Hiya. Edited my post as I found the solution so figured I'd post it here to help others.

If you're finding messenger freezing up and bringing your CPU usage up way high since yesterday then here's a fix.
Nytmare suggested it might be the advertisements which seems to be the culprit.

A couple solutions:

1. "In IE, options, security tab, in the restricted sites list, add rad.msn.com then restart Messenger." - Nytmare
This should work for all versions of messenger and not interfere with msn plus.
Note: this doesn't block msn.com or hotmail or anything like that.

2. Another option for MSN 2012 that has a few extra features would be A-patch. It cleans the messenger up by getting rid of annoying links and blocking all the ads.
You can customize what you want it to do. Real easy to install.
http://apatch.org/downloads/ - the top one will do.


I tried them both out.
Either of these will get rid of your ad freezing problems.

You can remove the update to see if it resolves the problem. Instructions for Windows Vista can be found on this page, but it should work similarly for Windows 7.

I didn't even know you could uninstall updates.

Removed it. Tried to log on MSN after. Got in without freezeups.

Gonna' give it some time to see if it'll continue working, but since I didn't even restart this time around and it's going okay I think that might of did the trick.

Thanks a lot

edit: wow. still freezing up.
Isn't anything more I can do because nothing on my computer has been slightly touched since it was last working fine other than that update. and uninstalling the update didn't help.
Was a good 7 years but I guess that's the end of msn for me.

I too am having this issue.

From two different locations, work and home, I am unable to load MSN properly without it freezing and jacking up my processing.

It seemed to get stuck on "Checking for Social Updates" so I unlinked FB (that's what I had connected) and it seemed like it was working, however, it quickly reverted to pausing and spiking CPU.

Huh. Weird. Not glad that you're having this obnoxious issue, but I'm glad I'm not alone.

Hi, having this issue too.  Since last nights update MSN freezes 1s after logging in, it just uses more and more RAM until it crashes after an hour or so.

Happening to all my friends as well, but it even seems to be happening on computers that did not install the update, it just freezes after a while.

Add me to the list. Ever since yesterday, Messenger freezes up when I try to use it.

You think MS would make their updates compatible with their own products. Oh wait, I forgot about whom I was speaking...

Messenger has stopped working today for many people where I work. (But not everyone). I have tried updating from 2011 (ver 15) to 2012 (ver 16) but that had no effect on the problem of it freezing up and consuming memory.

The problem may be occurring whenever the advertisement is animated. Does Messenger use Flash to animate ads?

Hmm Nytmare I think you're right..
It being caused by ads would explain a lot like:
1. Why it happens on both messenger versions
2. Why it doesn't always happen. Keeping the contact list closed would probably avoid the crashes.
3. Why it doesn't happen to some people. Ads are probably region-specific too so people in some places might not get the same ones that cause the crash.
4. Why it happened 100% out of the blue when nothing else was touched.

Hopefully something gets fixed soon.

edit: Fortunately, I've found a solution!
It's called A-patch. Gets rid of the ads in the 2012 version of MSN. Might not work with msn plus, but my messenger is ad-free and it hasn't crashed since I started it after installing the patch.

I think we've come to the cause of the issue.
Not sure if it's worth bothering with, but if we can find which ad is causing it then we could I guess message someone who works with microsoft to inform them of it. Not sure if it's even possible to reach them though considering how big a company they are

edit2: didn't see your post below this one as I hadn't refreshed the page.
but yeah that'd work too.
though I like this a-patch tool because it gets rid of lots of clutter

In IE, options, security tab, in the restricted sites list, add rad.msn.com then restart Messenger.

Thanks Nytmare. The advertisements didn't even occur to me.