Windows Live Messenger - How to Disable this Feature

[StevieTNZ]

I'm sure a lot of people want this disabled - when someone sends an image link, a window appears to the right of the message window with the image. Can this be disabled, and how does one do that? Quite frankly I'm sick of it (its really annoying, too) and have no idea why Microsoft included it in the first place.

 

[Routaran]

its a "feature" of live messenger
to my understanding, if you copy paste an image into a chat window it will open the photo sharing.
If you use the File>Send a file option, this should give you the old style file transfer.

Essentially messenger is treating the information separately because of the data involved. if you copy an image like printscreen for example, its bitmap data and it will open photo sharing as its not referencing a file on your system.

you need to explicitly reference a file for messenger to use the old file transfer.

I saw this how-to on disabling it
http://www.withinwindows.com/2009/04/18/photo-sharing-feature-in-live-messenger-kill-it-dead/
i do not know if it works as i have not tried it but i wouldn't install any software that claims to do it for you, that's prolly going to be spyware.

 

[StevieTNZ]

Generally I post image links from webpages into my message windows, which results in the image loading in the window in question.

 

[Routaran]

hmm. its prolly downloading the file as you type it in, because its in memory and not a file on the HDD, its calling it a bitmap image and sharing it

im not sure if there's a way around it. sometimes we just may have to live with the 'feature'
i don't like it either but there's no off switch for it