Halleynet Headspace

Apologies that the style of this blog has reverted to default- something seems to have corrupted my cusomised look and at this point in time I cannot see what. But by reverting to default all seems to be OK again I will restore a custome look in due course though am currently quite busy with other work.

In the meantime if you want a laugh have a look at this

this isn’t too bad either

It had to happen, we have been talking about it for what seems like years, you know what its like, you still have one to look after and then you think lets have another.

So you do the research, talk to the specialists, have a few tests ( could I handle it at my age??). Then the flip side, if we don’t will we always regret it later…. you only live once, then of course there is the cost not just at the outset but for years afterwards…… then you think bollocks to it all………….

300bhp ish, 3.4 litre engine handles like a total dream, loads of extras, PCM, Sport Chrono, Park assist, Bi-Xenons, Bose Sound system, sounds and goes brilliant- I love it to bits. Will post a few more pics when I have prepped them. Enjoy.

I downloaded the latest Windows Live! Messanger (version 9). Unfortunately I cannot get it working and it seems many other users have the same issue- the error message Windows Live Communications Platform Has Stopped Working.

The details of this error seem to point to the F Secure Firewall I run ( the 2008 version in my case) However even disabling this failed to resolve issues (if only to debug- I strongly recommend you don’t disable security measures to enable messenger apps!)

I found various purported solutions to the problem but none worked for me.

Remove any custom themes from Vista (ie. Windowblinds) – I don’t use this so not applicable to me.

Delete the contacts directory in the Windows live folder (you can find this in Vista by going to your user profile folder (usually C:\Users\<your login name> and then ensuring you have set “show hidden folders” go to App Data\Local\Microsoft\

In here you will find a Windows Live Contacts directory- you can either delete it (or like me if your less trusting of such advice- rename it to something like Windows Live Contacts.bak)  and then try your messenger again.

This has apparently worked for many users- but alas not for me. In case you are worried the program recreates the directory if it cannot find it- like so many microsoft programs.

So you can then persevere with trying to find your own solutions- if you get it sorted be free to comment on it here, but in my case I chose to uninstall it and try to get back to an older version. These are a bit more tricky to find as any normal searches for them turn up the latest problematic one.

I found the last version ( I think its the last version 8.5.1302.1018) – it looks Ok to me – here ( be warned there are a lot of Shareware apps using the messenger name that appear when you search in Google) . While they may be harmless I have a degree of concern that other apps use similar names to confuse users and may ultimately end up with you either a paid for program you did not want or possible spyware or malware you did not ask for.

This link takes you to the 8.5 version on microsoft.com

Th s looks a bit like a Photoshop’ ed image to me but its apparently genuine- you will need to make up your own mind I guess, but its quite amusing I have to say- some of the comments on this post in facepunch studios are quite amusing too.

The cockberg