It sounds as though the only way to resolve your current issue is to reinstall Yahoo! Messenger. The instructions below are a bit long (sorry about that!), but please read through them before uninstalling and reinstalling Messenger.

Here's how:

NOTE: By following these directions, all of your archived messages will be deleted. If you'd like to save your archives, follow the instructions below to save them:

1. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run." If you do not see the Run command, then select Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run.
2. Type in "%ProgramFiles%\Yahoo!\Messenger\" and press Enter.
3. Right-click the "Profiles" folder and select "Copy."
4. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run" again.
5. Type in "%UserProfile%\Desktop\" and press Enter.
6. Click the "Edit" menu and select "Paste."

Once you've downloaded the new version of Yahoo! Messenger, you can paste the "Profiles" folder back to:

C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\

Please Note: If you copy this folder to the Messenger Profiles folder on another computer, your complete Message Archive will be copied, overwriting the Message Archive on that computer.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can move on to uninstalling Messenger. Here's how:

First, uninstall Yahoo! Messenger completely:

1. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run."
2. Type in "appwiz.cpl" and press Enter. This opens "Add or Remove Programs."
3. Select "Yahoo! Messenger" and click "Remove."
4. Click the "Start" menu and select "Run" again.
5. Type in "%ProgramFiles%\Yahoo!\" and press Enter.
6. Delete the "Messenger" folder.

Next, download and reinstall Yahoo! Messenger.

Yahoo! Messenger 8.1:

http://download.yahoo.com/dl/msgr8/us/ymsgr8us.exe

Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta:

http://download.yahoo.com/dl/msgr9/us/ymsgr9us.exe

Once you've completed the reinstall of Yahoo! Messenger, please try to reproduce the problem you were experiencing.

If you still encounter this problem, please reply back to this email with any additional information you may have so we may further assist you.