Hi,

I am using MSN Messenger with a Hotmail account. In Messenger, the unread mail count is stuck on 2. When I read those two emails I did it in Mozilla Firefox , so I'm guessing that Messenger cannot communicate with Firefox therefore the two emails are still 'unread'. I have made IE defaut browser and made the two emails unread (in IE in my actual inbox) and re-read them with no sucess.

Dani AI

Generated

This looks like the classic “stale count” problem — the unread badge can come from either a server-side flag or a local Messenger cache. As noted it sometimes clears itself after a few days, and was right to check/clean local Messenger state; is also right that hidden junk or secondary folders often hide the stray unread. The suggestions below avoid repeating the exact registry/prefetch steps already posted and focus on safe, practical checks you can do next.

Try these, in order:

  • Check the mailbox on the web: use your webmail’s Unread filter or search to list ALL unread items (Inbox, Spam/Junk, Archive, and any subfolders or rule-created folders). Mark everything read or empty Spam — server-side unread flags are the most common cause.
  • Isolate other clients/devices: temporarily sign out any phone, Outlook/Outlook Express, or POP client that fetches the same account. Some clients leave copies on the server or leave messages flagged unread; disabling them briefly forces a single-source sync.
  • Force a clean client sync: sign out of Messenger on every device, then sign back in on one machine. If the count still sticks to one Windows account, try signing into Messenger from a fresh Windows user profile to see whether it’s per-user.
  • If you go into local cleanup or reinstall: back up your profile and create a System Restore point first. Reinstalling Messenger or removing its cached user data will fix client-side-only problems, but do that only after server checks.

If the unread count follows the account across different machines, it’s almost certainly a server-side flag (marking everything read in webmail should clear it or it will expire in a couple of days). If it’s only in one Windows profile, recreating that profile or removing Messenger’s cached settings usually resolves it.

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Hi Jado,

I have the same problem: my MSN Messenger email counter is stuck on 1 when all my mail is read, and always shows 1 more than the actual amount when I do have new mail. I have no idea what caused this (don't think I ever read my mail in Firefox) but it's been like this for a very long time, even on previous versions of MSN Messenger.

If you or anyone else finds the solution, please let me know. Thanks!

CO

What version of windows is this.... what version of messenger is this, and how many other people use msn messenger on that computer? Do you have trayserver running?

This is a program that attempts To Fix this problem, by applying a bunch of different techniques. To walk you through what it does, step by step (in case you don't trust it, and want to do it yourself) is this order:

1. Cleans Out The Windows Prefetch Folder 
    c:\windows\prefetch

2. Deletes The "UnreadMail" subkey from the registry
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

3. Scans The Hard-Drive For trayserver.exe, and alerts you if it finds it.
    trayserver.exe will stop msn messenger from showing instant e-mail
    notifications (next to the time at the system tray)

If this doesn't fix the problem, you may have to uninstall msn messenger completely, and then remove all it's registry entries. Then you can reinstall it, and it should have cleared up the problem. Let me know how it turns out.

I tried your fix steps (manually), but without luck unfortunately. I cleared out the prefetch folder and removed the UnreadMail subkey from the registry. It contained subkeys for both Hotmail and my other mail-address (which I read through outlook express). Come to think of it, I also show my Hotmail mailbox in Outlook Express. Could this be causing the problem? In Outlook Express, the unread mail count for Hotmail is correct.
I also tried manually setting the MessageCount registry key to the correct value, but it just kept putting it back whenever I changed the amount of unread mails in Hotmail.
And I'm not running trayserver. I do get instant email notifications, the count is just wrong.

By the way, I'm running Windows XP Home Edition (SP2) with the latest version of MSN Messenger (7.5).

I see, my code isn't good enough for you ;) (j/k)

Outlook could be causing a problem, OR if there is multiple identies that are being conflicted with msn messenger.... Perhaps there is another identity that still has 1 unread e-mail in it? You could also consider uninstalling msn messenger, then go into the registry and remove all remnants of MSN messenger. Then reboot and reinstall, and that might fix it. You also might consider looking into cleaning out the application data (if messenger put 1 in your application data folder). Also, check and see if this problem happens with Windows Messenger..... if it does NOT happen with windows messenger, then we know it's not a problem with hotmail.

My problem was fixed. I just left it for a few days and the mail cound went to to zero.

That sounds to me, more like a problem with the msn messenger server, as opposed to your client side software.

It's junk mail caught in outlook - emptied mine then viewed it in hotmail and the counter reset to normal :)

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