Yahoo Messenger - IM's Disappear In Chat Windows

If you are having issues where your IM's, either sent or received are not showing up in your chat windows, you probably changed your javascripting settings in IE so try this fix...

When you send/receive an instant message and no message appears, you most likely have Scripting disabled in your Internet Explorer.


To enable Scripting:
Click the Tools menu on your Internet Explorer toolbar and select Internet Options.
Click the Security tab.
Click the Internet (globe) icon and click the Custom Level button.
Scroll down to Scripting. Enable the following:
Active scripting
Allow paste operations via script
Scripting of Java applets are all enabled.
Click the OK button at the bottom of the window.

Please Note: Restart Messenger and you should start seeing text in your IM windows once again.

If the above doesn't work for you, there are some other fixes mentioned in these forum threads.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic156840.html

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=13337

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aj7GLMEyj.2P_tjn9Dhkv7Lq1KIX;_ylv=3?qid=20110120185622AAy8iA5

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101109005449AAge51V

Let me know if this doesn't work for you.

Lenny Vasbinder
"Lenny The Computer Guy"

Yahoo Messenger 11 Out Of Beta BUT Now Has A Weird New Extra Process With Command Line "CookieProxy"

Updated - 7/6/2011 - Two more posts from the CHAD Yahoo Group added below the screen shots.

I'm just going to copy-paste several posts that I recently made in the Yahoo_Messenger Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yahoo_messenger showing how the latest version of Yahoo Messenger 11.0.0.2009 has an extra instance of the process yahoomessenger.exe that shows up from time to time.  This new, extra instance of yahoomessenger.exe, after digging into it, with Process Explorer version 14, shows a command line ending with "CookieProxy" so I'm not sure if this is some new tracking thing that Yahoo is doing or what it is but when I Googled for more info on this, I found NOTHING else about "CookieProxy" or any mention of this related to Yahoo Messenger so I'm posting on my blog to get it out there while I continue to dig into this new version of YM.  Please comment with any information you readers may find about this issue.  See the screenshots below.

Following, are the copy-pastes of my posts to the group...

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 9:57 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: YM 11 latest version out of Beta - two yahoomessenger.exe processes running

Has anyone else installed the latest release of YM 11?  I installed it (full and clean install) on my XP computer and now when I start up YM, two instances of yahoomessenger.exe show as running in Task Manager, Processes Tab.

Does anyone else see this?  ALL previous (recent) versions of YM only ran one instance of this process so I'm not sure if it's the new version or if possibly is related to the registry hack I did a couple weeks ago that allow me to run more than one instance of YM on my computers (see previous post to the group about this).  I'm still able to open multiple instances of YM on my computer and each new instance starts and even after signing into one of the other YM, only one more instance of the yahoomessenger.exe process starts so it seems that the extra process only starts with the first YM sign-in.

This type of double instances of a programs main process is not uncommon as Internet Explorer 7/8/9 all start two instances of iexplorer.exe when the first window is open with only one tab and then as additional tabs are added, another iexplorer.exe shows up.

Let me know if any of you are seeing this double instance of yahoomessenger.exe with the new YM 11 version.  I've Googled this but since YM 11 latest version is so new, I don't know if anyone else has seen or worried enough about this to post about it.

Lenny Vasbinder

-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 10:29 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Y!M] YM 11 latest version out of Beta - two yahoomessenger.exe processes running

I have just installed YM-11 and only see one listing of it in my Task Manager process tab. It shows as 1428k Mem. Usage.
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 11:07 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] YM 11 latest version out of Beta - two yahoomessenger.exe processes running

I think it might have been due to the recent registry hack that I did to enable me to have multiple instances of YM running with different Yahoo ID's, all at the same time on the same computer.  After closing down the other instances of YM and then shutting down the first one, that originally was showing two processes, now after restarting YM, only one process is showing.

I'll have to keep an eye on this for the next few days and after reboots to see if it occurs again.

Thanks for replying though.  At least I know it should only have one instance of the process running now.

Lenny Vasbinder

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 1:16 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] YM 11 latest version out of Beta - two yahoomessenger.exe processes running

Amending my previous reply (below), Jim, please keep checking Task Manager's Processes Tab, sorted alphabetically to see if a 2nd yahoomessenger.exe shows up from time to time.  I've been watching mine and on occasion, there will be two instances of the process and without any action from me, the 2nd instance will disappear.  I'm wondering if it's YM 11 doing something different now... maybe with the archiving of chats (do you have archiving turn on?), or maybe with updating the little flash ads that show up at the bottom of the main YM friends list window.  I'm trying to find a pattern but haven't put the pieces together yet... and nothing showed up on Google search about this issue yet either.  I guess I could pose the question to Yahoo's tech support if I don't find an answer myself soon.

Lenny Vasbinder

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 12:01 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] YM 11 latest version out of Beta - two yahoomessenger.exe processes running

yahoomessenger.exe process that is running as part of the new YM 11.x.2009 version and the Command Line for the second process reads - Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe" /CookieProxy - so it's some kind of cookie, which as most know can be innocuous items that are downloaded with every website but can also be used at tracking cookies.  I'm not sure what this CookieProxy does yet but will do more digging.

I have found that I can end this extra process and it does not adversely affect the main YM program but then it comes back randomly.  I kind of had a feeling that this extra process was related to the ad's that show up in the various YM related windows and this CookieProxy seems to confirm this since Cookies are really used by advertisers and many websites to see what the customers are doing when on a website or which ads they click on, etc.  They use this raw data in their sales presentations to advertisers... if they can show that their site visitors (customers) stay on their site a long time so advertisers will be more inclined to buy ad space on the website.

As I become more assured that this is related to advertising stuff in YM, I may contact Yahoo to find out their response and whether this is a tracking cookie or the more common and innocuous cookie that doesn't give the website or in this case, program, very much info.

Depending on which way this goes, I may also be creating a new blog post with screen shots of this *new* CookieProxy that seems to be part of the new YM 11 version.

Members of this group are hearing about it first here!

Lenny Vasbinder

(R-click on an image and open in new tab/window to see larger image)

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Computer_Help_and_Discussion@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of Jim
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 10:40 AM
To: Computer_Help_and_Discussion@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CHAD] Yahoo Messenger 11.0.0.2009 out of beta BUT weird new issue...

In my YM 11 version, I run the program and open Task Manager and also see 2 YM listings. Unfortunately my listings are not alphabetical. However, the first YM states Mem. Usage at 616 and right under it is YM Mem. Usage of 1428. Don't know what that means. Also, scrolling way down is a listing of:
YahooAUService and it is always listed as such with a small number of bytes.
Whatever all this means does not seem to affect the running of the program.
Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 5:34 PM
To: 'Computer_Help_and_Discussion@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [CHAD] Yahoo Messenger 11.0.0.2009 out of beta BUT weird new issue...

The YahooAUService (AU=AutoUpdate) is probably related to something else Yahoo that you use... or POSSIBLY, if you did not check the box in YM, it may be constantly running the AutoUpdater.  If you go into YM's Preferences, on the Alerts & Sounds section, at the bottom is the box to check for "Alert me before downloading a YM update".  Check that and see if that gets rid of the AU service.  If it doesn't then you have to look at what yahoo services you use that might need that running.  I have never seen that running on my computers but then I always check the box on YM to NOT do auto updates.

I'm still digging on this new instance of yahoomessenger.exe with the CookieProxy command line, but it seems it's running on everyone that has the latest version.  At first, I thought it might only be me since I did a registry hack so that I could open more than one instance of Yahoo Messenger at a time but I guess I'm glad to see it's running on other people who do not have this registry hack.

Lenny Vasbinder

How The Internet Started (Joke)

How the Internet started:

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM).

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the TRUE story .....

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was broad of shoulder and strong of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS).

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success.

Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secret himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought out every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drum heads and drum sticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are." And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO" said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).

And thus it all began.

=============

It should be noted that when I received this joke via email, in the 2nd to last paragraph, "God's" was spelled "G-d's" so I asked the sender why they omitted the "o" from God's name and they replied with this link...

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-jews-write-g-d-instead-of-god.htm

Interesting... I like learning something new every day!

=============

Of course, when I received this email joke besides asking about the "G-d's", I also replied with... "But I thought Al Gore invented the internet? LOL" Google it if you don't remember that guffaw by Al Gore.

How To Run Check Disk (ChkDsk) On Your Computer On A Regular Basis

Quick Steps (for XP and Vista and probably for W7)
Open My Computer
R-Click on Local Disk C (or your primary hard drive) and choose Properties
Click on the Tools Tab and then the Check Now Button which opens a new window
Check the boxes for "Automatically fix..." and "Scan for and attempt recovery..."
Click Start which will open a new window that says "The disk check could not be performed... Do you want to schedule this disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer?"
Click YES, then OK out of the Local Disk Properties window and close the My Computer window.

Then the next time you will not be needing your computer for an hour or two or more, after closing all your running programs, turn off the computer.  Then restart it and follow the instrutions, then go do something else while Check Disk (or Disk Check) does it's thing... or you can watch the first time to see it go through the five steps.

Here's more details..
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265  
http://www.updatexp.com/windows-xp-chkdsk.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/guide-to-using-check-disk-in-windows-vista/

How To Free Up Space On A Hard Drive - Including Updates To A Couple Of Previous Posts

http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/2010/09/system-restore-tutorial-how-to-set.html

http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/ccleaner-how-i-use-it-to-manage-my.html

I have linked the above two posts, one about how to use and set up System Restore and System Restore Points (SRP's) and the other about how I use CCleaner and how CCleaner can be used to clean out older SRP's on computers that are facing the need to remove stuff that is filling up a hard drive.  SRP's use up a lot of hard drive space so getting rid of unneeded SRP's is a quick and easy first step in freeing up space on a hard drive.

Here is a series of posts that I made in the CHAD Yahoo Group trying to help someone else free up space on their nearly full hard drive.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:35 AM
Subject: RE: [CHAD] Running out of space

Do you know what is taking up the bulk of that space?  I would start with that folder and look to see what you are saving and if it's not something you need immediate access to, move those files to an external hard drive... or like some say, maybe it's time to get a NEW bigger hard drive and make the new hard drive your primary operating drive and use your current drive as extra storage.

I don't download/save a lot of music or movies (two of bigger users of hard drive space) but if you do, that is where I would look first as places to move/delete files to get some quick space.  Each movie will usually run over 1GB.

Tree Size Free might be a tool that will help you figure things out.
http://download.cnet.com/TreeSize-Free/3000-2248_4-10139400.html

There is another program that I wanted to direct you to that has been around forever but I'm drawing a blank on the name of it right at the moment so I went to Download.com to see if I could find the program but came up with the above instead.  Maybe someone else will recommend the one I was thinking of first.

If you don't already use CCleaner, that will usually get rid of a lot of crap that isn't needed but it won't give you the kind of space you are probably looking for... but it's a good tool to run daily as a general rule.  I have a blog post on how I use CCleaner since I don't like the default settings, which clean out more than I like.

Lenny Vasbinder - 504-667-5111
Skype, YM & Blogspot - LennyTheComputerGuy

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:14 AM
To: CHaD
Subject: [CHAD] Running out of space

I discovered yesterday that my 'space' is about to run out. It has been fluctuating but currently I have 14G free of 288G

I am running Vista on this desktop.

How can I find out what duplicates, if any, there might be or what else I don't need.

Any help is appreciated.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 5:05 PM
Subject: RE: [CHAD] Running out of space

I'm not sure about Carbonite but I use Mozy Online Backup and they keep the past 30 backups (or more) on their servers and using the on-computer program, I'm able to look at my previous backups and *where* the files/folders are located kind of like using Windows Explorer so you may be able to go online or through your Carbonite Client and see where these folders actually belong and move them back into their proper place.  Of course, if you restored "all my stuff", then why do you have these extra folders left on your desktop?  With Mozy, it restores the file back to it's original place but maybe there is a way to direct it to the desktop.  I've only had to use Mozy a couple of times over the past several years, the last time a year or so a go when I mucked up my Favorites/Bookmarks when I messed up using Xmarks syncing over 3,000 links between IE and FF on two different computers.

Fortunately I was able to just delete my mucked up sync job and restore my backup from a few hours earlier.  I then read the fine print on XMarks and did the sync job properly and other than occasional minor glitches, all of my browsers on my desktop and laptop have exact copies of Favorites/Bookmarks no matter which browser/computer I'm using when I save a new Favorite/Bookmark.

I've never had to do a major restore from Mozy but for the few minor ones I've done, it's worked as advertised.  Not a bad thing for free. ;-)  For major backups for a complete reinstall, imaging is the best/easiest way to go but for the occasional PICNIC problem when a user deletes a file or mucks up a file and needs a copy from the day or days before, Mozy works GREAT. For a BIG backup, Mozy offers sending your files via CD or DVD for quicker restore since downloading lots of gigs of files would be time consuming.

Lenny Vasbinder - 504-667-5111
Skype, YM & Blogspot - LennyTheComputerGuy

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAD] Running out of space

Lenny, thanks for your tips!
Carbonite, I was able to 'restore' all my stuff. I didn't get the laptop fixed right away so in the meantime I 'restored' to this desktop. Now the desktop has stuff on it that was actually for the laptop. (Ex: Webcam). And there are files that I'm not sure where they belong. (Ex: a folder is Drivers)

-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:18 AM
Subject: RE: [CHAD] Disk cleanup

As Rick said, it's a good idea to check this from time to time... just to see what Windows is saying *may* be junk you *may* want to get rid of.  By default, only some of the things found will be checked and the other stuff, you should carefully check before deleting.  I usually delete all the things checked by default.

Interestingly, I haven't run this in a while on my Vista laptop and there was a Hibernation File Cleaner (unchecked by default) of nearly 3GB.  I'm sure I can delete this but am checking it out to be sure.  I believe this will be rebuilt if needed in the future.  I rarely put my computer into Hibernation but it will on rare occasion do so when the battery is about to go dead if I wasn't paying attention to my battery level.  This thread says we should keep this file, especially on laptops, so I guess I'll keep it.   http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windows-vista-performance-maintenance/145031-disk-cleanup-how-delete-hibernation-file-cleaner-893mb.html  OR  http://tinyurl.com/2ec2lmm

This article explains things in more detail.  http://oreilly.com/pub/a/windows/2007/03/06/cleaning-up-your-disk-drives-in-windows-vista.html  OR  http://tinyurl.com/24kzoz9

I think this temp file cleanup, as well as defragging, registry cleaning, etc., is all covered in a FULL SCAN using the online Windows Live OneCare scan. 
For Vista/W7 - http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm
For XP - http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

I run these online scans once a month on my computers and tell my family, friends and customers to also do this... to save you from having to do all these things manually and the FULL SCAN also does a malware scan of the computer as a backup or checkup to your regular security programs.  They can take a couple of hours so I run them when I'm not going to be needing the computer for a few hours or usually when sleeping, then when I wake up, I can see what the scan found and click the drop down arrows to check/un-check what I want the online scan to clean/fix.

On another note, that I think we covered in your (or someone else) prior thread, a BIG waste of space is often found in System Restore points.  The default setting is to use 12% of a hard drives space for restore points but with modern BIG hard drives, this can amount to a LOT of space, for example, on a 100GB hard drive (not that big), this amounts to 12GB, on a 500GB hard drive, it's 60GB.  If you use CCleaner, you can use their Restore Point cleanup tool to manually remove some of the restore points (by default, it will not allow you to remove the most recent one).  It's best to actually go into your System settings (Control Panel>System) and change the default settings to a smaller percentage, depending on your hard drive size.  I keep mine at only 3% which still allows for up to 30 restore points, which is overkill in most cases.  I rarely use System Restore but when I did have to use it, I usually only went back a day or two.  Even when you have your System Restore settings to a much lower percentage of your hard drive, you can still use CCleaner's tool to remove some of the restore points.  I will usually leave the oldest and then remove every other SRP.  I only do this about once every two weeks and once the oldest restore point is more than 30 days old, I delete all over 30 days and then every other one.  This allows me to keep SRP's up to 30 days old and then only every other day's SRP instead of every day, which keeps the total space used around 1/2 of the 3%.  AFAIK, 3% is the lowest percentage you can use but on a BIG hard drive, 3% is a LOT of space.

Lenny Vasbinder - 504-667-5111
Skype, YM & Blogspot - LennyTheComputerGuy

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 7:43 AM
To: CHaD
Subject: [CHAD] Disk cleanup

OS is Vista. Go to Computer > right clik & C Drive > click properties > on the General tab, below the pie is a button that says Disk Clean up. I've never used that button before. Is that a good thing to do?
I do go to the Tools tab & run Error checking & Defrag.



-----Original Message-----
From: "Lenny The Computer Guy" Vasbinder [mailto:lennythecomputerguy@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 7:03 PM
Subject: RE: [CHAD] It doesn't make sense

I suspect that Carbonite was the problem causing your hard drive to fill up since you said that you turned it off and you immediately saw an additional 20GB of free space.

Online backup programs, at least I know with MozyHome Free, will create a temporary folder of files it is backing up during the backup process and then once the backup is complete, it releases that folder.  Mozy also has a way, besides backing up online, to also backup to an external hard drive but I guess if someone changed the drive letter to their own internal hard drive, Mozy would create those backups on the host computer instead of an external hard drive.  I'm not sure if Carbonite does this since I haven't used Carbonite in many years opting to use Mozy when I was testing both of them several/many years ago.  If Carbonite is doing this internal backup on your hard drive and it's scheduled to do daily backups... or if it's the online backup temp folder that is not releasing after uploaded that is happening, either of these would cause the loss of hard drive space that you have.

I'm also wondering what else you have saved in your 288GB hard drive.  Most folks that have that much stuff saved at least know what is taking up the bulk of that space... like downloaded movies, videos, audio, etc., as saving regular files like documents, etc., would take hundreds of thousands of files to use up that much space... and even saving BIG image files would take thousands to tens of thousands of files.  If you are a professional or even a hobbyist photographer and save every photo you take, that could be addressed by reducing the size of the original image file, for example, if you are saving each picture in a super high resolution, where each file is over 5MB in size, you could reduce them to 1MB (still a big picture size) and save 80% of the hard drive space they were taking, presuming you have thousands of 5MB images.  Music files can also be saved in different formats to reduce the size of each file, presuming you have thousands of songs saved in one of the bigger media formats.

Were you ever able to use CCleaner to examine your System Restore Points and Remove some of them?

Lenny Vasbinder - 504-667-5111
Skype, YM & Blogspot - LennyTheComputerGuy