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Tech Clickable links not working on Windows Live Messenger 2009

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by milquetoast, Nov 13, 2010.

  1. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    UPDATE - guide to re-enable the links, see post #4

    I couldn't send any links that were clickable since yesterday. It turns out they turned off active links on MSN 2009 to stop a worm from spreading. Anyone else tired of copy and pasting?

    Windows Live Messenger 2011 is not affected, maybe it's just a ruse to get people to update :p.

     
  2. Brad

    Brad Guest

    Hate to say but there is no malicious worm circulating. MS turned of the active links in an effort to get everybody to upgrade to Win 7. You'll notice that Win Live Messenger 2011 is conveniently not available for XP users.

    No worm, no XP support - think about it....

    Brad
     
  3. Kylar

    Kylar Guest

    I agree with Brad, even though im using Windows 7, i will not change to wlm2011 until they sort out the stupid problems with it, and make it look better.

    That, or not until WLM Plus! 5 is released.
     
  4. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    So if you're as annoyed as me, you'll probably want a solution to re-enable links in messenger 09.

    Here it is, courtesy of Harry Scanlan:
    1. Download Freeware Hex Editor XVI32: http://www.handshake.de/user/chmaas/delphi/download/xvi32.zip
    2. Close Windows Live Messenger
    3. Use XVI32 to open msnmgr.exe which is probably in C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger
    4. Press Ctrl + F, choose Text string
    5. Type in hotlinks in the search box and press OK
    6. When it finds hotlinks, click on the h and change it to a t, it should now read totlinks
    7. Press Ctrl + S to save
    [​IMG]

    You should probably remember to undo this change once Microsoft restores clickable URLs on their own.
     
  5. Arenlor

    Arenlor Guest

    Just a suggestion, copy the original before you edit it, that way it's easier to restore when they fix the bug.
     
    cheeseshredder likes this.
  6. Nomad_Soul

    Nomad_Soul Guest

    Thank you big time, i was already freaking out why isnt working anymore :D
     
  7. Laura

    Laura Guest

    Thanks for this. They should at least have told people they were doing it. I think if someone is stupid enough to click on an unknown link they'd probably be stupid enough to copy and paste the urls of viruses anyway. I just wanted to add that if you're using Vista + you have to run the hex editor as an administrator, or it won't let you save the changes. :)
     
    cheeseshredder likes this.
  8. Namo

    Namo Guest

    Oh, yes, I'm absolutely certain they removed clickable links to get you to buy a new OS. Way to dial up the stupid, guys.

    Knowing Microsoft, it's probably some error that occurs in one of those automatic updates. Anyway, thanks for the fix, OP.
     
  9. Thank you! Very usefull.
     
  10. Cody Peak

    Cody Peak Guest

    Thanks for the workaround!
     
  11. George

    George New Member

    This worked beautifully. Thanks very much. I ripped a strip off MS this morning over this issue and a couple of other things but that's like banging your head against a wall. The unfortunate part is they probably will never release a fix for any version less than 2011 and I get an average of 2 requests a week to roll systems back to version 14 (2009). Sooner or later MS will force an update, I just hope it's much later.
     
  12. nao

    nao Guest

    it isn't working for me.. it says it cannot be saved cuz the file can't be acceced or something like that
     
  13. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    ^As Laura mentioned, you have to run it as administrator (right click on the .exe file then choose Run as Administrator) or else it won't let you save it.
     
  14. Matt

    Matt Guest

    Thanks a lot, worked a treat!
     
  15. Felix

    Felix Guest

    I run it as administrator but it still says error 35 file sharing error or something...anyone else got this ?
     
  16. Patrick

    Patrick Guest

    You should close the program before starting to hex-edit it.
    If that doesn't work you could google for wholockme. This is a shell extension for windows which tells you what problem locked(/uses) the file.
     

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