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| Definitive Cookie-toss and Cache-Cleanup Recipe! |
Cookies
With all the work that MSN does on its servers, the little stored files called "cookies" get corrupted, and your cache gets messed up. You must: - Sign out of your passport
- Go to C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files, WinXP users may find these at other locations other than the base Windows directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files is a common alternative. Delete all the little text files that are there that have anything to do with MSN, groups, passport and hotmail (look at the names and descriptions to find these - if in doubt, clear out EVERYTHING)
- Go to C:\WINDOWS\Cookies and do the same thing there - but don't delete the index.dat file
- Then go to c/windows/history and delete that
- Then do a scandisk and a defrag and reboot
MSN Controls
 That usually does it. If not, try updating your MSN controls: - Go to C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files
- Find the files that say MSN Upload Control with the rainbow butterfly icons, and the one for the chat which has the little chat bubble icon (I've put red arrows beside them)..
- Right click on each, one at a time and select 'update'
- Sign in again and see if that worked - if not sign out and continue with instructions below
- If that don't work, go back to c/windows/downloaded program files and delete those MSN upload controls (you can right click on them and select 'remove')
- Then sign in, and go try the message board, photo album, file cab (try to upload a file to the last 2), and chat room - this will force the download of the upload controls on you and that should clear it up, even tho it may take a while for them to come up - just accept any download offered to you - they can take a loooooong time if you have dialup internet connection.
If that doesn't work, check your Internet Options settings:
Assuming you are using IE6, check your Tools, Internet Options, Security settings and make sure you haven't disabled These items under ActiveX controls: - download signed ActiveX controls
- run ActiveX controls and plugins
- script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting
- Downloads
- Scripting (this is a ways down the list - keep scrolling)
All the other settings can be disabled or set to "prompt". You can change those once you get a feel for what they do - deciding for yourself what to allow or not. I'd recommend setting them to "prompt" just for this effort to get into your chat room. Check the Privacy settings (click on cookie handling override Edit button near bottom of screen) and check to see that you have not blocked anything related to MSN, microsoft, passport or hotmail. If you have, change the setting to allow or remove them from the list entirely. Otherwise, you have more serious troubles that only MSN can fix. Contact them at this link http://groups.msn.com/contact and tell them what you did and what the problems are.
Animated Graphics not downloading as gifs??
If you experience problems with downloading animated graphics, also try this: - Delete all c'windows/temporary internet files and reboot your PC
- drill down to your c/windows/temp folder and delete all files with these extensions: .jpg and .jpd
See Microsoft's Knowledge Base Article here for "Internet Explorer Does Not Save Graphics Files in the Proper Format" Copyright Web Design
May 2, 2002
Updated May 18, 2003.
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