Dear pchf
I would be very grateful for some advice on this. I feel like I'm going nuts!
Apologies in advance if the answer is simple and it's something I've missed
I've not been able to sign into Windows Live Messenger (latest version of MSN) for about 6 days now. Before, it was absolutely fine. I haven't changed any settings (to my knowledge).
In fact, the only recent thing is that I ran windows update and installed the latest files (whatever they were - I didn't look - oops).
Some strange things about this problem:
1) I can still sign into Skype - no problem.
2) The connection troubleshooter in MSN says "success - you can connect to the Windows Live Messenger Service."
3) I can sign into webmessenger without any problem.
4) I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program, but this has made no difference.
5) I regularly run anti-spyware software (Lavasoft Adaware SE Personal). I don't have anything malicious on my PC (or if I have, nothing has picked it up).
6) I have Norton Internet Security 2006 (wish I hadsn't bought that - but that's another story). Windows Live Messenger is set to 'permit all', so it doesn't look like a firewall problem. I've also tried disabling Norton, but MSN still won't connect.
7) I don't get any error messages from the messenger service - it just continues the 'signing in' process and never stops. This suggests that the problem is with my PC and not with MSN.
8) I use Registry Mechanic, so I wondered whwther it had cleaned off something that it shouldn't have. However, I've looked at the roll-backs and can't see any files that appear to be related to MSN. Also, reinstalling MSN made no difference (surely if it was a registry setting, reinstallation would fix it).
9) I have no internet connection problems at all.
I'm running IE7, which seems to be ok, but I have a feeling it might be interfering with MSN in some obscure way.
I'm new to pchf, so please accept my apologies if this message isn't in the format you normally like.
Many thanks for any advice/suggestions you may be able to offer!
Kind regards
-KiJi-