Old ICQ Fixes

Click here to
read my weblog:
Brian Sullivan's
Random Musings

These fixes are required in all version of ICQ before build V2.20 build 1800. This latest version seems to have corrected this problem

	Be careful!! The registry editor on Windows 95 and pre-release Windows 98 does not allow pasting or export/import of multiple line entries so that editing of this key has to be done very carefully!!
	Good news for Windows 98 users exporting/importing of multiple line strings works correctly. The key in question can be exported to a .reg file, edited with a text editor and imported back correctly (the end of line is "\r\n").--thanks to Bruce Roorda for this information.

After some sleuthing and newsgroup banter by myself and a number of other individuals, I think we may have found what is causing people to have the "You tried to call yourself" and maybe other connection errors when using ICQ to initiate a NetMeeting call. It seems that the registry value that dictates the contents of the .CNF file that is created in the call initiation procedure is incorrect.

The registry key in question:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mirabilis\ICQ\Owners\xxxxxx\Prefs\Externals\Microsoft NetMeeting

where xxxxxx is your ICQ number ( you could have more than one of these). It could contain:

[ConferenceShortcut]
ConfName=h
Address=ii
CallFlags=65539
Transport=1

[ConferenceShortcut]
ConfName=i
CallFlags=65537
Transport=1

It appears that it should contain:

[ConferenceShortcut]
ConfName=%i
Address=%i
CallFlags=65539
Transport=1

The critical thing is the "Address" ( if "ConfName" is not in your key it probably does not matter). This has not been completely verified as a total fix but appears to have worked in a number of situations. I will update information as it becomes available.

If your entry is of the type:

[ConferenceShortcut]
ConfName=i
CallFlags=65537
Transport=1

change the "ConfName=i" entry to "Address=%i".

To run the registry editor click on "Start" menu button, chose the "Run..." menu item, enter "regedit" followed by the "OK" button. Be careful. It is possible to make your system unrunnable if you make a wrong step.

Another Simpler Method to fix the problem?

Thanks to Jan H. Jacob for this information. I haven't actually tried it but since it doesn't involve registry editing it is inherently simpler.

Go to ICQ Preferences, choose 'Internet Telephony/Games/Chat', press button 'New External':

External Application Name: NetMeeting Plus (or whatever but make sure it's different from the other NM name)

External Application Executable: c:\windows\rundll32.exe

Command Line: msconf.dll,CallToProtocolHandler %i

And you are set!

Beware: you MUST use the full path to rundll32.exe (normally in your windows directory), rundll32.exe alone might work (it actually did here) for once or twice but ICQ will need a path to acknowledge you have 'the program' installed.

The Command Line must be exact like typed here, no spaces other than between CallToProtocolHandler and %i

A side effect (possibly desirable) with this method is that if you have "Automatically accept externals" selected ICQ will automatically start NetMeeting with no intervention required.

Another even simpler method to fix the problem.

Noël Danjou has created a little utility that automatically patches the registry. It can be downloaded from his site.

Problems, comments, questions: Email webmaster
Changed:Thursday January 12, 2006 11:27 -0500

Be careful!! The registry editor on Windows 95 and pre-release Windows 98 does not allow pasting or export/import of multiple line entries so that editing of this key has to be done very carefully!!

Good news for Windows 98 users exporting/importing of multiple line strings works correctly. The key in question can be exported to a .reg file, edited with a text editor and imported back correctly (the end of line is "\r\n").--thanks to Bruce Roorda for this information.