Two problems with Windows Live Messenger

[Kayleigh-xoxo]

Really could use some help here...
Recently, my laptop started messing up, so I uninstalled the things I had put on recently as reccomended, and put them back on. One of these programs were Windows Live Messenger. Ever since re-installing, I've had two problems.

1) Webcam is being annoying. Usually, I just send webcams with my friends. Now, however, whenever I try to send them, It just sends a video call. Why cant I just send webcam?! And whenever they send it to me, the request never appears on my screen.

2) Windows Plus! Live is stupidly tempremental. In the last 48 hours, it has worked once. But in that space of time, I must have logged on and off my laptop about 4 or 5 times. Every time I go to use WLM, I hope that the Plus! feature is working, but it just refuses to.

Ive read through a few websites to try and find a solution, yet many of them have just said stuff like 'Windows Live Messenger is plain crap, its never going to work properly.' Should I just give up? Ive uninstalled EVERYTHINg, and reinstalled it countless times in the past week, and im beginning to get annoyed with it. Can anyone help?

P.S. Sorry about the essay ^.^

[Expertz]

Solution 1. Got a suggestion from Windows live help for your problem of two way calling of video and audio support:

You might have installed the lastest update of Windows Live Messenger. The next version of Windows Live Messenger, features two-way calling with high quality audio and high-definition video. As part of this upgrade, we are retiring one-way webcam functionality. You can learn more about this by going through this article.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_l...sed-today.aspx

And unfortunately you cant downgrade as well to solve this annoying problem.

Solution 2. Did you by chance install "Threatfire" because with it installed, it's like not having "Messenger Plus! Live" to work at all. So uninstall "Threatfire" incase if you have installed it.

[Kayleigh-xoxo]

Thankyou for your help, it makes a lot more sense now! Still not sure about the second point though, will keep looking into it.

Is there ANY way, at all, that I could downgrade?

[Viceman]

Which version of Windows Live messenger are you using? You can try to download and run the Windows Live messenger 8.5 installer directly, download it from here. Also first unsintall the latest version completely and then install the donwgraded version. Just to give you an idea:

1. Go to Start and from their to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs
2. Check at the bottom of your list, select "Windows Live Beta (all programs).
3. Click "Change/Remove".
4. Tick "Install/Uninstall". Continue
5. Untick all others besides "Windows Live Messenger"