Yahoo Messenger FAQ

[shifter]

The following information deals with the most commonly asked questions relating to Yahoo! Messenger.

1. Where can i download latest Builds of Yahoo! Messenger
   
   
2. Having Trouble Starting Messenger?
   
   
3. Can someone view my webcam without my permission?
   
   
4. How do I send an IM to more than one person?
   
   
5. How can I recover my password to a lost or stolen account?
   
   
6. How can I avoid falling victim to Booters?
   
   
7. Can my contacts get my IP address, and if so what can they do with it?
   
   
8. Is it possible to permanently delete a Yahoo Messenger account?
   
   
9. Where can I get Custom Emotes for Chat?
   
   
10. How to put Symbols in your Yahoo Nickname (not your ID)
    
    
11. Ypager crashes or performs an illegal operation on startup or right click
    
    
12. I get an error when I try and login, "Your account is locked for security reasons"
    
    
13. Can i remove my ID from someone else's list?
    
    
14. Where can i download old versions of Yahoo! Messenger?
    
    
15. Links are unclickable on Yahoo! Messenger?
    
    
16. Can people tell if I'm online when I'm set to invisible?
    
    
17. How do strangers know my webcam is on?
    
    
18. Can someone record my webcam feed?
    
    
19. Why doesn't Yahoo fix booter exploits?
    
    
20. Why doesn't Yahoo do anything about bots?
    
    
21. Do the bot developers pay Yahoo!?
    
    
22. How does Yahoo! respond to ToS (Terms of Service) violation complaints?
    
    
23. Will Yahoo! Chat ever become a pay service?
    
    
24. What happend to Super Webcam option?
    
    
25. What happened to Yahoo! Chat's Goto/Follow Commands?
    
    
26. Can someone add me to their friends list without my permission?
    
    
27. Does Voicechat work in Windows Vista?
    
    
28. Can't see peoples text in chat or IM windows?
    
    
29. How to disable Word filter in Yahoo Messenger
    
    
30. Yahoo Messenger is ignoring everybody in a chatroom
    

If you have any Frequently Asked Question's you would like to see added to this list, feel free to PM or email any staff member with your suggestions.

Also for more information on any of these frequently asked questions feel free to do a Search here on the forums for topics dealing with your question. If you are still unsatisfied, feel free to start a new topic and wait patiently for someone to come around and answer your question!

[Netti]

Having Trouble Starting Messenger?
Looking at posts and doing a little research, I've come up with the following. I'm not saying this will help everyone, but some of the steps have fixed problems that people are having with dll errors, and messenger flashing, etc.

First and foremost, make sure that you do not have a program called
windows blind running, it does not work well with yahoo.

Second, make sure you're firewall is not blocking your connection to
the yahoo servers. Try turning off the firewall for a second, see if
you can connect, then you'll know if thats your problem.

Third, make sure you have the latest version of the following programs
installed on your computer. Many dll library errors and yahoo
flashing on and off occur because the Macromedia flash player is not
current. Download the current version here before trying to reinstall
a new version of messenger.
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=Shockw\
aveFlash

Also make sure your Internet Exployer is updated, and Windows Media
Player.

NOW - TO UNINSTALL Yahoo Messenger COMPLETELY. Do not skip any of
these steps or it will not uninstall completely.

1. Go to add/remove programs and remove Yahoo Messenger from there.

2. Then go to c:/program files and delete the folder called Yahoo (you
will lose all saved archives).

3. Remove Yahoo from your registery either with a registery cleaner,
or manually by clicking the start menu, click Run, then type regedit.
Then go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, then open Software and delete the Yahoo folder ONLY. Then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and click SOFTWARE and then delete the Yahoo folder ONLY. DO NOT REMOVE ANY OTHER FILES IN YOUR REGISTERY OR WINDOWS WILL NOT START. ONLY REMOVE THE YAHOO FOLDERS.

Then reboot the computer and download and install Yahoo. The best way
to install a new version is to save it to your computer, NOT to open it.

If none of these steps work for you, which could happen, and does
happen to some people, I suggest you go back to an older version of
messenger. 5.5, 5.6 and 6.0 still work.

[shifter]

Can someone view my webcam without my permission?
Assuming you have set your cam for permission-based viewing the answer is basically no. Using a Cam-Viewer type program has never been proven to actually let you break into someones webcam without their knowledge and is extremely unlikely. Most of these so-called Cam-Viewer programs only allow the user to remain anonymous - you still get a request from Yahoo for "anonymous" to view your webcam. The only real way a user may be able to view your cam without your knowledge is if your system has been compromised by a backdoor trojan. It's very easy to trick someone who isn't very computer literate into accepting such programs and there are a ton of them. If one is installed on your computer, the person could easily know exactly what programs you are running (such as Yahoo Messenger) and could even take control of the webcam and send the photos to his/her self. If you do suspect someone has this ability, run an up-to-date virus scan, and perhaps even search for a trojan scanner for a more thorough analysis.

How do I send an IM to more than one person?
To IM more than one person at a time:

First open up your Yahoo Messenger contact list. Then hold down the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and click on the contacts that you want to message. Click the "Actions" menu in Yahoo! Messenger and select "Send an Instant Message." Now just simply type your message and send.

To send an IM to a Group:

Right-click the Group and then select "Send Instant Message to All in Group." Now type your message and click the "Send" button.

Right click group name and select "Broadcast IM to this group" in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 beta.

[shifter]

How can I recover my password to a lost or stolen account?

1. First go to https://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_forgot_pw? to attempt to request a new password.
2. If your unable to reset your password, you will need to undergo the painstaking task of dealing with Yahoo. Your next step is to fill out this form - Yahoo! Feedback and await Yahoo's reply.
3. Also try emailing Yahoo directly at messenger-new-help@cc.yahoo-inc.com, messenger-abuse@yahoo-inc.com or sg-mail@yahoo-inc.com.
4. If you don't seem to get anywhere from this, you can then try contacting Yahoo Account Verification directly. They will verify your personal information that you entered when you opened your account and then issue you a new password. They can be reached by calling 408-349-1572 option 2, option 2. (Here is the official Yahoo! Contact Information as well)

Expect to deal with plenty of frustration, runaround, emails, wrong numbers, arrogant help staff, etc - but it IS possible to get your account back. However, if there's anything even slightly suspicious about the details you provide them (e.g. you can't remember the date of birth you signed up with!) don't be surprised if you get turned down. That information is the only thing that can save your account.

Also be prepared to fax them a copy of your driver's license or whatever else they may ask - remember, YOU are asking THEM for a big favour here.

If you do manage to get your account back successfully, make sure you SECURE IT. Update your Secret Question to something only YOU know and won't give away during casual conversation - (the name of your pet is very easy to obtain from a seemingly casual chat, but something like your drivers license number is not going to be so easy to obtain). Also, make sure your password is strong - this means using both letters and numbers - the longer the better!

You can now also pay Yahoo! a certain fee for help if you really need to talk to Yahoo! customer care directly.

more information can be found at Customer care direct

[shifter]

How can I avoid falling victim to Booters?
A few things you can do if you find yourself falling victim to Yahoo Booters.

1. Make sure you are not in a "Fight Room". These rooms are made for the purposes of malicious intent. If you don't like being a victim of booting - leave and stay away from this type of room.
   
2. Download and run anti-booting software such as Y!Tunnel or YTKpro - This easy-to-use program provides the highest level of protection available against abusive and malicious chatroom activity.
   
3. Report the offending user to abuse@yahoo.com
   
4. Do not ask us for links to obtain booting software for vengeance, you will be publicly admonished - its not pretty. :P
   
5. If you do stumble across a site offering booting software - Read this Post
   
6. If you find your local room been a place for booting on a regular occurance you can use a 3rd party chat client that will offer more support to stopping attacks towards you and your friends in a chatroom.
   ( Client list 1 - Client list 2 )

This is all the help we are able to offer you, please do not post offenders usernames, any related posts will subsequently be either locked and linked here or deleted.

[shifter]

Can my contacts get my IP address, and if so what can they do with it?
An IP address is not something hard to obtain, and will not give away any information about you personally. In fact the majority of users have dynamic IP's that change from day to day, rendering posession of this info even more useless.

If you are paranoid about revealing your IP, remember that using a webcam, messaging directly with a buddy, IMVironments and file transfers all may connect directly with your contact leaving your IP open for discovery. If you are still worried about attacks, make sure you have a router or firewall in place on your home network and keep an updated antivirus application running as well. You can now rest easy.

[shifter]

Is it possible to permanently delete a Yahoo Messenger account?
It is possible to delete a yahoo account but it will also delete everything else, including your yahoo mail and any other yahoo areas that you use that ID for. Once you delete it you won't be able to reactivate it. Yahoo help also says that terminating your Yahoo! account does not alter or delete your Yahoo! People Search listing, which you need to edit or delete yourself. Here is the link to the page with all the info and links for deleting the account. http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edi...s/edit-23.html

Direct link to get account deleted: https://edit.yahoo.com/config/delete_user

[shifter]

Where can I get Custom Emotes for Chat?
We have a huge emote file that contains a ton of emotes!

Here's how you use the emote file listed above:

1. Click to download. If you're running IE, choose the "Open" option
2. This will open the WinZip self-extractor. If you've installed Yahoo Messenger to the default directory (under C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger), then all you have to do is click "unzip."
3. Now the emotes are installed. To use emotes, you must be in a Yahoo chat room (they aren't available in IM).
4. Once you click the emote button, you'll see the emote list appear.
5. It should now contain a much longer list of emotes, some of which include special symbols, colors, etc. Have fun!

[shifter]

How to put Symbols in your Yahoo Nickname (not your ID)

*UPDATE* You are able to put symbols in your nickname without following all the steps below. Just edit your profile regularly and put the symbols you'd like and viola.

I'm leaving the steps below in case Yahoo! ever reverts to not letting people do this!

WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY, YOU MAY BE STUCK WITH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR ALL OF YOUR YAHOO RELATED AREAS (CHAT, MAIL, GAMES, ETC.)
PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

• Go to your Account Info and login.
• Under Member Information choose Edit
• Under General Preferences Click on the Language and Content link.
• Choose Chinese-China (Mainland)
• Click the ÎO½OÊÜ button (its the one on the left)
• Go to Edit Profile and click on the link next to your Yahoo ID ([±à¼*])
• Next go to the top link in the center that looks like this: ±à¼*¸öÈ˵µ°¸
• Then enter in your symbol enhanced nickname in the second field labeled ÄسÆ
• Check the box at the bottom of the page next to ³ÉԱĿ¼ and then click the bottom button
• Your Nickname is now set, next we need to get back to English again.
• Go back to your Account Info and login again if prompted
• In the field labeled Óû§ÐÅÏ¢ hit the Edit button and at the bottom of the page next to ÓïÑÔ¼°ÄÚÈÝ£º click the link
• Change your setting back to English - US or UK or whichever region applies to you. (Canada doesn't offer Nicknames, so choose U.S.)
• Hit the button at the bottom labeled Íê³É (on the left) and Accept the TOS agreement.
• Click the Finished button on the Top or Bottom of the page and proceed to Yahoo! Chat with your brand new "enhanced" nickname.

That's it my friends, see the proof in this nickname enhanced profile.

For a step by step tutorial with pictures, on how to do this, Click HERE.