
As each sound is assigned a unique identifier internally, several
sounds can have the same name without causing conflicts.
o Sounds are by default available for random downloading by
other users. This can be prevented by setting the private flag during
the creation of the sound. In that case, the sound will still be sent
to the server, however, people will be able to download it only if
someone else sends it directly to them.
o You can create sounds based on existing files. Many formats
are supported (see below) and can be imported in the wizard. Cutting
the sound to the appropriate length is done directly in the wizard,
you're the one who chooses when the sound starts and when it stops.
o When cutting a sound, the user interface precision limit is
1 second. If you want more precision (up to the millisecond), you can
double click on the selection bar or selection marks.
o Sounds can also be recorded live. The wizard offers basic
but effective commands for live recording, including direct volume and
input control. You can record for several minutes and cut the sound
later in the wizard, allowing you to do some "free style" recording.
o On every sound longer than 500 milliseconds, a fade-in and
fade-out effect of 70 milliseconds is automatically applied to avoid
annoying "clicking" noises.
o Sound Packs can be created by exporting existing sounds.
They can then be shared with your contacts but are more suitable for
web sites and other similar types of sharing. The import wizard allows
you to enter http and ftp links directly to import new sounds directly
from the internet!
* The integration of the Messenger Plus! enhanced icon in the chat
window has been improved:
o The toolbar of MSN Messenger 7 being much more "occupied",
a new toolbar is now created for Messenger Plus! features. This toolbar
occupies a small 25 pixels of width on the left side of the "type a
message" edit box.
o For now, the toolbar has two buttons: a Plus! button that
displays the same menu as in previous versions, and a sound button that
displays the new custom sound panel.
o The menu displayed by the Plus! button is skinned to match
the general MSN Messenger theme more closely.
o Of course, if you don't like this toolbar, you can disable
it in the preferences
.* A new custom sound panel is available in chat windows.
o There are three ways to display this panel: by clicking on
the sound icon in the new Messenger Plus! toolbar, by pressing Ctrl+Q
and, if the Messenger Plus! sidebar is disabled, by using the "custom
sound" entry of the Plus! main menu of the chat window.
o Custom-sounds are classified by categories. Built-in sounds
(the old sound commands) are still available, in a separate category.
o Statistics of use are is played in the panel in two
columns: "More Used" and "Last Used". The statistics can be reset at
any time with the "Reset" link in the panel.
o By default, clicking on a sound sends it. You can enable
"preview mode" (top right icon) to hear the sound when clicked and send
it when double-clicked.
o For each category, random sounds can be downloaded from the
server. That way, lots of sounds can be added instantly, without
breaking a sweat!
o You can get as many random sounds as you want. When you get
a sound that you find inappropriate, you can report it to the
moderators and help keep a clean database for everyone's enjoyment.
o For keyboard lovers, these keys can be used in the sound
panel to do various operations: left arrow, top arrow, right arrow,
bottom arrow, Page Up, Page Down, Enter, A, P and Ctr+Enter (used in
preview mode).
* A /sound command has been added to send custom sounds. The
parameter can be the identifier of the sound (prefixed with #) or the
name (or part of the name) of a sound.
* Every sound played by Messenger Plus! is now volume normalized.
This means that every sound is supposed to be played at approximately
the same volume. Messenger Plus! detects the peak volume of the sounds
it needs to play and adjusts the volume of the whole sound to match its
maximum peak volume. The default is 70% and can be changed with the
"SoundPeakLevel" registry setting.
* A new registry setting called "SoundDevice" allows changing the
sound device used for playing and recording sounds.
* Once again, improvements related to the the sponsor program: you
can now click on a "+" button to display the agreement in a separate
bigger window, in case you would want to take a closer look to it
(neither C2Media or myself have anything to hide, I hope this addition
will make that fact clear for everyone).
* The uninstaller has been improved
o When the sponsor program is installed, you now have the
choice to only uninstall it and keep Messenger Plus!. Many people
requested that change, I hope it will please everyone.
o When the sponsor program is not installed, a message is
displayed to inform the user about it. Nowadays, many people who report
adware being present on their computer are being told to uninstall
Messenger Plus!, sometimes for no reason at all. This message should
help prevent that.
o A link to a help page on msgplus.net is displayed to get
more information about Messenger Plus! or its sponsor if desired.
* You can now use the Personalized Status window to set an
automatic message and keep your "online" status. Note that you can't
record predefined status with "online".
* When new "contacts on desktop" are created from the popup menu,
their position is set on the current cursor position and you can move
them directly when you want them to be.
* Environment variables can now be used in shared file paths and
the /dropfile command.
* Several system-related improvements have been made in this
release. Users of older computers should definitively appreciate the
change (and give Messenger Plus! another try if they previously
uninstalled it because of its impact on their system).
o A new DLL has been added to the software, called
MsgPlusLoader.dll. This DLL is now the one that will be loaded by
Windows for the global hooking operations. This modification should
lower considerably the impact of Messenger Plus! on older systems as
this light-weight DLL doesn't allocate more than a few bytes of memory
in any situation. It may also reassure some of the people who wonder
why Messenger Plus! gets loaded by Windows in several other processes
(this DLL contains almost no code so there can't be any risk involved).
o A memory leak has been fixed preventing Messenger Plus! to
leak system handles in some occasions.
o A memory leak has been fixed preventing Messenger Plus! to
leak GDI objects in some occasions (MSN Messenger 6 and above).
* I'm very happy about the following improvement, I've been trying
to do something like this for almost 3 years now and I finally
succeeded! The sad thing is that nobody will probably ever care about
this UI improvement: richedit controls displayed by Messenger Plus! in
Windows XP now use the current theme to display their border. I've
released the code on some newsgroups with the hope that it will help
some of the other people who have been having this problem since
Windows XP was released.
* The various richedit controls present in the Messenger Plus!
windows do not accept formatted text anymore when copy/pasting
(translation: bug fixed).
* Logging-off in a Windows 98/Me network doesn't prevent Messenger
Plus! to work properly at next log-on (this bug was introduced recently
and is now fixed).
* Support has been added in the Quick Icons panel for custom
animated emoticons (thanks in part to the formidable CxImage library).
The middle frame of the animation is the picture shown in the panel.
* The Custom Names feature has been largely improved
o The preferences panel "custom names" section and the Rename
Contact dialog box have been completely redesigned to accommodate the
new options.
o The new "Attach the original name" option lets you easily
attach the real name of your contact at the end of the custom name. In
MSN Messenger 7, the real name is added with a special grey color for
enhanced display quality. Also, when you use this option, the real name
is not displayed during conversations for more clarity.
o The new "CustNameAttachTagFmt" registry setting lets you
modify how the "Attach the original name" feature formats the name
(using the (!N) and (!M) tags).
o Users of MSN Messenger 7 now have access to a new set of
special formatting options. These options let you change how each name
appears in the contact list and the instant messages windows. The text
can be bold, italic, and have its own custom color.
o A new option can be enabled in the preferences to display
the special custom names formatting during a chat.
o Additional formatting options can now be set anywhere in a
custom name thanks to the usual multi-format shortcuts keys (Ctrl+K,
Ctrl+B, ...).
o The new "custom names" preferences panel allows quick
editing of every custom name. Just press enter while in the "custom
name" editbox and the next contact in the list will automatically be
selected, allowing you to set its name immediately without touching to
the mouse.
o There is no need to set a special name to a contact to get
the special formatting options applied! if you just want to set a
special color or a bold/italic attribute to one of your contacts, just
do so and the original name will automatically be used with the
formatting you applied.
* Floating windows have been improved to match the color and other
formatting attributes set to a custom name. By default, if a color is
set to a name from the Custom Names feature, the same color will be
applied to the text of the floating window. In that case, the menu
"Text Color\System Default" becomes "Text Color\Custom Name Default",
allowing you to change it back to one of the floating windows presets
if desired.
* Floating windows now use the Tahoma font to match the contact
list of Messenger (and it looks better too).
* The position of floating windows is not reset automatically with
resolution changes when the Lock In Place option is used.
* The Bold and Italic buttons displayed in several windows of
Messenger Plus! are now displayed with their own associated formatting
( = they look better).
* Internet links and file paths are not touched by the World Filter
feature anymore (except when using the * wildcard).
* The POP3 E-Mail feature has been improved:
o A new option now allows to activate SSL encryption to
communicate with the mail server. This option is recommended if your
mail server supports encrypted connections and is mandatory if your
server requires it (like GMail does). This option is available for
Windows 2000 and above only.
o Messenger Plus! now tries to automatically associate a web
page to known e-mails addresses (for example, if your e-mail is
(e-mail address removed), clicking on a "new e-mail" notification will bring you
to www.gmail.com).
o A "Test Settings" button has been added in the preferences
to verify if the information entered are correct. When the connection
is successful, the success message also indicates the current number of
e-mails.
o The option to enable/disable the POP3 feature has been
removed from the preferences panel to make room for the new stuff. It
is now on by default. To disable it, you can use the new
"EnableExternalMail" registry setting.
* A /nudge command has been added for MSN Messenger 7.
* Fixed a bug that prevented some features (like come-back messages
and log encryption) to function properly when the "Open Messenger main
window" option of Messenger was disabled and "Allow automatic sign in"
was enabled.
* A /logging command has been added to enable or disable logging of
a specific chat. Use it with parameters "on" and "off". Note: this
command is a "Tom's special"
.* Fixed a bug preventing sounds associated to custom notifications
to be played.
* Fixed a bug that cause the Enhanced Plus! icon in the chat window
to be displayed at the wrong position.
* A bug has been fixed in the download of auto-update files. If
auto-updates didn't work for you before, they should now.
* "Change Name" notifications always display the old user's name
properly now.
* Floating windows are always hidden properly when you sign-off
(this fix also covers personalized-status being removed when you
sign-off).
* Come-back messages are not tried to be sent when your status is
Appear Offline.
* The emails of contacts saved in the registry for the Logging
Archive and Floating Window features are now encrypted.
* Changes to the Messenger Plus! API:
o All the API is now compatible with MSN Messenger 7.
o An internal tag has been added to allow plug-ins like
Stuff-Plug to properly add text like timestamps.
* Background colors in action messages and auto-messages are not
displayed anymore.
* Messenger Plus! now automatically scans and fixes XML logs
generated by MSN Messenger 6 and 7. This improvement suppresses error
messages when chat windows are closed saying that logs couldn't be
opened.
* The minimum and default parameter for the /clear command is now
2.
* A "LogViewerProgram" registry key has been added to ask Messenger
Plus! to use another program that the default text editor to open the
chat logs.
* Fixed a bug that prevented Plus! notification windows to be
displayed sometimes.
* In Messenger 7, you can't use Ctrl+S to add a strike-out tag
anymore. Please use Ctrl+R instead, then press S.
* Messenger Plus! sounds are not played anymore when the current
user is not logged-in. You can change this behavior with the new
"PlaySoundsNotLoggedIn" registry setting.
* No web page is now opened at the end of the setup (the new
Configuration Wizard made it obsolete).
* Bug fixed when trying to import a preferences file generated in
Windows 98/Me, in a Windows 2000/XP station (true for the inverse too).
* A lot of other bug fixes have been done since the last beta,
everyone should be able to enjoy this new version in Messenger 7
without any major problem
.Homepage: http://www.msgplus.net/
For related software, check out:
http://www.arjan.org/?Internet:IRC/Instant_Messengers:MSN
Kind regards,
_____
Arjan
E-mail: (e-mail address removed) (remove NOSPAM)
Homepage: Arjan.org's Absolute Freeware Links (http://www.arjan.org)