Don’t give in to the new MSN/Windows Live Messenger!!

I was quite annoyed this morning when I turn my computer on, and as usual, clicked “Sign in” on my MSN messenger only to find that they’ve finally forced me to update to Windows Live Messenger 2011. For quite a long time, I’ve been trying to avoid updating after seeing how utterly crappy it is, due to their annoying changes such as removing the “block” feature as we know it, getting rid of nicknames and forcing you to use real names like on Facebook, and the floods of advertisements. I think I’m becoming an old person who just can’t accept change, because I hate the new messenger so much that I bypassed the automatic update so that I can continue using the old MSN. I’ll show you how I did it below.

Let’s face it, Windows Live Messenger 2011 is shit. Nobody likes it. It was only a matter of time before those greedy bastards forced us to get it. It began with a voluntary update, but then when people saw how bad it was, the bigshots at Windows Live had to slowly brainwash people into believing they need to update.

This included sly methods such as silently updating in automatic Windows Update (on Vista), making people believe that it was required to keep their computer functioning or secure. For anyone who was still unwilling to update, they tried to sell themselves by disabling links in chats  i.e., if you sent a link to someone on the old MSN, you wouldn’t be able to click on it – you had to copy and paste it into your browser. According to Windows Live, they disabled it because they cared so much for us and were looking out for us so they didn’t want us clicking on viruses and phishing scams. Oh how sweet of you Windows Live… until you told us that the new MSN has some ‘awesome’ security to prevent us from getting viruses from links, and that links are fully functional on it. This was extremely frustrating because we’re all lazy and like to have our links ready. A few extra clicks  on the computer just to see a picture of a cat is just way too much work for people like me. But honestly, I think most of us are smart enough to be able to tell if something is a virus or phishing scam – if you aren’t, then you deserve to fall victim to the monstrosity that is Windows Live Messenger 2011.

So here is how I stopped the automatic update and continued to live my life with minimal advertising shoved down my throat and Facebook updates (honestly, if I wanted to know people’s Facebook updates, I’d go on Facebook – I don’t need MSN for it):

1. Go to My Computer
2. Go to the drive where your Programs are installed
3. Click on Programs (make sure you show all the files if they are hidden)
4. Go into the Windows Live folder > Messenger
5. Rick click the ‘msnmsgr.exe’ file and select Properties
6. Click the ‘Compatibility’ tab and check the box that says ‘Run this in compatibility mode for’. Select Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003.

Thanks to my brother who showed me how to do it. The only downside to this is that add on programs like MSN Plus no longer work … but if you get the new messenger, you won’t be able to use it anyway.

My point is, don’t sacrifice functionality!! Don’t be subject to spam about singles in your area!! Never mind the fact that they’re giving me a useful service for free!! Never mind the fact that change is what drives innovation in technology! To hell with all that!