Getting signed off without knowing it

[Erica Cole]

I have been having this problem for months where I sign
on to Messenger first thing in the morning, but then
without my knowledge I am disconnected - BUT I do not
know that I've been disconnected and the little green
pawn icon is still showing at the bottom of my screen
with no red circle or X across it.

Then people will email me saying, "You're not signed on!"

We use a cable modem and I thought that maybe we were
losing our connection, but we have just gotten a new
modem from our cable company and Messenger is still
disconnecting. I am not getting disconnected from the
internet. I don't get it...could Messenger be
disconnecting me after a period of time?

I can go all day thinking I am signed on when I'm not.
I'm at my wits' end. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks a lot.
Erica

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Erica,

Here are some suggestions that might help:

If you're using a third-party firewall (Sygate, ZoneAlarm, Norton, etc.) try uninstalling
them or set Messenger to "Permit All" or "Allow" type options in the firewall configuration.

If you're using a router, make sure you have the latest firmware from your router
manufacturer. As well, you might try setting your computers local IP into the routers DMZ
setting (see documentation on how to do this).

If you see the disconnection problem on a corporate network, the network may be timing out
your settings -- in this case, you might want to ask your system administrator to adjust the
corporate internet sharing solution/firewall (if possible).

Finally, this can also happen due to a lack of bandwidth. If you have Kazaa, WinMX, GNUtella
or some other file sharing-type application or something else that takes considerable amounts
of bandwidth, you may want to shut it down and see if that helps the situation (even if
you're using a high speed connection, these applications can use most of the resources of
your connection).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com


"Erica Cole" > wrote in message
...
> I have been having this problem for months where I sign
> on to Messenger first thing in the morning, but then
> without my knowledge I am disconnected - BUT I do not
> know that I've been disconnected and the little green
> pawn icon is still showing at the bottom of my screen
> with no red circle or X across it.
>
> Then people will email me saying, "You're not signed on!"
>
> We use a cable modem and I thought that maybe we were
> losing our connection, but we have just gotten a new
> modem from our cable company and Messenger is still
> disconnecting. I am not getting disconnected from the
> internet. I don't get it...could Messenger be
> disconnecting me after a period of time?
>
> I can go all day thinking I am signed on when I'm not.
> I'm at my wits' end. Anyone have any ideas?
> Thanks a lot.
> Erica
>
>