A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM - Printable Version
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A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-05-2006 at 02:58 PM
1) There is no “Do you wish to overwrite the existing file?” message when using Save Target As… to receive a file.
2) The potentially unsafe file warning displays both before and after the Save As… dialog when receiving a file.
3) Remote Assistance will not work through WLM when one person is using WLM 8.1 Beta and the other person is using WLM 8.0 for some reason.
4) Scrollbars randomly disappear (as does Page Up/Down functionality) after quitting Worms Armageddon occasionally.
5) File previews and the text and links for “Accept”, “Cancel” and “Save As…” are randomly broken on occasion.
6) Handwriting just doesn’t appear most of the time for no reason.
7) Windows Live Safety Scanner tries to download and install almost every time you receive a file, and fails most of the time, even though it is quite clearly already installed.
8) Switching between tabs on WLM Plus! Sometimes doesn’t change the focus to the new tab’s input box, but leaves it on the old tab’s input box.
9) It is called WINDOWS LIVE! Messenger. Worst. Name. Ever.
10) Does not let you send files when Offline... but will let you get stuck on the Send a File menu without any explanation...
11) Randomly misses off the first character of hyperlinks.
12) Randomly does not display file icons/filenames when transferring files.
13) Randomly adds extra characters before emoticons.
14) Randomly "loses" messages before sending them for anything between 15 seconds and 2 hours.
15) Blatantly generates random error message codes in response to identical errors.
16) Thinks Administrators are not Administrators on occasion.
17) Will very often send messages out of sequence between two “Appear Offline” people.
18) Displays a random number of hyphens after your name in the WLM main window if you have no personal message.
19) Randomly associates your sign-in name with other e-mail accounts you have that you do not wish to be associated with WLM.
20) Randomly screws up file names for no reason – sometimes quoting a file name differently in three places during a file transfer.
21) Will occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, take focus away from the text box a few times in quick succession, but give the focus to NOTHING.
22) Sometimes the progress bar on file transfers will move backwards and forwards for no reason.
23) Upon restoring a minimized WLM window, WLM sometimes will sometimes also restore a RANDOMLY-SELECTED window from the others currently open on your computer.
24) Sometimes when logging in, WLM will give you messages that you supposedly received when you were offline, but that you actually received and replied to previously while Appearing Offline.
25) WLM sometimes just doesn’t change your status when you’re idle after the 5 minute timeout has elapsed.
26) WLM is apparently not compatible with Windows Vista according to the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, even though it was DESIGNED for Windows Vista.
27) Occasionally ignores all mouse and keyboard events in the main window and system tray icon, before crashing with the Send Error Report window appearing.
28) For some extremely unknown reason, a single lonely blue pixel will appear at the top-right of the main WLM window.
29) Sometimes the leftmost part of the title bar of WLM will remain on screen in front of other windows (even if classic title bars are disabled for WLM conversation windows).
This list was compiled by me and a friend. Feel free to add to it as you wish. Many of these bugs are extremely RANDOM and we cannot see, having experience with programming, how a lot of these could possibly happen, even with lazy code. What are the chances of all of these bugs being fixed? Hmmmm...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Lourix on 12-05-2006 at 05:38 PM
Well good list maybe these bugs will be fixed in the future or maybe not but it's a shame about Vista though. Thank your friend for me for telling us about this.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by vaccination on 12-05-2006 at 06:10 PM
Most of the problems you have described i have never encountered.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Thor on 12-05-2006 at 06:27 PM
quote:x2
Originally posted by vaccination
Well good list maybe these bugs will be fixed in the future or maybe not but it's a shame about Vista though. Thank your friend for me for telling us about this.
Some, yes. Most, no.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by absorbation on 12-05-2006 at 06:40 PM
Hum, I want to make a news post for this on my website (msgstuff.com). I am about to leave now, can I have permission to do it? 
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by NiteMare on 12-05-2006 at 06:40 PM
never had most of them at all, seems just like your sinical, or you've got some bad version
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by devilz-fury on 12-05-2006 at 06:46 PM
quote:
Most of the problems you have described i have never encountered.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-05-2006 at 06:59 PM
quote:
Hum, I want to make a news post for this on my website (msgstuff.com). I am about to leave now, can I have permission to do it?
Absolutely. Credit "DragonQ" please.
These bugs were all obtained on two perfectly healthy PCs (one is a very recent fresh install), using WLM 8.0 with the latest version of Messenger Plus Live! installed, chatting on an LAN.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Voldemort on 12-05-2006 at 08:35 PM
quote:i think you mixed it up
Originally posted by DragonQ
Windows Live! Plus
and confusedWindows Live Messenger and
Messenger Plus!
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by ins4ne on 12-05-2006 at 08:38 PM
Add 'WLM freezed after uninstalling script in MP!L'...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by elektra on 12-05-2006 at 09:03 PM
Also add encountering porblems at random times
Nice and impresive list
i havnt encountered half of these problems but they seem beliveable
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DarkMe on 12-05-2006 at 10:55 PM
quote:that's a annoying problem in windows vista, when i want to enter in an administrator account in safe mode it says that is disbled, although my main and unique account is administrator
Originally posted by ins4ne
16) Thinks Administrators are not Administrators on occasion.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-06-2006 at 01:04 AM
I've never used Vista, but that error applied mainly to the Windows Live! Safety Scanner, that ocassionally gave the error message "You must install this software using an account with Administrative Privileges" or words to that effect when it tried to install - obviously the user did have Administrative Privileges...
We are currently working on getting screenshots for some of these bugs, stay tuned!
EDIT: I've also added two more bugs, extending the list to 29.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by markee on 12-06-2006 at 01:21 AM
I haven't had quite a number of these problems and out the ones I have had, I had most of them in 7.5 so there is no difference for me with WLM.
EDIT: thanks for the heads up however. And when you make a "complete list of awfulness" of a program can you please make sure that you aren't using any patches or add-ins so you are only testing th actual program and not the programming ability of the patch/add-in maker?
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-06-2006 at 01:28 AM
Well, three things:
1) Many of these bugs do not have anything to do with Messenger Plus Live!, or at least shouldn't have anything to do with MPL!
2) A large number of users have MPL installed, so it's not that unfair to have it isntalled while testing
3) You have to remember, it was NOT our goal to TEST the program. We were just so fed up with WLM that we started making a bug list - ALL of these bugs occured in NORMAL USE of the program, not during any vigorous or particular tests.
RE: RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Rolando on 12-06-2006 at 01:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by NiteMare
never had most of them at all, seems just like your sinical, or you've got some bad version
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by davidpolitis on 12-06-2006 at 11:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by DragonQ
7) Windows Live Safety Scanner tries to download and install almost every time you receive a file, and fails most of the time, even though it is quite clearly already installed.
14) Randomly "loses" messages before sending them for anything between 15 seconds and 2 hours.
Those problems happen to me all the time
. I hope they get fixed...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Nagamasa on 12-06-2006 at 11:10 PM
IMpressive (IM intentionally capitalized).
I agree with you for most/all things listed. It's ashame how bad free Microsoft things are...such greedy people...the more money, the less glitches.
RE: RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by davidpolitis on 12-06-2006 at 11:15 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Nagamasa
It's ashame how bad free Microsoft things are...such greedy people...the more money, the less glitches.
Partly the reason why theres so many glitches is because Microsoft try to add new features rather than fixing the old ones.
Also, I allways have a problem where the contact list randomly scrolls down to the offline contacts. It annoys me like hell!
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by albert on 12-07-2006 at 02:49 PM
!!1
Sorry, I laughed my assed off while reading this, funny but true.
Hopefully they'll get around to fixing their stuff soon.
RE: RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by CookieRevised on 12-07-2006 at 10:48 PM
Some of those listed 'bugs' can be explained logically and I doubt they are bugs at all...
Others I'm almost certain aren't bug at all...
Then there are so many 'random' things which amazingly you two experienced all (and no others of the vast amount of beta testers), I can't help feeling a bit erm... let's say '
'.....
I don't say you didn't see what you saw. But simply saying that for some things there are possible explainations and they are not bugs in WLM... Some others are, and I can of course be wrong, misinterpretations of what actually happens...
But again, I find it very strange that you got all the random, non-preduceable random bugs... I hope you've sent a report to MS each time though...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-08-2006 at 03:11 AM
As I said, as any new bugs are encountered we're now taking screenshots, but as Uni exams are looming, we're using it less. Some are not strictly bugs in WLM, but as we were getting so shocked and annoyed with so many things going wrong in WLM, we made this list and any time anything went wrong in WLM, we added it regardless.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by vaccination on 12-08-2006 at 06:54 PM
quote:
Originally posted by DragonQ
we made this list and any time anything went wrong in WLM, we added it regardless.
That's hardly fair.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by absorbation on 12-08-2006 at 08:51 PM
@Cookie
I think a few things described on the list aren't really bugs, but in a way, ill coded features, i.e. they haven't took everything into account. Modern programming isn't about making a program that does the task you want, it is about doing the task you want as easy, fast and user-friendly as possible. Take the file transfer feature, there is a never ending list of how it can be improved, even simple tweaks like organising your received files can make a huge impact.
The problem Messenger will always have is that is relies on the Internet. Servers can go down or behave improbably for many reasons, and when they do, the whole program itself can start acting funny. This of course can't be helped, but could be improved, e.g. the way Messengers handles failed messages. A small option could be 'resend' message. This is a simple, but could make all the difference to a frustrated user.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-08-2006 at 09:27 PM
quote:
That's hardly fair.
Why? If something doesn't work as it's meant to, it's a bug. Simple as that. Some are not bugs in WLM, but are perhaps bugs in the way WLM interacts with other programs - almost all of which are made by Microsoft (Windows, Office etc.) you'll notice. Thus, there is no excuse for these bugs, and the fact that WLM is "final" is ridiculous IMO.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by CookieRevised on 12-08-2006 at 10:36 PM
@absorbation: I'm not talking about the things which could be 'improved'. I'm talking about things which aren't bugs in WLM at all...
eg: 1) There is no “Do you wish to overwrite the existing file?” message when using Save Target As… to receive a file.
I'm not talking about things like that ^^. Everybody knows this isn't a bug at all, but just a thing by-design, not implemented yet.
@DragonQ: "Why? If something doesn't work as it's meant to, it's a bug". Not if it was not designed that way. If something does not what you think it should do, doesn't mean it is a bug.
Again, many stuff you listed, DragonQ, are not bugs at all, and even maybe some stuff didn't happened at all (refering to the so many random bugs which you all experienced but no other tester did; so either all those didn't happen at all, where misinterpreted or you are a hell of a beta tester. Personally I highly doubt you got all those 'bugs' with just quickly going thru the program, as you've said... sorry)
eg: 6) Handwriting just doesn’t appear most of the time for no reason.
Or this means your contact doesn't have handwriting capebilities (in this case WLM is acting in the proper way), or it means your Ink drivers aren't installed properly or another program is interfearing with it (in this case WLM can't do anything about it, it isn't an OS).
eg: 9) It is called WINDOWS LIVE! Messenger. Worst. Name. Ever.
Not only is this just a personal preference, it is also called "Windows Live" for a perfect valid reason, which is explained already many times in other threads, and explained in extreme detail on MS' own pages.
eg: 25) WLM sometimes just doesn’t change your status when you’re idle after the 5 minute timeout has elapsed.
This isn't a bug at all and only depends on the status of your computer. It are other processes, processes which you even don't know about, which dictate if a computer is in idle status or not (it can even be a wake-up-on-lan bios setting). If Messenger doesn't get this idle state, it doesn't go to idle.
eg: etc...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-09-2006 at 07:19 PM
quote:
Again, many stuff you listed, DragonQ, are not bugs at all, and even maybe some stuff didn't happened at all (refering to the so many random bugs which you all experienced but no other tester did; so either all those didn't happen at all, where misinterpreted or you are a hell of a beta tester. Personally I highly doubt you got all those 'bugs' with just quickly going thru the program, as you've said... sorry)
Quickly going through it? This was over at least a month's worth of use...and also, they did all happen, you'll have to trust me on that. I'd give more info on my system if I could be bothered, but I don't think anything in particular would cause a large number of these bugs to happen specifically on our machines.
quote:
Or this means your contact doesn't have handwriting capebilities (in this case WLM is acting in the proper way), or it means your Ink drivers aren't installed properly or another program is interfearing with it (in this case WLM can't do anything about it, it isn't an OS).
Ink drivers? All we have done is install the program. And the fact that it works sometimes and not other times is peculiar in itself. The main problem here with WLM is that THERE IS NO ERROR MESSAGE, so we have no idea what's going on - it just appears to ignore handwriting requests for no reason.
quote:
eg: 9) It is called WINDOWS LIVE! Messenger. Worst. Name. Ever.
Not only is this just a personal preference, it is also called "Windows Live" for a perfect valid reason, which is explained already many times in other threads, and explained in extreme detail on MS' own pages.
Yes, it is a personal reference. Sorry, this whole "Live" thing just shows MS has more time on their hands than they should...
quote:
eg: 25) WLM sometimes just doesn’t change your status when you’re idle after the 5 minute timeout has elapsed.
This isn't a bug at all and only depends on the status of your computer. It are other processes, processes which you even don't know about, which dictate if a computer is in idle status or not (it can even be a wake-up-on-lan bios setting). If Messenger doesn't get this idle state, it doesn't go to idle.
I guess so.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Voldemort on 12-10-2006 at 02:01 AM
make a better im program that works in a great array of different computers and then we'll talk...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Kenji on 12-10-2006 at 02:05 AM
You complain to much 
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-10-2006 at 02:09 AM
quote:
make a better im program that works in a great array of different computers and then we'll talk...
I don't have to...MSN Messenger already exists. The majority of these problems did not exist before WLM.
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Rolando on 12-10-2006 at 02:28 AM
quote:
Originally posted by DragonQ
I don't have to...MSN Messenger already exists. The majority of these problems did not exist before WLM.
Then switch back to it. I agree with Dazmatic, you complain way too much. And as I said before, some of the problems listed I've never even heard of happening..
And also as Cookie said, some of them are not even bugs.
Edit: Sorry if I sounded mean, I didnt mean to sound mean
Edit (Reply to DragonQ [Below]): I'm not upset
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by DragonQ on 12-10-2006 at 02:52 AM
Too....many....means...
When working properly, it's quite nice. It was just a little funny project that we felt like doing because of the sheer amount of random crap that happened in a short space of time. Didn't mean to upset people...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by CookieRevised on 12-11-2006 at 02:04 AM
Anyways...
when you comes across these or other bugs, make sure you report them to MS. The more bugs are reported the better it gets...
EDIT (in response to xJ+'s post):
I didn't say all will be fixed though, but if bugs aren't reported in the first place, the team can't try to reproduce them in the first place....
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by xJ + on 12-11-2006 at 02:57 AM
quote:Not all bugs will be fixed. If the team can't reproduce on their test machine[s], the bug won't be fixed, even there're several people reporting the same bug[s] over and over again.
Originally posted by CookieRevised
Anyways...
when you comes across these or other bugs, make sure you report them to MS. The more bugs are reported the better it gets...
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Aardvark on 12-14-2006 at 08:42 AM
WLM also gives other accounts you use the same dp as your other accounts, and when setting a background on two different log ins the default background dps get deleted and I have to re-install the backgrounds (This might not be the case with all backgrounds, but it is for my background, the "Koi Pond")
RE: A compiled list of the awfulness of WLM by Fergy on 12-15-2006 at 12:22 AM
quote:
26) WLM is apparently not compatible with Windows Vista according to the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, even though it was DESIGNED for Windows Vista.
Whoever told you that is feeding you crap, WLM runs better on Vista than on XP in my honest opinion, and I'm only using a beta version of Vista
.You should write up all the problems with AIM's default client, you'll easily pass 100 points to gripe about guaranteed!