Hi, this has happened to me on a number of different occasions.

When i download windows live messenger i get told to update by installing windows update 3.1. I download this and windows live and everything is fine. However after 2-3 days after installation problems start to occur.

To start off with the windows update logo keeps on coming up multiple times on the bottom toolbar and will only dissappear when i move my cursor over them.

Secondly after baout 2-3 days also, my computer will not run and will keep looping from the opening screen to the windows xp screen. Therefore i am unable to get onto my computer without reinstalling the operating system. The computer only loops when i download windows live messenger.

Can anyone help me with this or suggest anything to prevent this from happening.

Thanks In Advance

Jack

Sounds like some sort of virus. Are you sure you are downloading messenger from a legitimate source?

You should always download things from an official source. Download for WLM

hi, yes i am downloading messenger direct from the messenger website

Then something else must be doing it.

For example this "windows 3.1" update sounds a bit dodgy, could you be more precise? What tells you to download this update?

Does this happen even when you format the PC and reinstall Windows, and ONLY install WLM? If not, then something else you're installing is causing the issue.

Well this is the website i dowloaded it from http://get.live.com/messenger/overview

When i click get it free it takes me to the next page where i click download. Before the download starts a dialogue box comes up saying i have to download a critical update. By clicking ok i am taken to another page where i am told to download windows 3.1 update.

The problem only occurs when i download windows live messenger, if i do not download this then everything regarding the computer works fine.

Perhaps Windows Installer 3.1? (Windows 3.1 is 16-bit (with optional 32-bit extensions) operating system from like 15 years ago which had a flaky-at-the-best-of-times networking stack, and most certainly doesn't support WLM)

I do not know why the problem would only re-occur every few days.

I do know that if you delete certain shortcuts and run the program using another MSI-generated shortcut then Windows Installer will repair the installation and regen the shortcut you deleted.

If the WU [Windows Update] logo appears then disappears, this indicates it launched, quit without cleaning up (ie removing the icon; ie crashed), and then was respawned.

3 things to look for:
1) Mal/Spy/Ad-ware causing dodgy DLL conflicts or preventing programs from running via code injection or the like. Download HijackThis! and either peruse the log yourself or upload it to their forums.

2) Corrupt system files preventing WU from actually launching. You can check this (hopefully) by first opening Event Viewer, then restarting the Automatic Updates from services.msc, and then selecting the System log in EV. If there's any warnings or errors, inspect and report back.

3) If you can't be bothered, manually making a shortcut to c:\program files\windows live\messenger\msnmsgr.exe should prevent Windows Installer from being invoked - but does not fix the root of the problem.