A lot of connection problems of all kinds will raise if you are using a firewall that does not allow Windows Live Messenger to connect to the MSN servers. Here are some key tips on which communication needs to be allowed and white-listed so that Messenger can sign in properly.

The following ports are used by Messenger:

• TCP 443
• TCP 1863
• TCP 80.

There are two kinds of firewalls:

• software firewalls, like Windows Firewall, and
• hardware firewalls. If you are using a router to connect to the web, it has probably such a firewall.

Configuring Windows Firewall for Messenger

• Click Start, Control Panel.
• Choose Windows Firewall.

• If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, click the link Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall.
• In the appearing Windows Firewall dialog, switch to the Exceptions tab. If you are using Windows 7, click the button Change settings.
• Now add an exception for the following file:
  C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
  If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows, the path starts with C:\Program Files (x86).

If these steps do not fix your problem, Internet Explorer Offline mode might be the bad guy. In my next post, I will show you how to fix this issue.

Questions? Need more support? Contact http://support.live.com/ and the team will be glad to help you out.

Source: http://messengermaximal.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!40F43EC9BA81D814!5382.entry

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