Hi...

I've been having a problem with my MSN Messenger icons...as shown in the attached file, the icons on the contact list appear to have become corrupted..all showing the online icon,so it is not easy to tell if someone is online or not!  Unfortunately I have no idea as to how this problem started because it is on my office PC, and I have been away from the office for a week...

I'm not sure if this is a common problem, I couldnt find another thread but if anyone has any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them (I've already tried repairing icons with TweakUI, and recreating the ShellIconCache file by changing the color depth...)

The icons are actually part of msnmsgr.exe, so repairing them using tweakUI or rebuilding the cache won't necessarily work. I suggest reinstalling Messenger, as it's possible the msnmsgr.exe has been corrupted.

Thanx the reinstall worked!

Wierd thing to happen, the reason I didnt try reinstalling immediately was that my Avant Browser buttons were corrupted as well, but a change in colour depth fixed those.  I'll try and stop pesky people using my computer next time!

Not sufficient memory or not properly installed graphics cards are the common causes.

I suggest you install the latest display driver. If you are using a nVidia one (probably, as I have seen people have the same problem with NV chips), go here:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_61.76 (this one is for Win 98/Me)

Yeah I am using NVidia....

the problem is back again this morning and reinstalling messenger won't solve it, guess that was just a temporary fix...I'll hae a go at reinstalling the graphics drivers and let you know how I get on...

it might be something like a virus that is corrupting the file, do a virus check

No, this is not a virus....
It is an old and known graphicdriver problem...
This has occured to many people using nvidia drivers...