I have a contact that when offline the name appears normal and readable.
But sometimes, not all the time, when the person goes online the name changes to scrambled unreadable letters similar to "l(*-le^ d(#@"
does anyone know why this happens. sometimes they go online and its normal and I can read the name.  Is it maybe when they go online with a video chat as apposed to text chat?

Hey messengernewbie,

Try deleting your contacts cache, as something may be corrupt. Exit Messenger first.

Delete the following folders:

In XP:

quote:

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C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\Contacts\
C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts\

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quote:

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C:\Users\your_username\Contacts\
C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts\

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chris4
Hey messengernewbie,

Try deleting your contacts cache, as something may be corrupt. Exit Messenger first.

Delete the following folders:

In XP:

quote:

---

C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\Contacts\
C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts\

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In Vista:

quote:

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C:\Users\your_username\Contacts\
C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Contacts\

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Note: Replace your_username with the name of your Windows account.

If you could also include your Messenger version (By going to Help > About), that may help.

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In that case I don't know, sorry.