Instant Messenger Help

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 5:42 pm

Help! Something's going wrong with my computer! All the Instant Messengers are moving very slowly, but nothing else is! Please, help me!

Celexa · Post by **Celexa** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 5:46 pm

What do you mean? Do you mean the coversation is lagging, like after you send it takes five seconds to send it?

First restart your computer. If all else fails, do a system restore.

- start
- programs
- accessories
- system tools
- system restore

And pick a date. It won't delete any files (Like if you downloaded an mp3 on the 4th and you set the date back to the 1st, the mp3 will still be there) and fixes a ton of problems.

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 6:19 pm

Yes, I mean the conversation is lagging. When I hit the return key, it takes about 20 seconds for the message to send.

Celexa · Post by **Celexa** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:00 pm

Did you try all of the above? My last suggestion would be to just uninstall / reinstall the Instant Messanger. According to my expierences, you WILL NOT lose your buddy list, profile, or avatar. Be careful about that Weatherbug thing though, I think it did something to my computer and now mine seems to occasionlly not load IE / crash when I try to save The Sims / reset itself without my doing anything for no reason. I would reinstall an earlier version, unless you don't have the .exe file still saved or can't remember where it is. If you would need it, I have the third most recent messanger .exe file still on my hard drive.

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 11:08 pm

You could try looking for an update for the instant messenger cause when I had msn messenger 6.0 I had alot of problems with it like convos closing for no reason, laggy convos like you said and so on. What i did was search for updates and when I got msn messenger 6.2 I had no problems at all with it. That normally why companies make updates for programs because of problems like these.

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:31 am

Be careful with installing previous versions of MSN messenger though. I believe only the latest two versions (6.1 and 6.2 I believe) are supported by microsoft because of apparent security and virus issues with the earlier versions. Basically, I think earlier versions of messenger no longer let you talk to other people. However, I've probably got my facts screwed up over this!

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:49 am

I already have MSN Messenger 6.2 yet it still lags. I was thinking of doing the re-installation thing myself, but if I were to re-install my IMs, it would delete all of my received files, correct?

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:18 am

Haven't a clue. But to be safe, can't you just copy all the files you've received and any logs of conversations into another folder for safe keeping while you re-install?

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 10:53 am

I've tried switching to a different MSN client thingie called Gaim and it's back in proper order, but I hate this program. It's so weird and I can't figure it out. I hate Trillian too, but can someone recommend me a good IM program that has all the IMs on it and that's not annoying and dificiult to figure out?

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 4:37 pm

The annoying thing is that AIM and MSN Messenger are 2 of the most commonly used and best IM messaging you can use. The only other IM program you could use is Yahoo Instant Messenger If you haven't tried it.

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 8:49 am

My problem is with all the Instant Messengers. I'm experience the same problem with MSN, Yahoo, and AIM. What I'm looking for is a program that has all three of these Instant Messengers in one like Trillian, but one that's actually a good program.

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:46 pm

The reason all your convos might be lagging could be that you have some sort of virus which slows most of your programs down or lagging.

The only other thing i could reccommend to you is to reboot your PC completely (which involves losing all the files you have on your hard disk.) This way all your IM programs should be back to normal without the convos lagging.

With the files you need just put them onto CD or floppy disc so you can store them back into your PC after you have rebooted it.

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 2:36 am

Before formatting your computer + reloading everything, there are a few things you should check out.

1) Run your anti-virus program. This could be caused by a virus.
2) Try running an adware-scanner program, like AdAware (by Lavasoft) or Spybot, or something like that. Adware and spyware can interfere with other programs + functions on your computer.

You can also check to see what tasks are running (again, for virus/spyware purposes). Open the Task Manager (on Windows XP/2000, you can hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete, or right-click on the Taskbar and choose "Task Manager"). Go into the Processes tab, and you'll see a huge list of everything running. (Don't stop anything from here unless you really need to - it will force the process to close, and can cause problems if you close something that the computer needs).

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist ... sklist.htm is a good site that lists a whole bunch of tasks. You can look them up to see what all is running. If you can't find a task in here, then just search for it with Google.

3) If none of this works, then you might want to consider removing all IM programs and reinstalling them one at a time. This might cause you to lose your contact lists, so make sure you keep track of them so you can re-add them. It shouldn't touch any downloaded files, but just to be on the safe side you could copy them to another folder.

You should also think about any programs you've installed or any other changes you've made to the computer between the time the IM programs were working and when they started acting up. One of these could have caused some kind of unexpected side-effect. It's unlikely, but possible.

System Restore is a viable option, assuming you're using XP. If you decide to restore the computer to an earlier date, I would strongly recommend backing up any personal files you created between that date and now. They shouldn't be affected, but if I were you I wouldn't take any chances.

Is this problem only affecting the IM programs? That's the impression I'm getting from the previous posts, but I just want to be sure about it.

As for an all-in-one program, a quick Google search turned up IMArchive - http://www.surfblvd.com/imarchive/ I have no idea how good or bad it is. It is free, though - it doesn't seem to be shareware.

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 10:52 am

shansen wrote:

Is this problem only affecting the IM programs? That's the impression I'm getting from the previous posts, but I just want to be sure about it.

As for an all-in-one program, a quick Google search turned up IMArchive - http://www.surfblvd.com/imarchive/ I have no idea how good or bad it is. It is free, though - it doesn't seem to be shareware.

This problem has only been affecting the IMs and sometimes mIRC will freeze up.

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:31 am

Cardcaptor Takato wrote:Yes, I mean the conversation is lagging. When I hit the return key, it takes about 20 seconds for the message to send.

This sounds like a bandwith issue. Make sure that you are not downloading anything or using programs that use high amounts of bandwith. This happens to me alot when I am using bit torrent and such. You may even want to check to see if there is anything wrong with your network card.

If not, then this is a memory issue. Instant messaging programs take up alot of RAM, try not to run so many programs at once. You can do this on windows xp by hitting ctrl+alt+delete and checking the processes tab and turing off any unessicary processes.

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 1:25 pm

Or you could just reboot ur PC completely and place all the files you want to keep onto CD and floppy disk

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 5:34 pm

Sailor Wind wrote:Or you could just reboot ur PC completely and place all the files you want to keep onto CD and floppy disk

That's something you should tipically save for a worst case scenario like an out of control virus and such because of all the time needed to put into it.

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:49 am

KoiNoVash wrote:This sounds like a bandwith issue. Make sure that you are not downloading anything or using programs that use high amounts of bandwith. This happens to me alot when I am using bit torrent and such. You may even want to check to see if there is anything wrong with your network card.

If not, then this is a memory issue. Instant messaging programs take up alot of RAM, try not to run so many programs at once. You can do this on windows xp by hitting ctrl+alt+delete and checking the processes tab and turing off any unessicary processes.

To test these out, try turning off your computer + then turning it back on. Don't run any programs except for your IM programs. That way, only a minimum number of processes will be loaded, and your bandwidth usage should be next to nothing.

It would be helpful if you could list off the processes you have running (listed in the Task Manager). Also, it would be helpful to know what version of Windows you have and what type of Internet connection you're using (dial-up, Cable/DSL/some other persistent connection)

Lastly, can you think of any programs that have been installed/uninstalled, or of any other changes to your computer that happened between the time everything was working fine to when the IM programs started lagging? Even a seemingly-unrelated program could be causing a problem.

Sailor Wind · Post by **Sailor Wind** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:41 am

That's something you should tipically save for a worst case scenario like an out of control virus and such because of all the time needed to put into it.

It doesn't matter if u reboot ur PC unless you have loads of files that are big and you want to keep. I have done it a couple of times because of viruses, etc. But eventually i did download an anti-virus program.

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 1:11 am

Sailor Wind wrote:It doesn't matter if u reboot ur PC unless you have loads of files that are big and you want to keep. I have done it a couple of times because of viruses, etc. But eventually i did download an anti-virus program.

You also have to re-install every program you've installed since you got your computer (plus uninstall stuff you don't want). Then there's all of the Windows updates, antivirus program updates, plus any other updates that need to be downloaded.

If you've made any hardware changes, you might have to reinstall the drivers for the new devices (e.g. new hard drive, new CD/DVD drive).

I've had to format computers before, and it takes several hours to get all the files together, run the formatting/re-installation program, and then have the computer rediscover all the devices + reinstall them. Then all of the old files have to be recopied over, programs have to be re-installed.

Formatting is certainly an option - it's just that less extreme approaches to solving the problem should probably be explored first.

(By the way, I think when everyone's been saying "reboot" the computer, they really mean "format". Rebooting is simply turning the computer off and then on again. Formatting means removing all data on the computer, and is then usually followed by a full re-installation so that it looks as it did when it was turned on for the first time.)