YAHOO MESSENGER

YAHOO! MESSENGER

CLEAN OUT THE YAHOO! MESSENGER JUNK

The Annoyance:

Surprise! When I downloaded Yahoo! Messenger, I didn't just install an instant messaging program. I also downloaded all kinds of add-ins, buttons, bookmarks and morethings like an annoying Yahoo! Companion Internet Explorer toolbar that shows up constantly, even after you shut it down. Not only that, but without telling you, Yahoo! sets your default Internet search site to Yahoo!, and it adds a set of bookmarks to Internet Explorer as well. How can I exorcise this junk?

The Fix:

It'll take some work, but it's doable. First open the Add or Remove Programs control panel, then scroll down and locate Yahoo! Companion, Yahoo! Customizations, Yahoo! Internet Mail, and Yahoo! Messenger Explorer Bar. Leave Yahoo! Messenger alone. Select the other items in turn and click the Change/Remove button.

Here's how to get rid of Yahoo! search:

1. Open Internet Explorer and press Ctrl-E or click the Search button on the toolbar to open IE's Search pane.

2. Click the Customize button on the Search pane's toolbar, then click the Reset button. This will restore Internet Explorer's default search tool.

3. If you don't want to use the default search tool, click the Customize button again, pick the desired search engine from the scrolling list to the left, and click OK.

To axe the URLs Yahoo! snuck onto your Favorites list, jump to the bottom of the list, which is where you'll find them. Delete them as you would any other Favoritesright-click each, choose Delete, and then click Yes.

YAHOO! MESSENGER CRASHES WHENEVER I SEND A FILE

The Annoyance:

Whenever I send a file using Yahoo! Messenger, it crashes. Needless to say, this defeats the entire purpose of instant communications. What's wrong?

The Fix:

There's a corrupt file in the Yahoo! Messenger program directory. Uninstall the program with the Add or Remove Programs control panel. Make sure that the entire directory was deleted. (The default is C:\Program Files\Yahoo!.) Exit and restart Windows, reinstall Yahoo! Messenger, and the problem should go away.

CAN'T LOG INTO YAHOO! MESSENGER

The Annoyance:

Whenever I try to log into Yahoo! Messenger, I get an "invalid cookie" error message. What's wrong? It worked fine last week!

The Fix:

When you sign up for Yahoo! Messenger the first time, it plants a cookie on your system that's used for logging into your account. For some reason, the cookie's been corrupted and now doesn't match your Yahoo! ID. Here's how to fix it:

1. Go to http://in.my.yahoo.com, and sign in using your My Yahoo! ID and password. That will set your system's cookie correctly.

2. In the Messenger window, click Login and then choose Login/Change User. Make sure you use the same Yahoo! ID and password for Messenger that you use with My Yahoo!

3. Click the Login button. This will return you to Messenger. From now on, you'll be logged in correctly.

WHERE ARE MY MESSAGES?

The Annoyance:

Whenever I send or receive an instant message, I don't see any textjust a blank screen.

The Fix:

For Yahoo! Messenger to work, you must turn on scripting in Internet Explorer; yours has somehow gotten turned off. To turn it on:

1. Close Yahoo! Messenger. Then, in Internet Explorer, choose Tools Internet Options and click the Security tab.

2. Scroll down a ways to Scripting, and make sure that "Active scripting," "Allow paste operations via script," and "Scripting of Java applets" are all enabled, as shown in Figure 7-20. Click OK, then OK again.

The problem should now be fixed, and you should be able to see your messages.

Figure 7-20. Turn on scripting to make sure that you can see messages in Yahoo! Messenger.