Shoutbox

Hi,

Thanks for the post - sorry it didnt work for you.  I think I may have found a fix. I posted my problem on the Windows Live message boards and got two generic replies about running a virus scan (which of course turned up no problems!) and then I finally got a reply from someone who read my posts properly and I have been using Messenger for several hours without any spam messages now, fingers crossed it worked:

Here's the post:

"We have removed this feature [blocking contacts] and it was replaced with "appear offline". Yet many of our customers are reporting that some of the instant messages can't be blocked because the sender is not in their contact list. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I understand how disappointing when a feature in an application was removed or replaced. If you wish to include it again in the next update of Windows Live Messenger, please visit http://feedback.live.com and send it as a feature request.

Since all the prevention actions didn't work, I advise you to enable the feature to only allow people in your contacts to be able to see your status and send you messages, these options are only available on Windows Live Messenger version 2009 and not in version 2011. If you are determined to stop these instant messages from coming to your Messenger, you can do the following instructions. However this action needs installation of Windows Live Messenger lower version which we less advise:

1. Uninstall Windows Live Essentials programs that are currently installed on your computer. Follow the instructions posted on this solution article.

Delete the Windows Live folder if available from the following locations.
    C:\Program Files -and- C:\Program Files\Common files

2. Download and then install Windows Live Essentials 2009, you can download the installer here.

After installing the version 2009, try to change this option by following the steps below:

1. Sign in to your Windows Live Messenger.
2. Press Alt + T, then click on Options....
3. Select the Privacy tab, tick the Only people on my Allow list can see my status and send me messages
4. Double check if this contact is in your allow list, if so then put it in your block list
5. Then click on Apply and then OK

We currently don't have this option in version 2011. However, I will forward this as a suggestion over to our product team for considerations in a future release.

Regards,

Ironically in a forum I use more frequently someone suggested going back to MSN 2009 as well. I might try that but oddly I have had MSN on for a while today and haven't recieved a single spam message from that bot. If it comes back and persists then i'll switch to the older version.

Well a day or so on, I can say its worked for me

I always thought the 2011 version was horrible anyway, so quite happy back in 2009. In fact I would have stuck with it longer if it wasnt for the annoying "you must upgrade now" messages, but with this particular version it thinks Im on Windows XP (im actually on Windows 7) so it doesn't seem to nag.

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quote:

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Originally posted by russd1978
In fact I would have stuck with it longer if it wasnt for the annoying "you must upgrade now" messages, but with this particular version it thinks Im on Windows XP (im actually on Windows 7) so it doesn't seem to nag.

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Chances are high that the version which showed the "upgrade" message was probably an older build (with bugs) of WLM 2009.

If you manually updated like it suggested you should have gotten the newer 2009 version. Aka the "upgrade" message was not to force you to update to 2011 but to update to a newer 2009 build. Thus nothing to do with "thinking I'm on XP"; WLM knows very well if it is running on Windows 7, Vista or XP .
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