Snugl Buni
December 11th 03, 05:45 PM
My parents' PC has MSN Messenger 6.0. While I was visiting them, Messenger
developed a strange problem. As soon as they connect to the Internet, they
get a notice box "You have been signed out because you have been signed in
at another location". This is a new problem -- we had all the bugs worked
out until now.
I did some work on the PC. Don't assume that these changes are the culprit.
This is just for information:
- Defragged the hard drive
- Installed Popcap "Bookworm" Game
- Installed the boxed version of MacAfee ViruScan 8.0, and updated it (it
was ViruScan 6.0).
- Fiddled with some background graphics and the "display picture" in MSN
Messenger 6.0.
- Set their modem to connect at "56K" (and it now connects from 41K-50K),
from the old settings that had a maximum of about 31K. Their ISP has
recently told them that "the ISP runs at about 33K".
ViruScan is the most likely to cause the problem. Maybe it starts MSN 4.7 to
do some virus checking? Bear in mind, Messenger WILL STILL "SIGN OUT" even
if ViruScan is CLOSED, not running. They probably had (or still have?) a
firewall from ViruScan 6.0. But it's not included with 8.0. Could it be a
problem due to a firewall? As you'll see, I have no idea even how to track
down the problem. It's very important that I don't create additional
problems on the PC.
There are 2 notice windows alternating on screen. There's one that slides up
from the taskbar to say "signed out" (MSN 6.0?), and another that is a wide
rectangle with the identical message (MSN 4.7?). The PC will show either
one. I'd swear this means that BOTH messengers are running. But ONLY 6.0's
ICON IS IN THE TASKBAR, and it's the only one shown in the Task Manager (my
parents cannot directly run MSN 4.7, since all icons are gone). I've read
that if I uninstall 4.7 completely, "Remote Assistance" will stop
functioning -- is that true? My parents definitely NEED Remote Assistance
operational.
MSN Messenger does NOT sign out if I try it from my PC. So NOBODY IS
ACTUALLY "SIGNED IN AT ANOTHER LOCATION". The problem must all be on the PC
itself. Once the "signed out" message appears, they can sign back in, and
it's fine until they disconnect then reconnect.
I've scoured for help on this problem, and it seems to be an open issue,
unsolved for many people.
Their "Go-Back" software doesn't go back far enough before the problem
started, unfortunately. While trying to troubleshoot this, I found that
Audio Conversations and Remote Assistance both don't work at this time (text
chat is fine). So I'm back to suspecting firewall or security settings.
But maybe that's not it...
-- DR
developed a strange problem. As soon as they connect to the Internet, they
get a notice box "You have been signed out because you have been signed in
at another location". This is a new problem -- we had all the bugs worked
out until now.
I did some work on the PC. Don't assume that these changes are the culprit.
This is just for information:
- Defragged the hard drive
- Installed Popcap "Bookworm" Game
- Installed the boxed version of MacAfee ViruScan 8.0, and updated it (it
was ViruScan 6.0).
- Fiddled with some background graphics and the "display picture" in MSN
Messenger 6.0.
- Set their modem to connect at "56K" (and it now connects from 41K-50K),
from the old settings that had a maximum of about 31K. Their ISP has
recently told them that "the ISP runs at about 33K".
ViruScan is the most likely to cause the problem. Maybe it starts MSN 4.7 to
do some virus checking? Bear in mind, Messenger WILL STILL "SIGN OUT" even
if ViruScan is CLOSED, not running. They probably had (or still have?) a
firewall from ViruScan 6.0. But it's not included with 8.0. Could it be a
problem due to a firewall? As you'll see, I have no idea even how to track
down the problem. It's very important that I don't create additional
problems on the PC.
There are 2 notice windows alternating on screen. There's one that slides up
from the taskbar to say "signed out" (MSN 6.0?), and another that is a wide
rectangle with the identical message (MSN 4.7?). The PC will show either
one. I'd swear this means that BOTH messengers are running. But ONLY 6.0's
ICON IS IN THE TASKBAR, and it's the only one shown in the Task Manager (my
parents cannot directly run MSN 4.7, since all icons are gone). I've read
that if I uninstall 4.7 completely, "Remote Assistance" will stop
functioning -- is that true? My parents definitely NEED Remote Assistance
operational.
MSN Messenger does NOT sign out if I try it from my PC. So NOBODY IS
ACTUALLY "SIGNED IN AT ANOTHER LOCATION". The problem must all be on the PC
itself. Once the "signed out" message appears, they can sign back in, and
it's fine until they disconnect then reconnect.
I've scoured for help on this problem, and it seems to be an open issue,
unsolved for many people.
Their "Go-Back" software doesn't go back far enough before the problem
started, unfortunately. While trying to troubleshoot this, I found that
Audio Conversations and Remote Assistance both don't work at this time (text
chat is fine). So I'm back to suspecting firewall or security settings.
But maybe that's not it...
-- DR