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Messenger Plus! Live 4.79 for Windows Live Messenger 2009 Beta v14.0.5027.908

Update: Messenger Plus! Live 4.79 build 353 For Windows Live Messenger 2009 Final has been released. Download it from here.

Messenger Plus! Live (aka MsgPlus, MP!L) is a popular add on for Windows Live Messenger which adds several dozen extra features to the popular IM client from Microsoft. Latest beta (Wave 3) of Windows Live Messenger 2009 was not supported by Messenger Plus! Live until yesterday. The latest release of Messenger Plus! Live (v4.79 beta), released on the 1st of November, adds support for Windows Live Messenger 2009 (14.0.5027.908) and users of this version can now enjoy the extra features.

Warning: This program comes bundled with optional adware. Make sure you deselect the adware component during installation (yes you will be prompted every time) and there will be no problems. In case you forgot to deselect and adware got installed, follow instructions on this thread to remove it (it’s easy).

Notable features of Messenger Plus! Live

Once you install Messenger Plus! Live, the following functionality will be added to the Windows Live Messenger version you are using.

a set of text formatting codes similar to BBCode (people who don't use it will see the BBcode among the formatted text)
custom status tags
multiple instances with different accounts
event logging and chat logging and encryption
contacts on desktop.Windows always on top wich show a specific contact.
auto-reply messages, usually activated when away from keyboard
emotion sounds
tabbed chatting (all the conversations in the same window)
messenger locking (Boss Mode)
JScript scripting allowing users to add their own functionality.

There are tons of other features such as Log search (lets you search saved conversations), messenger skinning, custom sounds, quick texts, HTML chat logging, account polygamy, contact list clean up and many more. For a full list please refer to this page.

Download

Messenger Plus! Live is free. You can download it directly from the official page.

[Click Here] to download Messenger Plus! Live 4.79 beta for Windows Live Messenger 2009 beta

[Click Here] to download Messenger Plus! Live 4.70 for Windows Live Messenger 8.0 and 8.5

[Click Here] to download Messenger Plus! Live 3.63 for Windows Live Messenger 4.7 to 7.5 (older versions)

Related Articles

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress v4.6.2.266 – Encode videos to DivX, AVI, QuickTime, MPEG 4-ISO, H.264 and other formats

TMPGEnc is an MPEG video encoder that supports encoding of multiple formats including (but not limited to) DivX, AVI, QuickTime, MPEG 4-ISO, H.264, DVD-Video, DVD-VR, HDV camcorder, Blu-ray Disc and more. TMPGEnc also incorporates some basic video editing features such as video cutting, filtering, etc. TMPGEnc XPress is an enhanced spin off from TMPGEnc which features an improved user interface and even novice users should have no problems handling this version. Latest version of TMPGEnc (featured in this post) comes complete with nVIDIA CUDA 2.0 support. Check it out.

P.S. – If you have any previous versions installed, please uninstall them before installing the new version to avoid conflicts.

Features

Convert Almost Any Video File! - TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress excels at converting video from one format to another. Got a Media Center recording that you'd like to convert to DivX? Or maybe you have a DivX file you'd like to convert to DVD-compliant MPEG? TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress can do it all, and you'll have complete control over the output settings. You can even make your own custom output settings!
Edit Your Video - TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress includes plenty of tools to enhance your video. Use the cut-editor to cut out unwanted scenes. Add filters to correct color, crop the picture, resize, sharpen, deinterlace, reduce noise, and more!
NVIDIA CUDA Support! - If you have a NVIDIA CUDA™ compatible graphics card, you can unleash the power of the GPU's multiple cores to crush the processing time for decoding and applying video filters! (Speed increases are dependent on your hardware environment and are not guaranteed.)
Convert Your AVCHD Footage! - The popular AVCHD video format is now officially supported as an input source! Easily take your AVCHD footage and convert it to other video formats such as DVD-Video!
Blu-ray Disc Encoding! - We've added a new output template for the Blu-ray Disc format! Convert your video into BDMV or BDAV compliant MPEG-2 video and maintain the quality of your high definition footage!

TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress Version 4.6.2.266 changelog - October 29, 2008

Added - NVIDIA CUDA 2.0 support. Can be used with filters and the MPEG-1/2 decoder. CUDA-capable graphics card required. For more information on CUDA, CUDA supported video cards, and downloading the latest drivers, please see NVIDIA's website.
Fixed - For AVI codec output quality, keyframe interval and bitrate would not function properly.
Fixed - Deadlock could occur when using the VFAPI file reader.
Fixed - Green blocknoise could sometimes appear when importing a MPEG-2 PS file through the MPEG file reader.
Fixed - Some MPEG file aspect ratios could not be properly determined.
Fixed - Imported AAC audio would be delayed by several milliseconds.
Fixed - MPEG-2 TS file importation would fail when the stream header contains garbled data.
Fixed - An error would occur during the output when joining several clips with different YUV colorspace.
Fixed - The MPEG tool would output a LPCM file with a *.tlp extension when demultiplexing.Fixed - Other minor issues have been fixed.

Read comments for more information.

Torrent-Damage, TorrentBytes.NET and bitGAMER signups open - 2/11/2008

Here is a quick update on the open signup status of three well known private BitTorrent trackers. Torrent-Damage, TorrentBytes and bitGAMER are all currently open for new signups. Torrent-Damage and TorrentBytes are General/0-Day trackers while bitGAMER is a dedicated games tracker. We have posted about these sites recently but we hope this post will be an aid to those who somehow missed that news earlier. Besides, all 3 sites featured in this post are excellent torrent trackers and are well worth a second mention anytime.

TorrentBytes.Net (TBY)

Site Name: TorrentBytes

Signup URL: http://www.torrentbytes.net/signup.php

Description: IMHO this tracker is very underrated, probably because it’s a Level 2 tracker (but you should know that levels don’t mean jackshit about the actual content on a tracker). It’s an excellent private tracker with tons of packs. I found over 1000 packs (Movies, Games, Music and TV Series packs combined) on this tracker and majority of these are on free leech and are vey well seeded. You don’t often see 1000 odd packs even on some of the high level elite trackers such as FTN. TorrentBytes is currently open for signup and you can get in for free. See our previous post for more information about TBY.

Signup Notes:

Captcha is insanely hard to recognize and is case sensitive.
Read the FAQ and Rules (open them and scroll) during the registration process (before the countdown reaches 0 and you hit 'signup').
Use Upper case + Lower case characters and and a minimum 10 characters in your Password (or signup will fail).
If you mess any of the above up, you will have to keep trying again till you get the registration form.

IRC Channel: irc://irc.p2p-network.net/torrentbytes-support

Torrent-Damage (TD)

Site Name: Torrent-Damage.Net

Signup URL: http://www.torrent-damage.net/signup.php

Description: As we reported before, Torrent-Damage has increased the user limit from 40000 to 50000. You no longer need a ticket number to get in during this open signup period. Be warned that the member count is rapidly increasing and it has already exceeded the 43000 mark in a matter of 2-3 days. If this trend continues, the site will once again reach the user cap in a few days; you will need a ticket number to sign up when that happens. So grab yourself an account (if you already didn’t that is) while you still can. For more information on this tracker, please refer to our previous post.

IRC Channel: irc://irc.torrent-damage.net/torrents

bitGAMER

Site Name: bitGAMER

Signup URL: http://www.bitgamer.com/signup.php

Description: Ever wondered about where to download those leaked games often featured in our PC Games section? Well here is a great place to download your PC and Console games at blazing speeds and without fear of fakes. bitGAMER is probably the second best games tracker currently online (the best one being Blackcats-Games – that’s just my opinion). bitGAMER does not open signups regularly but currently the site is in open signup mode. You do not need an invitation code to register an account during this time. This tracker is a must have for any gamer so grab an account while you can. For more information on bitGAMER, please refer to our previous post about this tracker.

IRC Channel: irc://irc.underground-gamer.com/bitgamer

Orbit Downloader 2.7.8 – Download embedded video, streaming media and other files using single application

Of all the download managers I’ve used, Free Download Manager (FDM) is my favorite mostly because of its simplicity. But if you want to download embedded video files or any other web 2.0 content I recommend you give Orbit Downloader a go. In addition to handling normal FTP and HTTP downloads, Orbit Downloader is capable of downloading video/music/streaming media from sites such as Myspace, YouTube, Imeem, Pandora,Rapidshare and countless others (see below for full list) including those that use anti-leeching technology to prevent file downloads. This software also supports downloading of content that uses RTMP protocol (a multimedia streaming and RPC protocol) which enables downloading of Adobe Flash video and Microsoft Silverlight content possible. Orbit Downloader supports all major browsers such as IE, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera, etc.

As you can see, the main advantage of Orbit Downloader is that you won’t have to install a dozen 3rd party software to download files from various sites (I.E.- YouTubeGet for YouTube, RapGet for RapidShare etc). Check it out – it’s completely free and does not come with any spyware or adware embedded.

List of sites and protocols supported and tutorials on how to use Orbit Downloader to download files from each site (click on a link to see tutorial with screens):

Major Features

Download social music, social video and streaming media
Extreme download acceleration.
Super Light: micro-sized and resource-friendly
Support RapidShare download.
Support IE, Firefox, Maxthon, Opera.
Support Metalink download.
Support HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, MMS, RTSP and RTMP protocols.
Support Proxy server configuration.
Support download pasue and resume.
General download management.

Download

As I said before Orbit Downloader is free software and it’s very lightweight (around 2-2.5mB in file size). Even dial up users should have no problems downloading this.

[Click Here] to download Orbit Downloader 2.7.8 from official download page.

Possible fix for Red Alert 3 black screen at startup and random crashes

On the 30th of October, we reported about Command and Conquer ; Red Alert 3, the latest installment to the popular C&C franchise. I myself didn’t have any problems with the game so far (FYI I haven't’ played it for more than 15 mins so my experience may not count) but it looks like a lot of people are experiencing crashes and black screen problems with the game.

One of the most common problems posted on various gaming forums as well as on official support forums was that many users were getting a black screen before the menu is loaded or sluggish performance with the in game menu. EA has acknowledged that this problem is due to the game aggressively checking for updates online:

Hey everyone, We put a hot-fix patch 1.02 live earlier this evening which you should auto-update to get. Simply log online and you'll be prompted to patch. Patch 1.02 corrected aggressive patch checks that could result in main menu sluggishness. For most of you, this is the "black screen" you were experiencing. This should now be fixed with 1.02.We know this impacted many of you and wanted to get a quick fix out, should be good to go now. We want to ensure this weekend is a Red Alert 3 playing one! Ill have the EXE's on the website tomorrow morning. Thanks, APOC

As you can see from the above, EA have released Red Alert 3 Patch 1.02 to fix this problem. This patch can be downloaded via in game update or through this link.

Update: Red Alert 3 Patch 1.03 has been released. You can download it from the EA FTP. Change log is currently empty so I don’t know what issues this one addresses (apart from the fact that 1.03 incorporates all the fixes included in versions 1.01 and 1.02).

Update 2: Red Alert 3 Patch 1.04 has been released.

Release Notes:

This patch for Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 improves the
reporting of online games to the ladder and player’s stats.
This patch also changes player names in online lobbies to
be listed alphabetically.
Also includes all updates from previous patches.

These patches will not work on pirated versions of the game unless a DRM cracked version of the patch is released, which is one of the downsides of game piracy.

Meanwhile there is a thread on EA' official support forums regarding issues related to the game crashing and interestingly the thread is titled “BEWARE OF CRACKED VERSIONS”:

Hey everyone, Our development team, customer support, and our mod squad are intensely reading and patrolling our boards and assessing all the issues being raised. We are looking in to them, attempting to re-pro, and see what are real technical Patch 1.02 issues, and which are being solved with helpful technical tips from you guys. We definitely appreciate that! However, we are fully aware of various cracked versions out there right now. We have confirmed that the cracked version of the game crashes on the following missions: Allied Mission 3, Empire of the Rising Sun Mission 3, and Soviet Mission 6. We're also aware that the cracked version of the game contains an intro splash screen of a bikini-clad Soviet female character that is not in our game nor is this splash screen apart of our game. one of the above issues are occurring in the retail version and none are issues that we can re-produce. You will see some of our devs monitoring threads and asking questions to help users fix any specific issues, or acquire more info so we can assess. Some of those devs are familiar faces: EA_DevAmer, EA_Marquis, EA_Shadow If you see one of them in a thread, please say hello and help us, help you. Thanks, APOC

Note the text in bold? Initially I though these were the missions to which EA added SecuROM triggers to screw pirates. But it looks more like pirated versions of the game crashed because RELOADED (the group who cracked Red Alert 3 DRM) forgot to include a critical file in their release. RELOADED have however released a fixed version (Aka a crackfix) with this file included.

P.S.- Patch 1.01 of this game was released earlier and it DOES NOT address any of the crashes/black screen problems. 1.01 merely fixes a few non critical issues with multiplayer component of the game.

Pro Audio Torrents and AppzUniverse signups open - 1/11/2008

Pro Audio Torrents and it’s sister site AppzUniverse are currently both open for signups. Pro Audio Torrents is a private tracker specializing in audio utilities, music related apps, e-books and other extras while AppzUniverse is a dedicated Mac and PC general software tracker. Read one for more information.

Pro Audio Torrents

Site Name: ProAudioTorrents

Signup URL: http://proaudiotorrents.org/signup.php

Description: This tracker does not track music albums or actual music itself, but tracks a lot of extras such as music editing software, sound effects, tutorials and such. For a full description on Pro Audio Torrents tracker please refer to our previous post.

Categories: Ebooks, Expansions & Addons, HYBRID PC/MAC, Mac Audio Apps, Mac Updates, Misc/Other, Musical Training, PC Audio Apps, PC Updates, Refills, RTAS, Samples / Libraries, SFX, Software Tutorials, Synth, VST Instruments, VST Plug-ins

AppzUniverse

Site Name: Appzuniverse.org

Signup URL: http://www.appzuniverse.org/signup.php

Description: AppzUniverse is a dedicvated software tracker. You can find over 1500 torrents of PC and MAc software and software packs. Without a doubt one of the best appz trackers currently online. For more information on AppzUniverse, please refer to our previous post about this tracker.

Categories:

3D / Graphics
3D / Graphics Training
Appz Dev Tools
Appz Dev Training
Appz Training
Certification Courses
Ebooks / Mags
Hybrid Appz
Mac Apps
Mac Updates
Misc / Other
Mobility Appz
Other Op Sys Appz
PC Apps
PC Updates
Photo / Video Appz
Photo / Video Training
Web Dev Training
Web Templates/Addons

Note: Be warned that both these trackers will close open signups in less than 17 hours (from time of this post). So you better hurry if you want to get in.

Private Tracker Watch: Ozone-T (Ozone-Torrents) signups open

An excellent private torrent tracker Ozone-Torrents (aka Ozone-T) just opened signups. Ozone-T is a General/0Day tracker which tracks both scene and non scene released software, movies, games, TV shows, E-Books and other content. Ozone-T is around 1 year old and they have managed to recruit over 6000 users while being closed for new signups for the most part of the year. There are currently over 8500 torrents on this tracker and Ozone-T enjoys an extremely healthy flow of daily new torrents.

Apart from usual scene and p2p releases, Ozone-Torrents has a good number of unique packs as well. For example, below is a screenshot of some of the BOXSETS at OzoneT:

Note than the packs are not limited to movies. I even found some CCNA study material packs among others. Look for the ‘OT’ tag at the end of torrent title to identify packs unique to Ozone-T.

The site is currently open for new signups and during this period new users can join the tracker without having to provide an invite code. Be warned that open signups don’t last that long at Ozone-T and it does not open up that frequently either. So now would be a good time to create an account.