Shoutbox

I deleted every file and folder on my computer that refers to MSN/Windows Messenger and then completely reinstalled them all, and it still made NO difference whatsoever.

So I'm beginning to think it's a different file/folder that's affecting MSN.

And also, I just realised the typing thing is in MSN in general, not just the conversation windows. This includes the box where you type your screen-name, and even the box where you enter your password to sign in.

Scan for spyware and adware using

Ad-Aware  http://www.lavasoft.de/
and
Spybot S&D http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

This may not solve your problems but it might help your computer run a bit faster in general.

I have already done this too. I done 2 spyware searches and 2 virus scans. But thanks anyway.

Out of curiosity do you have any plugins installed for Messenger Plus!?

I have only installed one... the colour fader thingy, but I installed that after this problem started so it won't be that

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL.

If Windows 98 or Windows ME
   How many processes in the white box.
If Windows 2k/XP/2k3
   How many processes it say in the bottom left corner.

32 - what does that mean?

32 Applications running in the background. 20 or so are for Windows.

When this started happening what did you install last? Wasn't SP2 was it?

Hmmm, the last thing I installed was Windows Media Player 9.1 and that was last night. I didn't use my computer for around 18 hours after that.
After deleting the old version, a message did pop up saying that if I chose to delete it then some programs may not run properly, but I don't see how WMP can be connected to MSN...

And what is SP2?

SP2 is Service Pack to. It is a recent update to Microsoft Windows XP that improves bugs and gives more "stability" to Windows. but the downside is for alot of people causes their computer to slow down.