There are lots of good things on the Internet and some that are not so good. I don’t want to infringe on someone else’s free speech but I also don’t think that means I have to read or see everything that is put on the Internet. Also I have children and I believe that there is a lot of content that is not appropriate for them. As such I have used filtering software for a long time. Earlier this year I upgraded to 64-bit operating systems on some of my machines and the software I had been using wouldn’t run so I asked around for other suggestions on what software others use to filter content. I settled on using Windows Live Family Safety (mainly because it is free and runs on 64-bit Vista). It has been working fine for me and my family until last week.

For some strange reason I started getting error 80210079 when trying to approve web sites for myself or for all users. I went through the normal dance of trying to search for information, repair the installation, and remove and install the Windows Live Essentials software. All to no avail. I couldn’t find anything on support.microsoft.com or by using several search engines. I decided to blog about it just in case someone else is getting the same error.

I have my personal settings set as strict at my youngest child just so I am not a hypocrite and asking them to go through something that I am not willing to do also. I also have other Live IDs so I changed the logged in user for the family safety filter and the error went away. I dug a little deeper and figured out that because I was essentially white listing all of the web sites I visit I had 500 approved sites on my primary Live ID and fewer (around 70) on the one that wasn’t giving me error 80210079. I tried deleting a few sites from my primary account and it stopped giving me the error when I approved new sites. I deleted a lot of sites that I don’t regularly visit.

It appears that Windows Live Family Safety has a limit of 500 sites in the approved list. This isn’t a problem for my children since they seem to go to the same sites (less than 100) most of the time but I will have to remember this when I get back up to the magic 500 number.

I got this in my e-mail because I am still technically running a MSN group for the UCNUG leadership. I don't recall any messages on the group for the last 2 years so for me this is a non-event but there may be others who have changed e-mail addresses and would like to know that their groups (and the history) might be going away

Dear MSN Groups Customer,

As a valued MSN Groups or MSN Communities Web Folders customer, we want to notify you that the MSN Groups service will close on February 21, 2009 and you will have the opportunity to move your group to our new partner service, Multiply. We understand the importance of keeping your group together, so we partnered with Multiply to create a migration process that moves your group to their service to preserve your online community and its history. Read on to find out about how to kick off the automatic migration of your group to Multiply.

We realise this may be unexpected, so before presenting your options we want to briefly share why we've made this decision.

Why?
Because we are dedicated to providing our customers with the most current and user friendly technology available today we made the difficult decision to close the MSN Groups service. This decision is part of an overall investment to update and re-align our online services with Windows Live. In the long term we believe that closing the service is the best way to continue to offer innovative and effective services that help you stay in touch with the people you care about. We plan to launch a new Groups service in the coming weeks, but unlike MSN Groups, Windows Live Groups will focus on offering a place for small groups to collaborate. Multiply is available now, making it your best option today for continuing to share and communicate together online.

Options for moving your group to a new service
We've listed some options and resources below to help you decide what to do with your group.

• Option 1: Automatically move your group and its data. We have established a partnership with Multiply, an online group and media sharing service so our users can choose to migrate their group to Multiply's service. Choosing this option is free and easy to use: Multiply will move the Group's content on your behalf and invite members to re-join your group in its new location. To begin the migration click here.
• Option 2: Start again on another service. You can start from scratch and create your group on a different service but we recommend having your Group moved automatically by Multiply. This will enable your Group to transition easily and continue to enjoy the community you have created.
• Option 3: Start again on Windows Live Groups. To further expand our mix of communications and sharing services, Windows Live will launch a new service this autumn, Windows Live Groups. We plan to launch Windows Live Groups to the public in the coming weeks as a service that helps small groups or clubs collaborate online.

Options for MSN Communities Web Folders users
If you use save files to the MSN Communities web folders (also known as "My Web Sites on MSN" or the web folder "My Groups"), these services are part of MSN Groups and will therefore will also be closed on February 21, 2009. We recommend that if you store files online using MSN Communities web folders that you back up these files locally, then upload them to another online storage service such as Windows Live SkyDrive. For more details on how to find and move files saved to your web folders, visit the MSN Groups Resource Center.

Your Next Steps
We have sent this letter to each MSN Groups user, whether member or manager. If you are:

• A member or user of MSN Groups: Check with your group manager to determine whether they plan to migrate the group.
• A manager: Visit the MSN Groups Resource Center to learn more about your options and consider soliciting feedback from your group members about what they would prefer to do, when and how. The Resource Center also provides a sample splash page you can use to notify your members that the group will move. If you're ready to move the group now, click here.

What to Expect between now and the closing date
Between today and February 21, 2009 the MSN Groups service will remain the same as it is now. We will remove the option to add more storage to your group but other features will remain until the service is shut down and you can use it the same way you do today until the date of closure.

Where can I learn more?
You probably have more questions, and that's why we created a website to address them. Please visit the MSN Groups Resource Center at any time for the most up to date answers to common questions, information about migrating your group to Multiply, contact information for our support staff, and important dates.

Our support staff are equipped to answer your questions and guide you through issues that may arise as you decide what to do with your group. They are ready to help so don't hesitate to contact them at MSN Groups Customer Support with your questions.

We thank you for using our services and regret any inconvenience this may cause.

MSN Groups, Microsoft Corporation

It hasn't really been a secret that Microsoft was going to change http://home.live.com to be more of a social network. There were more than just the two articles I reference below 

Sweeping Changes At Live.com: It’s A Social Network!

 http://windowslive.com/ComingSoon?ocid=EML_PROED_HM_Acq_WL_getbetter_112008

Now that I have had a chance to see it for myself and to be invited to some of my friend's networks I am not really sure how I feel about it. I like the look and feel but when I started digging into the settings for my profile I saw that the default was that everyone could see my network. I understand that social networks are built on sharing and for that reason I don't know that I have a problem with the default but it would have been nice to have been told that.

Another issue is that a lot of the invitations to join a network are coming with just the first name of the person. I understand this is also a setting in the profile but it is a little annoying to have to go and look to see which John or Andrew is inviting me to their network. I did find that if I go into my profile I can see the invitations and there it had the full name of the people who had invited me.

I already maintain contacts on Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Facebook besides my e-mail contacts so I am not sure how many other web sites I want to use for social networking but I will give live.com a try if for no other reason than I am always checking my hotmail accounts and it isn't that much more work to add in people to my network.