Development wise, why doesn't Windows Live Messenger minimize on Windows 7?

When running Windows Live Messenger on Windows 7, it will not minimize to the tray icon. Setting the application to Windows Vista compatibility mode will make it work.

This workaround is well-described in many articles, e.g.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/15/workaround-to-hide-and-minimize-windows-live-messenger-iconbutton-to-notification-area-system-tray-in-windows-7/

How does the compatibility mode change the behaviour of minimizing Windows Live Messenger? I assume that Windows Live Messenger doesn't check how it is configured so there must be something on the OS side doing this.

Saar

Posted 2010-07-16T04:36:39.320

Reputation:

Answers

Messenger checks to see if it's running on Windows 7 and changes its behavior when it's running on Windows 7.

If you mark it as running in Vista compatibility mode, it doesn't know it's on Windows 7 and thus minimizes to the tray, since that's the desired Vista operation.

ReinstateMonica Larry Osterman

Posted 2010-07-16T04:36:39.320

Reputation: 339

So it is not the case that one of the OS API functions behaves differently . Thanks. – None – 2010-07-17T05:15:57.980

Nope - this isn't an OS behavior change, it's an application behavior change. – ReinstateMonica Larry Osterman – 2010-07-17T16:29:12.727