Original: 30/6/2004, last updated: 26/08/2006
MSN/MSN Messenger -- wall to wall adverts and inappropriate content for our young children. Do they offend you as well? Read on...
| 6-Jan-2006 Matthijs van de Water explains how to completely remove all the adds from MSN messenger. Many thanks Matthijs |
At work we used MSN Messenger to keep in contact with colleges working on and off site, while all the time being distracted by adds for gambling, sex, employment... shampoo. And you can't turn the damn things off. It makes my blood boil when I see my children playing on the computer surrounded by this rubbish.
As an MS MVP, Microsoft ask me to fill out a survey twice a year, asking how I perceive Microsoft as a company. And every year I tell them the same thing. "IMHO this one product (MSN) is blackening your name". Clean up this one product and you'll get full marks from me. MSN is an eye saw.
Why does the world love Google? It is because unlike Microsoft, Google know how to do commerce on the internet without offending people. In fact Google actively work towards removing seedy adverts and smut from our screens (and more importantly our children's screens). Google's unofficial slogan is "We are not evil". Works for me.
Gradually my home (4 people) and office (400 employees) are changing over to Gtalk and Skype. And I'm actively encouraging this. I get annoyed every time I see an MSN screen (see screen shots below).
MS say the problem with spam is too big to fix. Google gmail fixed that. Porn was ruling the web. Google fixed that too. The amount of bad stuff my kids get exposed to is now practically zero. But then there's MSN Messenger.
We have primary school aged children who use MSN Messenger to send text messages, video & play games. There are many quality MS applications available and none push advertising like MSN Messenger. This is out of character for MS who up until now have had my respect because they have fought to keep customers free of Net pollution and protect our children.
When the kids play on the NET they know to stick to certain websites, but with MSN Messenger, what I call Net pollution and grown up content, is embedded directly into their chat window. It is in their face and just a tempting click away.
Windows Messenger is the chat program that ships with Windows. A few years back after receiving feedback from MVPs and customers, MS decided to stop development of Windows Messenger and concentrate development efforts on MSN Messenger. Unofficially MSN Messenger has become the new Windows Messenger. There's no going back since consumers love the new MSN features such as Videos and Games.
So MSN Messenger is now unofficially part of Windows. Microsoft have driven customers over to MSN Messenger.
So with MSN Messenger we have suddenly leapt from a good family chat program to something that is unsuitable for the younger family members. And just outright offends me. One may even consider this is breaking the Spam laws since we have unwanted Adverts being forced onto our desktops with no way to "Opt Out".
There used to be an option to turn off the extra side tabs but this seems to have been removed in version 6.1. Oh hang on it is hidden away in the Privacy tab of the Option menu. Mmm this setting is saved on local disk only. Lets see... family of 4 users and we use 4 different computers. That's 16 different logons I need to make to change every computer & user logon (my user satisfaction level is dropping fast). The main adverts cannot be turned off.
Microsoft: MSN are almost another company. We don't control their content like we can our other products.
My response: I'll keep filling in bad report cards till you get the message and do something about it.
Note: Other countries such as USA may not get this content. My country is set to Australia.
This is what my desktop looks like at work. A non-stop flashing billboard. It's no wonder my boss is currently trying to ban Messenger from our workplace.
This first capture shows the Match.com dating agency adds. Obvious a concern for a parent. Hey this stuff offends me personally.
What really concerns me is just how much Net Garbage will Microsoft force on us in the future. Is this the tip of the iceberg so to speak.
So Tab 3. More unsolicited adverts.
Selling Meegos. Obviously aimed at the young kids. How dare Microsoft pollute my children's play area (their PC) with this NET pollution.
Icons of Breast, Bums and Abusive signs. Right like I want my 9 yr old using these.
Next Tab. Oh great.. the link takes me to a page where I can download Gambling Software and Gamble online. Microsoft are slipping further down the scale here.
Next Tab. No I don't want to encourage my primary school kids to download music thank you.
This is a chat program we are talking about. Isn't it? I don't want my 9 yr old having access to the latest headlines with pictures of war and murder etc. He will see all the terrors of World in good time.
Next Tab. Call me a prude but I don't want my 9 yr old to follow the sex romps of Big Brother or have open access to web search.
MSN Australia have responded to my complaint. And made some suggestions.
Apparently the Tabs can be turned off. I looked through options several times. I certainly did not expect to find a VIEW setting under the Privacy page. Also the name of the field "This is a shared computer... " made it hard to find.
Well that's helpful. But what if I want the alerts tab but not the other rubbish? And I really don't want my kids turning this back on again.
Oh and since we have 4 computers each with 4 logons I need to make 16 logons to change all family members (settings are saved locally only). It has been 2 weeks now and I still haven't removed every ones Tabs. Can you make this just a little easier please MS?
Another suggestion from MS Support was to get a Kids passport.
Kids .NET Passport: http://passport.net/Consumer/default.asp?lc=1033
Last time I tried this they asked for a credit card number. You recon I hand out my credit card number to just anyone!
MS Australia came back and told me Kids Passport was only available for people with a USA address. And at this stage MS Support gave up helping me.
The banner adds at the bottom of the MSN Messenger window cannot be turned off. The adds in Australia have really increased in pace. These 7 adds hit my screen all in the space of a few minuets and then repeated the cycle after that.
Can you think of any other MS applications that force you to consume advertising? I hope it is just a small part of MS going off the rails because on the whole I like MS products.
Oh Joy they found another part of my screen to squeeze adds into (under text
enter area).
And of course it is more dating agency adds. Do I want my primary school kids
meeting Australia's sexiest singles? Mmmm let me think.
I'm still angry.
Tips:
Alun: After reading some of the comments here, I've installed MSN Messenger, so that I can get audio and video working with my wife when she travels. I got rid of the tabs, but I still get the irritating, flickering, flashing, commercials at the foot of the messenger main window. Can these be removed, too? They're unwanted, and removing them (and banners like them) has kept me migraine-free for the last several years; if it's "either you take the ads, or you don't use MSN Messenger", then I'll be removing MSN Messenger and going back to Windows Messenger.
Rob: The Adverts in the bottom area of the window cannot be removed.
Brian: I move the window down until the adverts are off the screen.
Rob: Smart. Thanks Brian.
Elliott Russell send me this link to Matthijs van de Water web site. It explains how to remove adds from MSN messenger.
http://www.matthijs.net/msn.php
Rob: Many thanks!! Brilliant!!:-)
The root of the problem is MSN which Microsoft don't seem to have control of.
MSN Home Page (Australia):
Click through... Do I really need to comment?
