Yahoo Messenger Crashing

[AmericanWoman]

I have been having problems with Yahoo Messenger crashing. When I try to click on the email link in the main window or change my status the program just closes out. It also does this when I left click the tray icon or if I try to click on the smiley button in the message windows. I've removed YM and did a complete cleanup before re-installing it but it still does the same thing. Any ideas on what I can do to fix this?

[wawadave]

i have not used yahoo for many years.

but can you give your system spects?
o/s?
anitvirus software?
firewall?
how much ram?

run through this make sure no malware is the cause.
Malware Removal and Prevention (http://wiki.castlecops.com/MRP)

If any one else has an idea feel free to jump in.

[AmericanWoman]

I'm running MS XP Media Center 2002.
640 MB RAM
AMD Sempron Processor 3100+
Both firewall and antivirus are Zone Alarm Pro Suite
All malware/spyware scans come back clean.

[xpgeek]

Hmmm, try doing a registry scan after you uninstal and complete cleanup.

The free program CCleaner ( http://www.ccleaner.com ) has a registry scanner in it as well. Its not as powerful as the other non free scanners, but it will find at least some of the registry keys yahoo messenger probly leaves behind.

If that doesn't help at all then, damn hate to say it but its probly another victim of Vista just like Windows Live Messenger is. Its been heavily optimized for Vista now I think, Windows Live that is, and it runs beautifully on Vista, but, like total crap on XP now, freezing all the time, lagging like crazy, and I can't make it run perfect on XP no matter what I do. So I just use Miranda now most of the time.

[AmericanWoman]

No luck. I used CCleaner and Registry Mechanic and also did a search to delete any entries that were missed. Then re-installed it... I think it's just Yahoo itself and I'm going to get rid of it all together. I'll still be running MSN but will look into that Miranda you mentioned Mike. Thanks for your help guys.

[xpgeek]

Yea, if have done all that, registry cleaners too, then sorry but I don't know what else to suggest. Like I said I bet it runs great on Vista now, and they stopped caring if it runs ok on XP.

Other messenger replacements to look at are;

Miranda - http://miranda-im.org (Can be a little complicated to use sometimes depending on what you want to do with it and considered somewhat of the 'power user' alternative.)

Gaim - http://gaim.sourceforge.net

Trillian - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com

[zimagirl79]

I've got Gaim and Trillian on my pc, and I can say both are easy to use and go a long way toward de-cluttering things. Been using Trillian the last 6 months or so and I love being able to connect to all the different IMs at once. All I wanted was a way to keep in touch without a lot of extras, and this delivers.

Might look at Miranda now that you got me curious, Mike.

[wawadave]

have you rebooted your computer at all in the last while??
how much of that ram is being used?

[AmericanWoman]

Not sure I know what rooted is Dave. But my monitor I use for keeping track of my memory and ram usage says that 37% of my physical memory is being used.

Thanks for the links Mike, I'm going to check the others out too!

[wawadave]

ok its not a full ram problem. it was supposed to say "rebooted" forgot a few letters sorry!

i have found when my computers been on for weeks that some programs will act strange.

[AmericanWoman]

No problem :) I rebooted my computer after each uninstall and cleanup, and usually do it atleast once a day. I also have problems with programs not running properly if I don't. I think yahoo just won't work on my computer. I've downloaded the programs Mike and Jeanne suggested and am currently giving them a try. I appreciate the help.

[AmericanWoman]

After searching just about everywhere, I finally came across a post from another user having the same problem I have been having. In a reply to the post someone suggested that WindowBlinds is not compatible with Yahoo.

Just out of curiosity I temporarily disabled my WindowBlinds and surprisingly everything is working perfectly with Yahoo messenger now. Nothing else was disabled.

I'm not quite ready to give up my "pretty" desktop LOL so for now I'll just disable it when I need to use any of the Yahoo features. I thought I should post this in case someone else is having the same problem I have been having. Hope this information helps someone.

[wawadave]

i knew window blinds caused problems with some soft ware.
not surprising it affects yahoo messenger.
might look into gaim see if it will run yahoo.

[zimagirl79]

Gaim will run Yahoo, as will Trillian and Miranda. Gaim and Trillian will let me log in to 2 MSN accounts at once, but I can't see how to do it with Miranda so I'm sticking with Trillian for now.

[xpgeek]

I'm still trying to get Windows Live Messenger to work for me too. It keeps freezing all the time on my system. Just becomes unresponsive, not responding, completely frozen, for about ten seconds, then is fine, does it again few minutes later. Does it all the stinkin time. Can't figure out why. Doesn't do it on my mothers PC with her messenger ID, same exact version. Still does it after a totally clean install, still does it if don't install anything to it, no patches, no messenger plus, jus clean vanilla messenger, still does it. Doesn't do it on Vista, weird so its not just my hardware that it hates, but can't get it to not do it on XP Pro. At least I'm not the only person having the problem, many others as well, seemingly randomly as well, talking about same problem on messenger plus forums. Someone made a "anti-freezing" script for messenger plus, helps a little, still freezes, just for not as long now. Driving me crazy.

Problems I have with other messengers instead :
Trillian : File transfers don't work, hardly ever. No way to see msn contacts personal messages.
Miranda : Good, but kind of boring looking, with no contacts font support and no emoticons at all, unless I install a dozen plugins.
Gaim : Now called pigdin or something like that I read, hmm, actually haven't tried gaim in a long time. Guess I will now.

[AmericanWoman]

I haven't had any problems with WLM so far thankfully, but if I find a solution to your problem I'll post it here.