Shoutbox

1) It never minimized to the tray when you hit the minimize button. It has always been doing what it does now: minimize = minimize // close = minimize to systemtray.

Note: it would always show an icon in the systemtray though, even if the window is open. So 'close' isn't realy "minimizing to systemtray" in the real sense of the definition.

You could change this behaviour with a script though, no matter what Messenger version you have. Although it would require some dodgy workaround as you can't subclass (would be the proper way to do it) with pure scripting alone. eg: check every second or so if the contactlist is minimized, if so, send the 'close' command.

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2) This is certainly possible.

But, as djdannyp pointed out it would somewhat defeat the purpose of the lock feature. Though, I say "somewhat" because I can also see the advantage of it. An animated icon sounds like a nice idea. In that way you can see if someone has messaged you, but you would still need to type in the password (in case you have one set) to see it....

This can be done with a script too and it doesn't need to be that complicated either. Just change the systemtray icon every couple of 200ms or something when you recieve a message when you're in lock mode.