Hi Bob and all, Thanks for that reply. I'll pass it on. Further to the message I sent, the friend concerned has come back to me with some further information: "when I try to sign in to live messenger thru the desktop it opens a box which says unable to sign you into messenger then there is the error code in a drop down box entitled details.. hope this helps as its very frustrating." Does the above give anyone any clues as to what's wrong, or further suggestions I can pass on? Alexander Shannon ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq