MSN Messenger 6.0: A few questions

[David Winter]

I have a few questions regarding MSN Messenger 6.0 ... Which doesn't
seem to have its own NB. Maybe you guys can help.

1) The new version has a "Save" feature for chats. When saving a chat,
a dialog box says that formatting will be preserved, but the resulting
file (even when it is saved as whatever.rtf) is always a plain text
file with no formatting whatsoever. Several other users have confirmed
this. Shouldn't at least font and text colors be preserved?

2) I'm trying to play one of the integrated games with another user,
who has nearly the same configuration: Windows XP (Professional here,
Home on her machine), Windows Messenger 4.7, MSN Messenger 6.0,
NetMeeting 3.0.1 and the current Flash/Shockwave Player. However, she
cannot start or join in the (Flash-based?) games such as Checkers and
Bejeweled - there is just a minimal error saying "XXX cannot start
Bejeweled".

The game board is displayed on my machine, but she cannot join. All
other features (from file sharing to webcam) work. Turning off the
firewall didn't help, either, and we're both using the same ISP.

Any ideas?

3) I understand that MSN Messenger 6.0 relies on other apps and
Windows components: Windows Messenger 4.7 is used for certain
features, while others will only be available under Windows XP. Is
there some kind of feature matrix showing these interdependencies? For
example, can the whiteboard be used with a Windows 98 user? What about
application sharing, Remote Access etc.? It would be really helpful to
know what is required for particular applications.

Thanks for helping.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings David,

1. It saves the font/colors here -- could you send me an example of one which doesn't have
any formatting?

2. Usually this can be corrected [on her side]by opening up the main Messenger window, click
the Tools menu, then Options, then Privacy tab, uncheck 'Always ask me for my password when
checking Hotmail or opening other .NET Passport-enabled Web pages' and click OK. Then trying
again.

3. The three features in MSN Messenger 6 that require Windows Messenger to be installed is
Remote Assistance, Whiteboard and Application Sharing. These features will work with Windows
XP Messenger clients only, although previous clients have a 'Start Netmeeting' option (hidden
in Windows XP, but Windows XP users can accept the invitation) which can start Netmeeting and
use the Whiteboard/Application Sharing feature within Netmeeting itself.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[David Winter]

Jonathan,

thanks for your excellent support - seems you're the in-house Guru of
this group ...

1. It saves the font/colors here -- could you send me an
example of one which doesn't have any formatting?

It definitely saves text only, no matter what the file extension. I
checked in a text editor.

Maybe this is a problem related only to the German version of MSN
Messenger? We tried with MSN Messenger 6.0 on three different (Windows
XP) machines, and they all just saved plain text.


The hint for starting games worked, thanks!

Regards,

David

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi David,

You're welcome =).

I installed the German version here and got the same result -- I'm not quite sure why this
has been done specifically for the German version, hopefully it will be fixed in a future
release.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com