Messenger Monitor runs at startup (and continuously) on our main PC. It’s a simple application with a sparse interface. When it runs, it instantiates Microsoft Messenger on the PC and logs Karen and Jon into the service. If the login process is successful, it passes that information to an ASP at theheals.org, where it’s stored in an XML file. Messenger Monitor is constantly, well, monitoring our Microsoft Messenger status. When it changes, the change is again passed to theheals.org. A link on our home page opens a popup window alerting viewers as to our status.

Despite the fact that plain old Visual Basic 6 is now considered a creaky dinosaur and looked upon with disdain, it’s actually very powerful, easy to use and still works well. What is beyond VB6 out of the box can usually be accomplished with the odd API call here and there. In the case of Messenger Monitor, I wanted its main form to minimize to the tray instead of the taskbar: not truly possible with VB6, but the effect can be pretty well simulated with a few API calls.

Of course, API calls can be dangerous, but how interesting would life be without the occasional threat of impending doom?