Messenger

[Paul Henderson]

I'd like to know a little more about messenger. I've had
several people invite me to add them to my list. After
this they know if I'm online or not. How does this work
and how much information do they have about the sites I
visit, my homepage, and things like that? Not that it's
top secret but I don't want granny to fall out of her
rocker.

Also it boots up automatically at start up. Can I change
that and instead turn it on and off manually?

 

[Wendy\(v-2wends\)]

As far as other people being able to see the pages you visit or what you
have for a home page, this does not happen. When you are inviting someone to
see when you are online, this is basically letting them know you are home.
Like seeing someone's car in the driveway, you then know they are home.
When you chat to them, they cannot view what you have on your computer,
unless you allow them to remote into your computer. It is like talking to
someone on a telephone, except it is typing.
Also you can shut this feature off, you can right click the icon and go to
properties. Choose Tools, options, then Preferences and uncheck the box that
says run this program when windows starts.
If you mean that it is signing in automatically, then you can shut that off
by going to the control panel and choosing user accounts. Then go to your
account and choose to manage network passwords. When this box comes up,
click on the email address that it is automatically logging onto and choose
to remove it.
Hope this helps, wendy.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'd like to know a little more about messenger. I've had
several people invite me to add them to my list. After
this they know if I'm online or not. How does this work
and how much information do they have about the sites I
visit, my homepage, and things like that? Not that it's
top secret but I don't want granny to fall out of her
rocker.

All they can know is anything you put in your profile for the passport
you use to connect or have entered through messenger in your options
(such as a 'handle' name to display) . That passport is on the database
at the connection center, and when anyone logs on that checks his list
of accepted contacts (ie ones you have *not* blocked) and lets them know
your status. Which does not even say where you are.