Hello, I have MSN Messenger 6.1, and I've been using MSN for a long time. Ever since I got a Creative WebCam and Windows XP Home Edition, I was able to use a webcam with MSN, and others could see me at a fairly non-choppy rate. This worked great while I was at school last year, over the school's network. (This was when I was using MSN 5.0.) Then I upgraded to MSN 6.0, and people could still see me on dial-up, but the connection was now noticeably choppier. This change was very annoying, but at least they could still see me. However, ever since I came back to school and re-hooked up my computer to the school's hi-speed network (didn't change ANY settings for my webcam, MSN, or the network), no one can see me on my webcam in MSN anymore. There are a number reasons why this is terribly confusing to me: 1. I can still see other people on their webcams in MSN, but all they see is a black screen, and it says "Connecting to (their screenname here)..." forever at the bottom. 2. I asked a school computer person about whether there have been any network changes I should know about, and they said no, they have not had any complaints like that. 3. Others can see me on my webcam in Yahoo! Messenger, so I know it's not my webcam's fault. But the webcam images for both parties on Yahoo are choppy and unreliable for me, frequently being frozen or cutting out completely, so I would prefer not to use it. 4. I can see other people on Microsoft NetMeeting with amazing (basically real-time) speed, but they can't see me. Has anyone else had problems like these? I'm desperate to get MSN working again. Even better would be if I could get NetMeeting working, and the other party could see me at hi-speed. I would be very grateful for any and all suggestions... thanks.

Have you upgraded your webcam drivers? You may also check into firewall settings on your school's network. Try to get your messenger to connect through an open port, if you can find one.

You'll have to pardon my ignorance... how to I connect through an open port? Or should the school be able to help with that..?