As I mentioned before it didn't take long to get stuck into this new beta version of Yahoo Messenger and over the upcoming weeks we'll be taking through how to find the smileys that are stored on your puter and how to edit them if you so choose to.. its a case of stay tuned and keep an eye on the navigation menu directly above :-) This page contains the basic smiley information from where to find them, how to change their format etc so grab a coffee and settle in...

Where are the Yahoo Smileys??
Unlike MSN Messenger which has their smileys/emoticons server based, Yahoo includes all the smiley graphics that are supported in the main Yahoo Messenger download! What that means is that when you download the Yahoo Messenger program your downloading the smileys too.. this is why users must have the latest version of messenger installed to see any new smileys that have been released. If your running an older version of messenger then all you'll have installed is the smileys relevant to THAT version. Now if all you want to do is have a "look" at them then simply launch Internet Explorer and enter the path.. C:\My Programs\Yahoo!\Messenger\Media\Smileys but for those of us who want to do more than look then read on...

Locating your Smileys...
Here's how to find them, hit Windows Key + E (this will launch Explorer view)
By default this should expand My Computer to show your drives..
click on the + beside C:\ (if this is your h/drive of course!)
now navigate your way to the following path..
C:\My Programs\Yahoo!\Messenger\Media\Smileys

You should see the following (graphic to the left) if your view is "small icons"... all apart from puke1a.gif which of course is my obsession;-) Now you many or may not see the file extensions (.gif and .bmp) Don't panic if you can't see them because you should be able to idendify the smileys by their icons. If you double click on the .bmp icon this will launch the smiley into MSPaint where you can see it in all its glory or if you double click the .gif this will lauch the smiley it in IE.

If you have Windows ME as your operating system you can quickly change your view to thumbnails and this will instantly show you thumbnail images of ALL the smileys. You should see a doubleup of the main smileys... that being a .bmp and .gif file for each of the smileys on the drop down menu and single .gif files for the secret hidden ones. If you want to know why this is so then check out the information on the [Yahoo Smiley Reference table] now for non ME users who want to have thumbnail view there is a registry tweak available further down the page

Creating a .bmp file...
The following has been provided by Steve-e (aka the Great Patient One!) and these three steps will enable you to create and save a bitmap image from the gif files found in the Yahoo\Messenger\Media\Smileys folder.

Step 1.
Double click on the gif and it will open in an Internet Explorer. window.

Step 2.
Right click on the image, and then select save as.

Step 3.
Save it as a bitmap as shown below


Creating a Miniture view of the .bmp...
For windows 95-98 users thumbnail view isn't available... so Steve-e has lept to the rescue again (thank you!)..below is the procedure to make a pc show a minature of the actual bitmap.. it's a minor Windows Registry modification so take care.. remember Wacky B does NOT provide help and support if you fluff up this, or any other registry tweak.. do at your own risk!

The following is a very easy and not dangerous modification you can make to the registry in your Windows 95, 98, or ME machine so that you see miniature images of the bitmap files in any folder in your PC, instead of the generic Paint icon.

Step 1. Click start, Click run and type in regedit and then click OK like shown below.

Step 2. In the window that opens, click the plus sign by HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. It may take a second or two for the key to expand as you see below.

Step 3. Scroll waaaaaaaaaay down until you see the key Paint.Picture and click the plus next to it. Then put the mouse pointer on DefaultIcon and click once so it is highlighted and you see Default and a value in the right window. ( mine says %1 as I have allready made the modification. )

Step 4. Write down "exactly" the value that is under Data, in case you want to put it back at a later time. Then put your mouse pointer on Default and right click. Then on the popup click modify, as shown below.

Step 5. Clear the value you see in the window below by clicking at the end of the value and backspacing. Then type in %1 as shown below ( percent sign and the number one ) and click ok. Then click Registry in the top left corner of your screen and then click Exit.

And, the next time you start your PC and open a folder with bitmap images inside, you will see miniatures of the actual images like the ones below.


NOTE: This section is by no means a "hack" or "crack" section for Yahoo Messenger, the smileys or the IMV's.. it's simply a way to personalise you're own version of messenger to suit your tastes and sense of humour...