Shoutbox

In “C:\Documents and Settings\<your user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft” there is two folders one called “Windows Live Contacts” and one called “Messenger”

The folder Messenger is data for the Sharing Folders feature, and the Windows Live Contacts folder appears to be where the list cache is now stored in Windows Live Messenger, as opposed to ListCache.dat in MSN Messenger 6.x and 7.x. The sub-folders in Windows Live Contacts are the sign-in addresses of all users that have signed in on that Windows account, and there are two sub-folders in each of those: real and shadow. The data in these folders seems to be what is encrypted when you enable Encrypt contact list data so that it is not accessible outside of Windows Live Messenger.