I appreciate the help of some people, but eh... for those who have trouble installing it... ignore all the above posts....
The Ink/handwriting plugin is only for
Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
It was not designed for Windows 2000, but it may work. This means it is also possible that for your Windows 2000 system it doesn't work!
Read the "readme" that comes within the archive:
Before installing make sure you have the Ink Redistributables from Microsoft installed.
If you have installed InfoPen, these are already installed, else please see the InkRedist directory that you should have gotten with this file.
So, how to install:
1) unzip the file that you downloaded from
http://www.mess.be/ into a directory. (The ZIP file should be around 2,44MB big and the version should be
v1.1.) When you've unzipped it, you'll find another zip in the directory called
inkredist.zip, unzip this one also...
2) Close all instances of MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger you're running completely. This means choosing "exit" when you right click on its icon in the systemtray. Just closing the contactlist window isn't enough.
3) If you don't have InfoPen installed (and you probably haven't), then run
SETUP.EXE FIRST!!! You'll find this in the ZIP file (inkredist.zip) inside the ZIP file you've downloaded, so unzip this one also... On the setupscreen choose to install the redistributables for "
all users"!
4) Now run
INSTALLER.EXE
the plugin should be installed by now...
5) Restart your MSN Messenger and open up a conversation with someone; you should see some extra tabs beneath the text-area.
Note: The "convert" tab will not work! You need to install another DLL to activate the handwriting reconizer, see the post and thread
here.
Note: After using the Ink Messenges intensively, it is possible that your MSN Messenger screws up. You need to restart MSN Messenger to fix this. There is nothing more you can do...
How to remove/uninstall it:
You can use the Handwriting Uninstaller made by Matty and Sk3tch to completely remove this plugin.
Or follow exactly these steps:
1) Close all instances of MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger you're running completely. This means choosing "exit" when you right click on its icon in the systemtray. Just closing the contactlist window isn't enough.
2) delete the file
MsnHandWriting.dll from your Messenger Plus! Plugins directory. (default directory is:
c:\program files\messenger plus! 2\plugins or
c:\program files\messenger plus! 3\plugins)
If, for some reason, Windows tells you that it couldn't be deleted, make SURE you closed every instance of Messenger in the correct way. If you're SURE you did this, then try to kill the processes instead:
Open up your Windows Task List (CTRL-ALT-DEL for Windows XP) and:
*for windows 9x/nt look for msnmsgr.exe and msmsgs.exe - end those tasks.
*for windows xp go to the processes tab and look for msnmsgr.exe and msmsgs.exe - end those processes.
Now try to delete MsnHandWriting.dll again...
You can also use the Handwriting DLL uninstaller made by Sk3tch to delete this DLL. (this is not the same uninstaller as the above one. This one will only delete the DLL!
3) Go to
add/remove programs in the software tab in your configuration settings. Look for "
Ink"... If it exists, click it and uninstall it.
4) Go to
add/remove programs in the software tab in your configuration settings. Look for "
InfoPen"... If it exists, click it and uninstall it.
5) Go to
add/remove programs in the software tab in your configuration settings. Look for "
Windows Journal Viewer"... If it exists
and you don't use it anymore for something else, click it and uninstall it.
6) Restart your computer, to make sure everything is completly removed.
EDIT: added some more detailed and updated info
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