Shoutbox

That's great information apeclys! Thanks for sharing the (most likely) cause of the problem after you've fixed the issue for yourself.

i have the same porplam  Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error

quote:

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Originally posted by apeclys
When I ran the registry cleaner again and marked the above key and removed it, I got the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error. I guess that's the cause of the problem.

When I said that I got this error after restarting the computer, it's because sometimes I run the registry cleaner and restart my system.
If other users also use this kind of programs, try to execute it to make sure if this is the cause of the error.

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Excellent example and proof of what I have always been saying! Never EVER use such registry cleaners if you do not know exactly what you're doing! Those tools are not, I repeat NOT, meant for common usage, eventhough they are quite often advertised as such.

Such tools might seem innocent and they are advertised to the average user as thé number one method to keep the system clean, but they often cause more damage than that they actually fix if they are run by the average Joe!!!!!!!!!!

Even in expert hands, such tools should NEVER be run in such a way that they automatically 'fix' stuff. They ALWAYS get it wrong for many keys.

This said, if this is indeed the cause (or one of the causes), it might perfectly explain the random nature of these errors and why (no offense) only the inexperienced user seems to have it as those are the ones most often running such cleaners.

But also, it would still be a bug in Plus! too. Plus! should check for the existance of those keys and if they are not present, it should properly deal with it...

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@apeclys thanks for that great information...
That missing registry key is indeed the culprint of this particular "Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error" error.
And now that it has been found, it will be dead easy to fix it in a next version of Plus!... Again, thanks!

quote:

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Originally posted by alkingmafia
i have the same porplam  Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error

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If you have experience with reading and editing the registry, please try to share your registry information as apeclys has done in her last post in this thread.

If you have no experience with the registry, please try to reinstall Messenger Plus! 5 and do not use any registry cleaning or adware removing software.

Else; I would advise you to keep checking on this thread, I believe a fix is coming soon.

quote:

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Originally posted by simmie
I have solved:
Deinstall windows live messenger + upload live program with "your uninstaller" and then install wlm.

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reinstalling Windows Live Messenger will not solve this.

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To fix it for now, by yourself:

1) Remove or at least disable any program you have installed which fixes/cleans/tunes your registry!

Stuff like 'CCleaner' or 'TuneUp Utilities' and the likes should never be used if you don't know what you're doing! They are indeed advertised as great tools to keep your PC clean, but that is false advertisement! They can cause more damage than they solve, especially if you let them run and fix everything automatically. You must review each proposed change before you let the cleaner fix something. And that requires the proper and often advanced knowledge of the usage and purpose of registry keys.

2) After you have succesfully removed and/or disabled tools like that, reinstall Messenger Plus! and your problems (this one at least) will be solved for now.

quote:

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Originally posted by apeclys
When I run a registry cleaner, it finds something related to MsgPlus 5. (I'm attaching the screenshot).
I removed other invalid keys and unmarked the one that leads to "C:\Arquivos de Programas (Program Files)\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!\Interface\Images" and WLM was still working like before.

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Perfect info! Confirmed, I can now reproduce this error:

• Start with a normal installation of WLM 2011 and Plus! 5.0.
  Judging from previous posts in this thread it can be reproduced on WLM 2009 too, but Plus! 5.0 is essential.
  
• Start Messenger and confirm Plus! is working properly.
  
• Close Messenger completely.
  Use Task Manager if you have to, msnmsgr.exe has a tendency to stay in the background sometimes.
  
• Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!'.
  On 64 bit Windows go to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!'.
  
• Delete the 'ImagesDir' key.
  
• Start Messenger, you will now get the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime error directly when Messenger attempts to start.
  
• Go back to the Registry Editor and recreate the ImagesDir key. Messenger will start again.
  It doesn't even matter what path you point ImagesDir to.

Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (6.1.7600)
Windows Live Messenger 15.4.1109
Messenger Plus! 5.00.0.702

Messenger Plus! 4.9 didn't have the ImagesDir key, which explains why problems only started recently. In addition to that ImagesDir references to 'C:\Program Files\Yuna Software\Messenger Plus!\Interface\Images' which is not created by Plus! itself. My guess is registry cleaners and other kind of tuneup software delete this registry key because it refers to an non-existing location. Plus! could create the Images folder but even then the folder would be empty and I'm afraid more aggressive cleaners might delete empty folders too, leading to the same error.

And there are more registry keys in the same location which will cause problems in Plus! when deleted:

• AppDir = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
  
• ImagesDir = Runtime Error
  
• LangDir = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
  
• ResourcesDll = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!
  
• WLM-ScriptsDir = Prevents scripts from running
  
• WLM-SkinsDir = Prevents skins from running
  
• WLM-WorkerDll = Plus! doesn't load, but Messenger will start fine without Plus!

Obviously it is bad behavior of registry cleaners and alike to delete registry keys of other applications. But assuming the cause of this problem is the same for all these people, I don't think it can be ignored as a user error. There is no reason for Messenger shouldn't be able to launch successfully when this registry key is missing. But an even better fix would be to not write these values to registry by default at all and let Plus! figure out the default value on itself. In 99% the user would never change any of these values from it's default. If the user does want to change these values he/she could then manually create them at own risk.
This ImagesDir issue was only been introduced since 5.0 and already caused quite a few reports during the short time it has been out. Only a small portion of people having problems will bother to even bother to post it in the right place. But apart from ImagesDir the other keys listed above cause the less obvious error of Plus! refusing to load, addressing this may fix a lot of of issues. Although I fully agree with Cookie registry cleaners is something to stay away from in the first place.


For everyone who is having this problem:

• Do you have any registry cleaner or cleanup / security software installed which might be deleting registry keys?
  
• If you uninstall this software (or disable it) and re-install Messenger Plus! after that, does Messenger work again?

EDIT: Informed the developers at Yuna about it too. Hopefully they'll have a more permanent fix soon.

That's great information apeclys really really thank you thank found the proplam

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I did not have any problem with Messenger Plus! again.

I don't know if that was the cause of the problem to other users, but since I stopped deleting the registry key, WLM is working perfectly.

Me too!!

The ImagesDir runtime error is fixed, Plus! will now use the default directory ".\Interface\Images" in case the registry key is missing. This directory is now also created on install, to avoid the key being flagged by dodgy regcleaners.

Getting fully rid of the regkeys in HKLM would require much more work though, and I'm not too sure it's really necessary in the first place...?

Anyway, thanks everyone for tracking this bug down

Edit : post #404, does that mean it doesn't exist?