The bug fixes include errors with right-to-left languages, with Facebook contacts, sound packs and the new online chat logging system. The update is available for free download:

Download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

To use the new commands feature, open your contact list, set the focus into the search field, and type a slash “/”.

The newest update for the most prominent Windows Live Messenger extension, Messenger Plus! 5, has been released. It adds support for Messenger 2011 as well as minor enhancements and one major new feature: online chat logging. The update is the first major update since Messenger Plus! had transitioned from being developed by a single developer, to an application being worked on by multiple developers.

Nathalie, Community Liaison at Yuna Software, announced:

Messenger Plus! welcomes Windows Live Messenger 2011 users to its community of more than 62 million members. Messenger Plus! users benefit from skins, scripts, plugins and all the exciting features of this freeware that has been enhancing Windows Live Messenger since 2001.

Along with the software’s version 5, the Messenger Plus! website has been recreated from scratch. Now it features a new “MyPlus!” section, soon you will be able to upload your contributions directly, such as skins, scripts or display pictures. With the new online chat logging feature, you can read your log files from wherever you are — after logging in at the Plus! website using your MyPlus! login.

Free download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

How-to: Get Plus! 4.9 running in Messenger 2011

The following tutorial was written by Menthix.

To get Plus! working in Messenger 2011 first make sure you installed the latest build of both. You will need Windows Live Essentials 2011 15.4.3538.0513 (released September 30, only works on Vista and 7) and Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706 (released October 20).

Once Plus! 4.9 is installed you will have to disable its safe mode to make Plus! load in Messenger 2011:
In the contacts list press the Alt key to make the menu bar appear. On the menu go to ‘Plus!’ -> ‘Software Not Loaded’. Check the ‘Disable safe mode’ option and close the window. A warning will show. Press ‘OK’ ans Messenger will be restarted, this time with Plus! loaded.

Which features will work?

• Some things of Skinning
• Event Viewer
• Transparency on the contacts list
• Lock Messenger (half working)
• Contact List Clean-Up
• Contacts on Desktop
• Event Notifications
• Sound Library, although you won’t be able to send or receive any sounds.

These Plus! features do not work in Live Messenger 2011 yet:

• Colored/formatted nicknames
• Chat logging
• Connect to several accounts simultaneously (polygamy)
• Any commands or tags such as /away or (!VER)
• Any features which usually can only be activated from the conversation window. The Plus! menu does does not (yet) hook into WLM 2011 conversation windows.
• Transparency on conversation windows
• Custom and built-in Plus! sounds
• Scripts. Scripts do import fine and are running. But without the scripts menu and without any functionality in the conversation window you won’t get much useful out of most scripts.
• Tabbed chats. But Messenger 2011 does tabbed chats natively now.
• Quick texts
• Quick icons
• Personalized Status. Although the dialog shows up fine when you change status, it doesn’t seem to do very much.
• Plus! Extras. When you right-click on a person in the contacts list.

Free download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

The change log for this version is at http://www.msgpluslive.net/download/changelog/.

Since Windows Live Messenger 2011 (code name “Wave 4”) was released last Thursday, I received some questions as to when Messenger Plus! will be updated to work with the new Messenger version. Here are some details.

Messenger Plus! 4.9 will be released around the next week-end (Sunday 10 October 2010, plus-minus two days). Note that this minor update will provide only basic support, similar to the support with Plus! 4.85 for the last Messenger Wave 4 beta. It is still the next major version, Messenger Plus! 5, that is targeted at full support for Messenger 2011.

By the way, removing advertisements in Messenger 2011 is also possible:
Ahmed has updated his patching software A-Patch for Messenger 2011 1.43.10.

Since version 4.84, Messenger Plus! is created with Visual Studio 2010, in preparation for the development of Plus! 5. However, a minority of users could not use this Windows Live Messenger extension anymore properly due to the changed DLL format.

This is why a minor update for Plus! 4.84 has been released. It addresses the DLL problem. The change log states:

The move to Visual Studio 2010 caused Messenger Plus! to stop working for a minority of users. The resource DLL of Messenger Plus! has been modified to solve this issue.

You can go ahead and download the update right now.
Note: Do not try to use this version of Messenger Plus! with any version of Windows Live Messenger 2011 (Wave 4). It will not work.

Download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

Version 4.84 is the first “intermediary” build between the current Plus!4 code base and the Plus!5 version to come. Several internal updates were done and some of the translations have been updated as well.

Here’s the complete (short) change log for Messenger Plus! 4.84:

• Translations have been updated.
• A bug has been fixed in the Promotion System.
• Messenger Plus! has been reorganised for the development of Plus!5. Everything is now compiled with Visual Studio 2010 and managed in Team Foundation Server.

Download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

Messenger Plus! 4.83.374 (10 December 2009)

In right-to-left versions of Messenger (Hebrew, Arabic), the Plus! icon was displayed horizontally mirrored.  This has been corrected.

Plus! now ships with a new promotional system, including an engine to display additional buttons in the Messenger toolbars.  These buttons depend on your country/language setting and are intended to fully replace Messenger Plus!’s old sponsor program once they are perfectly functional.

Messenger Plus! 4.83.375 (18 December 2009)

Additional corrections were made regarding the promotional system.

Messenger Plus! 4.83.376 (15 January 2010)

Corrected possible incompatibility with the Messenger add-on Sweet IM.

The pop-up sponsor included in Plus! setup has been replaced with a browser toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox, powered by Conduit.  The toolbar has its own uninstaller and works like any other normal proper toolbar in your browser (it can be enabled, disabled, etc…). Its installation is still entirely optional.

Messenger Plus! 4.83.378 (14 February 2010)

The promotion system mentioned before now takes more parameters.  Nothing is visibly changed.

Get the latest build of Messenger Plus!:

Messenger Plus! creator Patchou (Cyril Paciullo) has announced that everything concerning the recent move over to Yuna Software has been settled.  Software development is back on track, the plannings for Messenger Plus! Live 5 are running, and Patchou is going to be the leader in Yuna’s new Montreal office.  He explains:

In the last 2 months, I’ve read many posts, many blog entries, many comments and many emails regarding Yuna Software.  As things were being restructured on Yuna Software’s side (the owner), concerns were not addressed and emails were not answered. Development of Messenger Plus! was not properly guided anymore and proper tests and translations were not performed. On behalf of the entire company, let me start by apologizing for these issues. These problems should never have happened.

After everything that was said recently about the company and the direction Messenger Plus! was taking, I had a long chat with some of the top level people in Yuna Software and they confirmed the following: I’m back in charge of things. For now, I’m focusing on the Montreal office, a newly improved relationship with Microsoft (that can only be good right?), and all the main aspects that should make Messenger Plus! 5 a killer add-on for instant messaging software by the end of the year.

After all, the efforts that the members of the Messenger Plus! community have invested were not in vain.  If things happen to come true in the way Cyril talked about, there is much more to come.

“Thanks to all the people who keep on contributing to the success of Messenger Plus!, I’m sure we’ll be able to achieve something that was well worth the wait,” Patchou concludes.

What do you think?

Originally started as a personal project of its creator Cyril Paciullo (known as Patchou), Messenger Plus! has many lovers around the world.  Truly, a vivid community has developed around it, where people meet to talk about the software, develop scripts for more features, as well as skins for changing Messenger’s visual appeal.  I’m sure that you have tried out the one or another script or skin, too.  For a program such as Messenger Plus!, its community is an important part.

The role of Yuna Software

With Cyril having invested years of his life into the development of the add-on, some months ago he felt that it was about time to involve more people.  This would give him more freedom and allow the software to meet the requirements better that are set by a user base of 62 million users.  By that time, Cyril made the company official that he had founded years ago, Yuna Software.  That also meant investors came in who currently have the majority of the share in the company.

Sadly, in recent times things start to go wrong with Messenger Plus!.  Yuna Software was keeping silent about everything they did.  They set up their offices silently.  They talked with sponsors silently.  They published new Plus! versions, you guessed it, silently.  Eventually, everybody within the community became suspicious about this silence.  They tried to introduce a community manager, but it is not proved yet if the manager will be able to break the silence that Yuna Software is holding.

The effects that this development might have on Messenger Plus as well as on the community are immense, as Yuna Software does not seem to care much about the user base.  In the worst case, Plus! will become so ad-bloated and uninteresting that it will lose most of its users.  Users like you.

There is a way

What can we do to help that Messenger Plus! stays what it is?  Messenger Plus!’s original creator, Cyril Paciullo, tells us:

Email support@yunasoftware.com if you have any issue. All the emails are forwarded to the appropriate people.

What could such a mail contain?  Here are some ideas for you.

• Tell Yuna Software why you are using Messenger Plus!
• Why did you originally use it?
• Has Messenger Plus! become better over time?  How so?
• How did you learn about the software?  From a friend?
• How would you feel if there were no scripts nor skins anymore?
• Would you like advertisements integrated into Messenger Plus?
• Send your personal message to support@yunasoftware.com.
• (If you want, send me a copy [CC to yuna@mynetx.net] that I can archive, but that’s up to you.)

Remember: This is not a call to request new features for Messenger Plus!, but a call to convince Yuna Software that listening and communicating its community — thus breaking the silence, permanently — is as important as setting up development roadmaps.

You are part of what makes Messenger Plus! successful.
It is up to you what its future is going to be like.

How to use this script:

1. Open any conversation window.
2. Type: /livesong <song or artist>, and press Enter.
3. The song you typed will be played.
4. Important: Loading can take up to 15 seconds, depending on the speed of your web connection.
5. Stop the playback by typing /livesong without any parameter.

Note: You must have Messenger Plus! Live installed in order to import this script successfully.

If you have any improvement suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Improved network hooking mechanism. For some people, this will improve how Messenger Plus! catches various network events (used for notifications, the event viewer, …). For other people, this will solve a rare problem where Messenger crashes upon sign-in (Messenger Plus! will try to detect the faulty behaviour caused by buggy network software and will switch to an alternate hooking method automatically when Messenger is restarted).

Messenger tends to slow down when improper compatibility settings are set for msnmsgr.exe. The setup of Messenger Plus! now resets the compatibility settings set for Messenger in Windows Vista and above.

Fixed: the “Enhance copy/paste” feature in chat windows inserts an Arabic B character instead of an asterisk at the beginning of new messages.

Download the update now for free: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

Along with the release of Messenger Plus! Live 4.82, there is a new contest, opened to every Messenger Plus! user from all around the world, along with the Fantasia festival. Beginning at Sunday July 12 at 00:01 (GMT -5) the contest will open to everybody. Anyone with Messenger Plus! Live (4.82.368) installed can play the contest. Participation is free, unlimited, and you can win one of the thousands of prizes available, with values ranging from $20 to $1,000, offered by the Evolution Megastore. Each contestant is eligible to win up to 10 prize packages each of their own choice, selected from Evolution Store with the users choice of figures and high-end collectibles. Each prize package has a randomly assigned value between $20 to $1,500, giving the users a choice of what they want. Also, if you refer some of your friends and they happen to win a prize, you will automatically be declared a winner as well! So if you’re into movies, animation or video games, start playing, this contest is for you!

How to participate in the contest

• Download and install Messenger Plus! 4.82.
• You see a new button in the Contact list toolbar, looking like this: .
• After the contest has started, you might see a notification like this one:
  
• Click it and read the contest remarks.
  
• Then click “Play” and have fun!
• You can also call the contest via the Messenger Plus! icon in your contact list.
  Choose “Play and Win!…” from the appearing menu.

• The settings of your scripts and skins can now be exported from the preferences panel and re-imported back.
• The workaround for displaying long chat logs in the Log Viewer for IE8 has been removed, as the bug present in beta versions of IE8 has been fixed in IE8 Final.
• This release is contest-ready!
  • In this version, you will see a new golden icon in your Messenger toolbar. Those who participated in the contest 2 years ago will probably remember what this is.
  • A “Play and Win” menu has been added in the contact list.
  • The 2009 Contest is not open yet, it will be in about a week from now. Remember to give it a try in July!

Free download: Messenger Plus! 5.0.1.706

I will post more details on the contest as soon as they are approved to talk about publicly.

You will have to repair the internal shortcuts for *.plsc and *.plsk files.

The solution: Repair your file shortcuts

• Open the Control Panel.
• Go to the Uninstall section for programs.
• Act as if you were going to uninstall Messenger Plus!.
• Choose Repair.
• Remove all check boxes so none of your preferences get overwritten.

This should fix any wrong shortcuts so you can import scripts and skins correctly again.

I had to completely recode the entire skin and re-think certain parts of the skin to suit Messenger 2009. While most of the skin retains the layout from the previous version you will notice some differences in version 2.

The most major one is that fade animations had to be scrapped. Sad to say that they have changed in Messenger 2009 and are extremely restricted. I couldn’t really find a balance between making it work, look right and not lag the skin up.

The custom Messenger Plus! UI has also been scrapped due to the fact that Messenger Plus! Live 5 will be entering development soon and I would rather wait to see what is going to happen with the UI before diving in too deep.

The registry entries that I added in the previous version return in version 2. There are a few new ones such as choosing the size of the extra display picture in the chat window and also the one in the contact list. Toolbar alignment options are also in these entries.

Phunk’n – Infusco

Download: Phunk’n – Infusco 2.0.1 (for Messenger 2009 only)

Phunk’n – Niveus

Download: Phunk’n – Niveus 2.0.1 (for Messenger 2009 only)

What do you think about this skin set?

Source: [Release] Phunk’n 2