Posted on Thursday, September 29 2005 @ 00:43:18 CEST by LSDsmurf
Changelog:
Obviously, this version is now 100% compatible with MSN Messenger 7.5. One
of the main things that has been fixed for this version of Messenger is the
detection of contact names changes (thus fixing bugs with custom names,
floating contact windows, ...).
Brand new feature: Tabbed Chats!
The Tabbed Chats feature groups some or all of your chat windows into
one single window. A group bar is then displayed to switch from one chat
to the other. This feature is available in MSN Messenger 6.0 and above.
Each chat can be accessed with one button in the group bar. When new
messages are sent to a grouped chat that is not active, the group bar
button flashes. When possible, the chat is also brought to front
(various internal variables control how button flashes and when chats
are put on top).
Shortcut keyboard F9 groups all chats and Ctrl+F9 adds the current
chat to the group. Shortcut keyboard F8 ungroups all chats and Ctrl+F8
ungroups the current chat from the group.
You can browse your tabbed chats with two sets of keys: Ctrl+PageUp /
Ctrl+PageDown and Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab. The later can be disabled
with the AllowGroupCtrlTab registry setting if you want to keep Ctrl+Tab
to insert tab characters in your messages.
You can use Ctrl+Alt+Tab to go to the next flashing chat or to restore
the original chat window when no more flashing windows are present. This
shortcut is very useful when talking to a lot of people.
Left clicking on a chat button puts the chat on front, middle clicking
on a chat closes it and right clicking displays a context menu with
several options. Ctrl+Left Click detaches a chat from a group.
Middle clicking on an arrow button normally scroll the chat buttons by
a full page. However, when a chat that is not currently displayed in the
bar flashes, the appropriate arrow button flashes too and middle
clicking on an arrow button at that time brings you directly to the
flashing window.
The group bar can be displayed vertically on top or horizontally on
the left side.
The size of the buttons is dynamic when the bar is horizontal and
fixed when it is vertical. In both cases, the preferences panel has an
option to change the width of the buttons. If the bar is horizontal, the
width is used as a minimum required width instead of a fixed one.
Of course, an option exists to automatically group all your chats when
they are displayed by Messenger. After installation, if several chat
windows are opened, Messenger Plus! automatically asks once if you want
to enable this option or not.
You can drag&drop files and text on group buttons the same way you
can drag&drop stuff on floating windows.
Chat windows that are displaying Messenger Activities (such as games)
keep their own size and don't affect the size of the other chats in the
group.
The tabbed chats have their own set of settings, available in the
preferences, to suit the customization needs of most people.
You can close all the chats of a group by holding Ctrl when exiting
the window (clicking on the X button). This behavior can be inversed
with the "GroupCtrlCloseAll" registry setting.
When a grouped chat contains unread messages, Messenger Plus!
automatically switches chat windows after some delay if the group is not
currently active. This delay can be changed with the
"GroupAutoSwitchDelay" registry setting.
Because of several technical differences, the tabbed chat feature is
not available in RTL versions of Messenger (Arabic and Hebrew).
The new custom sound feature continues to be very popular so some things
in it have been improved:
A language can now be assigned to every sound in the Add Sound Wizard.
You can assign a language to your existing sounds by going in the
Sound Property window (click "Edit Sound..." in the library
window). You are encouraged to send your modification to the server (see
below).
A new "Update Server" button has been added in the Sound
Property window. This button allows you to send the sound to the server
so that its information can be updated. Sounds are normally sent only
once to the server (in a given period of time) which can cause listing
errors to be maintained for a long time. If you notice a name, category
or language error for one of your sounds, just correct it and hit this
new button: anybody who will download the sound afterwards will have the
corrected information.
The Random Sound window now allows to specify a desired language.
Please give this option some time before it really starts to be useful
as existing sounds need to be re-uploaded by everybody to the servers
with the language information set.
The sound ID displayed in the Sound Properties window can now be
selected and copied easily (for use in commands for example).
Added a tooltip for the selection bar in the Add Sound Wizard so that
everyone knows that double-clicking the bar opens a different selection
window.
Getting new random sounds is now a little faster.
Temporary files generated by the Sound Wizard are now properly deleted
every time.
Importing a sound pack by opening a link in IE now always works (no
need to save the file first).
No "Messenger Plus! Extras" menu is displayed for "mobile
number only" contacts.
Added "SideBarColor" registry setting for people who use skins.
There's no more room in the preferences for the new features! there are
already 25 sections in the preferences window and it's been some time
already that I've been bothered by this problem. To accommodate the new
Tabbed Chats preferences section, "Commands & Tags" has been
renamed "Commands & Keys" and moved in "Message
Helpers". To make room for it, the "Text Recall" section had
to go. The feature still exists but the options attached to it were not that
useful for most people (they are still internally supported if you update
from an old version though).
Added a link in the Chat Logging preferences section to go to the
encryption section.
The "Action message formatting" option has been removed from the
preferences (the registry settings are still used though, if you're updating
from a previous version).
Thanks to user feedback and because of the need for a user agreement for
Messenger Plus! itself, the setup of Messenger Plus! has been completely
re-thought, once again.
The one main concern reported by users since the last modifications
was clarity. This new setup intends to definitively fix that problem.
The installation of the sponsor program is now asked directly on the
second page of the setup. The text displayed there is short and to the
point, describing what the sponsor is, the fact that it's adware and
insisting that it's optional.
No option regarding the sponsor is checked by default (just as before
but it can't hurt to mention it again).
The sponsor license agreement is not displayed above the installation
choice anymore (which was the reason of most previous complaints).
Instead, it is presented to the user separately if and only if the user
chooses to install the ads. This means that in order to install the
sponsor, you now have to accept it twice, first by selecting
"Install the sponsor program" and secondly by clicking on
"I accept the terms of the Sponsor's License Agreement".
The sponsor agreement window now displays a bigger and brighter
screenshot of the search bar installed (not by much but still). Also,
the fact that this screenshot and the agreement itself are presented in
a different window, bigger than the main window itself, brings more
clarity to the setup, preventing too much information to be displayed on
a single screen and getting more attention from the user.
The third screen of the setup now displays the new Messenger Plus!
terms of use. Every user must accept them before proceeding with the
installation. This way, the overall setup looks much more
"standard". I know there will be a period of adaptation for
every people to understand that the last page of the setup now displays
a license agreement for Messenger Plus! itself and not its sponsor but
that's a problem I'm willing to assume.
Messenger is not automatically started at the end of a silent
installation anymore.
I'll watch for your feedback regarding this new setup and I'll make
the necessary adjustments if you deem it necessary. I want the setup to
be as good as possible, once and for all.
The auto-update window doesn't appear to frozen for long when the
Messenger Plus! web site can't be reached.
The file sharing feature of Messenger Plus! was not that useful as is so
it has been redesigned and file triggers have been added to it:
For each file entry you can set a different trigger (IRC like). A
trigger is a message preceded by ! that, when sent by a contact, will
automatically send the specified file on your behalf.
File triggers can have many uses. For example, if you just had found
and downloaded a great program/music/video, you could advertise a
trigger for it in your personal message.
An option (off by default) allows contacts to send a !listfiles
trigger to get the list of every file you are currently sharing with
triggers.
A simple flood protection is enforced by Messenger Plus! rejecting new
requests that are sent too quickly.
I know some of you will request a password for this feature but in a
way, they are already implicitly supported: a trigger can have up to 100
characters and can include spaces. So if you create a trigger
"!myfile thepassword" you can advertise for it as
"!myfile
".
For security reasons, file triggers do not work in chats with multiple
contacts.
A /fileshare command has been added to access the file sharing panel.
Remember that Messenger is not a software designed for mass automatic
file sharing. Messenger Plus! does not bypass any of the native
protections of Messenger which means for example that if you are using
Messenger 7, some file extensions will be forbidden (you can use the
StuffPlug plugin or Windows Messenger to avoid that problem). Also,
please remember that Messenger automatically limits the number of
simultaneous file transfers, Messenger Plus! cannot do anything about it
either.
Currently, up to 12 different files can be shared through this method.
The action of playing custom emotion sounds is now logged in the Messenger
Plus! chat logs.
The "Messenger Plus! Extras" menu for groups is back in
Messenger 7 (useful to block/unblock groups). Note that if the width of your
contact list is too small, the menu may not appear.
A new plugin function has been added called "AddEventEntry".
This function allows plugins to add custom entries in the event viewer and
event log file of Messenger Plus!. The version sent by the Initialize()
function is now 7.
No more logging problems when an email begins with a system reserved word
such as "com1".
Two registry settings have been added, "AttachToWinMsg" and
"AttachToMsnMsg" which allow users to ask Messenger Plus! not to
add its functionalities in either Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger.
An important bug has been fixed that could prevent Messenger Plus!, in
very specific occasions, to not attach to Messenger or a chat window
properly.
Added a link to the sounds.msgplus.net page in the Sound Library window.
This will help people get access to statistics and new sounds.
The Boss Protect and Messenger Lock features don't change your status
anymore when it's already Appear Offline.
Messenger Plus! now recognizes personal messages (Windows 2000/XP only).
For now, this means that personal message changes are logged in different
places like in the event viewer. Note that music name changes are not logged
for space reasons (too many of those can be received, it would fill up the
event log pretty quickly). More support for personal messages will be added
in a future update.
The previously active window is always properly restored after an
auto-accept command.
When a dialog box is opened, the auto-accept feature waits for it to be
closed before accepting the request (to avoid various problems).
Added an option in the "Messenger Plus! Extra" menu for contacts
to open a http link present in the name or personal message of a contact.
Alternate Attach Mode now works a little better.
Because of the new keyboard shortcuts of Messenger, the "Plus!"
menu of the chat window is now accessed through Alt+U.
Auto-accept now works properly when a request is sent in a new chat window
and the preferences specify only one kind of request to accept.
And of course, as always, many other small bugs have been fixed for your
enjoyment :).
Program Information Category:
Internet and communication Type:
Free Version: 3.60.144 Size: 4.42MB Works on: Windows
Recommended: Click here to Update all your outdated drivers