Yahoo! Messenger v7 Installation, System Requirments, Settings & Paths

If Yahoo! Messenger is causing you grief (or you wish to avoid possible grief) have a quick read over the following, do make sure you meet all the system requirements, have the downloads installed and operational and the settings enabled BEFORE installation or upgrade.

If you're running Windows ME or XP, it wont do you any harm to create a restore point before you go making any changes/installs, here's how...
Start > Programs > Accessories
hit System Tools > System Restore.
click Create a restore point
hit Next.
give it a quick description box
hit Next.
hit OK

If you already have Yahoo Messenger installed and you archive your messages then back these up first, your archives are located at....
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles
you can either right click the Profiles folder itself, select Copy and then paste to your desktop or My Documents folder, or if your messenger is shared or you have multiple id's then you can copy just the individual default id folders stored within the Profiles folder.


What you're going to need is....
• Microsoft Windows 98/2000/Me/XP, if you're running Windows 95 don't even try to install v7, you need to be running Yahoo Messenger v5.6, more information at WackyB - Yahoo v5.6

• You don't need to be using or have Microsoft Internet Explorer as your default browser but you do need to have version 5.01 or higher installed, you can grab this from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp. You're going to need IE 5.5 or above to see the animated smileys though :)

• You're going to need Macromedia Flash Player 6.0 or higher, this needs to be installed via Internet Explorer so if you dont currently have v6 or above then grab it from http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/. You need to have Macromedia Flash Player for Yahoo Messengers general operation and for Avatars/Pictures, Audibles, IMV's, Games etc. You NEED to have this installed, you're best bet is to install it PRIOR to installing Yahoo Messenger. If you're having problems launching Yahoo Messenger after install or seeing avatars, audibles, IMV's or your games wont run as expected (or at all) check your version of Flash.

• Yahoo!'s Games are Java and/or Flash based so you're going to need both Java and Flash installed (see above for Macromedia Flash Player). You need to have Sun's Java plug-in installed, without it you can't play games.. it's as simple as that :) you can grab this from http://java.sun.com/getjava/. If you're not able to load/play the games or you're getting script errors do check that you have Java and Flash installed (don't just guess :) and make sure that from within Internet Explorer you have Java enabled.

• to use Voice in Yahoo Messenger you need to have installed the DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) Audio CODEC which comes with all versions of Windows that Yahoo actually supports, now lets just say you don't have it installed, it's broken or your computer ate it... check out this thread problem: where do i get DSP True Speech Audio CODEC?? @ moviecodec.com

• for webcam and LAUNCHcast Radio you need to have Windows Media Player version 7 or higher installed.
Windows Media Player 7.1 is for Windows 98 users and you can grab it from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/software/Playerv7.aspx or Windows 98 SE, Me, and 2000 users can get their hands on Windows Media Player 9 Series from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/player.aspx and Windows XP users can grab Windows Media Player 10 from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/default.aspx

• If you want to use your webcam with Yahoo Messenger it might pay to swing past Yahoo!'s webcam compatibility test. Pay attention if it's the first time you run this test, you'll be prompted to install the Yahoo! WebCam Upload Wrapper, select your connection speed etc. If you miss any of the prompts simply use the Options buttons to go back and correct/reset the configuration. You may also need to select the source camera from the Options window so don't panic if the first time you use the compatibility test the image is black, also swing by your Cam manufactures site and make sure you have the latest driver/software installed.
Speaking of your webcam, don't forget Yahoo's suggested fix for the cam crashing on broadcast, basically it's a simple registry edit which you shouldn't do unless your familiar and / or comfortable plonking with your registry, if in doubt.. don't do it.
Exit out of Yahoo! Messenger
Start > Run
{type} regedit
hit Enter
expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER
expand Software
expand Yahoo
select the Webcam folder
if there is no Webcam folder...from the top menu select Edit > New > Key, type in Webcam
from the top menu select Edit > New > DWORD Value, type in UseVFW
once you've done that, double click UseVFW
change the entry in Value data to 1
hit OK
Exit Registry Editor

• you're also going to need a 56k dialup or broadband Internet connection, a Yahoo account @ http://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_register, and webcam, microphone, sound card, and speakers if you intend to use voice, cam etc

• You're also going to need to have scripting enabled in Internet Explorer
Tools > Internet Options.
hit the Security tab
hit Internet (world globe)
hit the Custom Level button
in the Security settings window...
scroll down to Scripting
Enable
Active scripting
Allow paste operations via script
Scripting of Java applets
hit OK, hit OK
note: if you're having trouble seeing txt in the IM window check that scripting is enabled

if you're going to be using LAUNCHcast it requires some hefty configuration including your ActiveX settings...
see How do I configure Internet Explorer 6.x to work with LAUNCHcast?
and How do I configure Internet Explorer 5.x to work with LAUNCHcast?

What's where? Paths etc...
As mentioned right at the beginning, if you need to back up your messenger archives head to...
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles
you can either back up the whole folder or the individual default ID folders stored within

your smileys are at....
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Media\Smileys
if you're planning to show off the new and revamped smileys in version 7 (out of beta) remember that the person you are IM'ing with also needs to have the latest version to see what you see. The smileys are stored locally (on the individual users computer) not on the server so if you're IM'ing with someone who has a previous version they wont see the new ones included in v7, they will only be able to see the ones installed on THEIR computer.

if you're having problems/issues and you're told to dump your Yahoo Messenger cache...
C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Cache
this is completely different to dumping your Temp or Tempory Internet cache/files so don't get the two confused :)