| Messenger Plus! |
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Information AboutMessenger Plus! |
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name = Messenger Plus!
Messenger Plus! (commonly abbreviated '''MsgPlus''' or '''MSN Plus''') is a and has quickly become the most popular add-on for Messenger. A reason for this is the inclusion of highly demanded features that Microsoft did not add themselves to the core software. Its features are implemented using Window and API hooking to add items naturally to Messenger's GUI menus and toolbars, making the impact on the user as slight as possible and adding functionality while avoiding a separate interface where possible. ''Messenger Plus! Live'' was recently announced by Patchou as a new extension programmed from the ground up for Windows Live Messenger in 2006. The first beta has been released to testers. FEATURES Custom status It was one of the first features of ''Messenger Plus!'' and was pioneer at that time. It gives the option of setting own contact status tags, while Messenger only allows 6 different preset statuses. This feature has evolved to having a dialog to appear when the status is changed to "Away", allowing to store the custom statuses and to set up Automated Replies . The change appears only in the contact list, actually custom statuses only replace the text of the status staying by all other means as the preset status (buddy icon, notice on status, etc). Tabbed Conversations Messenger Plus! can group all conversations into a Tabbed Document Interface . Auto response Also one of the first features. It allows the user to leave a message that will be sent automatically to any contact who starts a conversation with the user. This is especially useful when not at the computer or shortly away. Multi-line messages can be left which will be sent after each sentence said by the other user. For example, the user sets one message such as "I'm away", the other user will receive this message. But then the other user talks again, another line could be made saying "I just want to remind you that i'm away, ok." Plugins Messenger Plus! can now be improved with Plugins . Plugins can be created in a variety of Programming Language s, such as C++ , Visual Basic and Delphi . There is an official plugin database . Popular plugins include StuffPlug NG and Screenshot Sender . Built-in sounds These started as an Easter Egg and became an official feature in the next major version. There are several commands which, when typed in a conversation, play a sound on all the users' computers, if they have Messenger Plus! installed (these sounds are fixed and are built into Messenger Plus! itself). This slowly became one of the most used features of Messenger Plus!, statistics said. Finally Patchou took the step of creating an infrastructure to feature Custom Sounds . Custom sounds Since version 3.50, Messenger Plus! allows setting and sending new homebrewed or downloaded sounds to the contacts. This has been one of the most revolutionary features to be included into Messenger Plus!, with over 30 million custom sounds being transferred to date. Sounds can be packaged into sound packs, which can be easily shared between users allowing a simple import. To create new sounds, a user can either record their own kind of "voice clip" using a Microphone , or import a sound file and have it converted and shortened to an appropriate length then saved. This system would use a lot of bandwidth for the sender and the receiver if the sounds (10 seconds in mid-low quality MP3 ) were sent in P2P form each time. Instead, sound servers have been set up to store all sounds from Messenger Plus!. The first time a sound is sent, it is uploaded to the servers; the first time each user receives a sound they download it and cache it locally. Fully multilingual Messenger Plus! is completely translated into more than 23 different languages, all included in the default setup package. SPONSOR The author chose to make his software a source of revenue and started bundling an Adware sponsor from C2Media. However, being aware of the little acceptance adware has in the user community he decided to make the installation of the sponsor optional and let users choose during the installation whether to allow the adware to install or not. Agreement Window When the sponsor software was bundled with Messenger Plus!, it caused a lot of controversy, many people complained that the option to install the software was purposely made to look like a standard EULA , and was designed to trick people into clicking it without understanding what they were doing. Since then, the agreement window was changed bit by bit in an attempt to come to a compromise between C2.LOP and the users. As of the latest version, the installation procedure runs as follows. #Introduction and language selection #Installation Directory selection and two options (none is pre-selected) are presented, one of which user can select to install the sponsor software and another of which user can select to install Messenger Plus! without the sponsor software. "Next" button is unclickable until one of those two options is selected #If user chooses to install sponsor software, the agreement of sponsor software, along with a picture of the sponsor toolbar, is presented and user has to explicitly accept it to install sponsor software #The agreement of Messenger Plus! itself is presented (whether or not user chooses to install sponsor software) and user has to accept the agreement to install Messenger Plus! #Installation Many people claim that the author takes advantage of the well known bad habit of people to accept and agree automatically any license agreement in installations without reading them, which in this case only causes the sponsor to install. However, many users feel that having the adware installed is not too much of a burden in return for supporting the author, given that the toolbar can be disabled and an adult filter enabled. Popups shown are relevant to the pages being surfed, and absolutely no third-party adware or spyware is installed by the sponsor. As of Messenger Plus! 3.60 (released on 27 September 2005), the installation process of the software has been modified in order to make "200% sure" that users are aware of the ''optional'' adware. This has been done by launching a separate license agreement for the sponsor after you have chosen to install it. The counterpart People with no English knowledge who might be forced to blindly accept the agreement or young users who might find it impossible to understand Contract -English will most probably accept the agreement and have the sponsor installed. C2Media would not allow the volunteers to uncertifiedly translate it. In an attempt to enlighten users about this probably unavoidable issue, Patchou has added some translatable text on the previous step and above the agreement to help matters. He has also included a cropped screenshot of the toolbar that may be installed. Misconceptions Nonetheless, some users harshly criticize Patchou for including adware that they believe has been installed without any consent (i.e., the acceptance screen never appeared for them). This has proved not to be true by the many testers (who make sure that all features work as expected by the author), and by a detailed Reverse Engineering of the installation Executable (an executable with the acceptance screen disabled has never been found, let alone one signed by Patchou's Digital Certificate and/or downloaded from the official site). Uninstallation As it has been a cause of controversy, a special adware uninstallation is provided. If one tries to uninstall Messenger Plus!, a prompt appears allowing to only uninstall the sponsor and to leave Messenger Plus!. ISSUES WITH MICROSOFT WINDOWS ANTISPYWARE As of (MSAS)'s detection of the Messenger Plus! Executable as Spyware , and warning the user that the software will attempt to install spyware at runtime (i.e. post-install), whilst still failing to detect the setup program as a potential installer. If users allow MSAS to remove the executable, the spyware program will remain and the harmless Messenger Plus! executable will be removed. The petition, which had 401,683 signatures and was 10,137 pages long in total, was sent to Redmond . Probably as a result, on September 24th, Microsoft changed the definitions of MSAS so Messenger Plus! is no longer detected. EXTERNAL LINKS
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