Brock and I are still alive and have been working on our own individual projects, most of which are unrelated to Yahoo! Chat completely. That said... YTK Enhanced will continue to be developed, regardless of any rumors, and we will still be supporting the newest Yahoo! Messenger versions and builds as usual. Currently, YTK Enhanced, despite the most recent build of age having been released many months ago, is estimated to already be 95% compatible with Yahoo! Messenger 11.5 build 152 (most current at this time). The couple items that aren't will be updated to complete full compatibility (ie. YMSGv19 added to Auto-Reconnect, our own extended smiley support being removed and Yahoo!'s own being added to the chat room etc). From the small things to the large and the issues in between, they'll be handled in future builds, one at a time, rather than altogether in parallel. This also includes our own authoritative implementation (being the initial discoverer) of the long awaited Dual-Mode anti-boot feature which is now completely finished, working perfectly, and awaiting the final step of integration into YTK's core. Some important decisions regarding this feature in particular are still being worked out so if it isn't in the next build then it'll likely be in the following (provided that it isn't a last minute quick, small scale release to satisfy something minor). Other potential Dual-Mode-esque boot resistance functionality is presently being researched as well in case there are other viable solutions for the long term. I'm fully aware of what's changed in the Yahoo! Chat landscape, what's been added, and what still needs updated and fixed in the current [public] build of YTK Enhanced. The good news is that I've identified a new anti-boot resistance aid to combat certain packet types from being used in floods to disconnect users. This functionality will work for all protocol versions, implementations, and can be easily enabled and disabled with no penalties or issues. This is something that is more of a supplemental aid in combination with a fully functional chat room resumable anti-boot system such as our Dual-Mode protection.
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Yahoo! can, and has (many times) allowed, added, and/or then quickly taken away "features". Functionality that YTK once proudly supported and offered for protection, enhancement, and privacy. From a full-blown and perfectly operational YCHT protocol (the old java web chat used this) chat bridge back in 2005-2006 to a Chat 2.0 (DHTML web chat used this) chat bridge for seamless integration with Messenger. Both of these never even had the chance to see the light of day to the general public/customers (except to private testers), and too many other useful things to list or dwell on. The next "big thing" will likely be another "room stick" exploit method for chat which will probably last no longer than a month, if that, when it does spread to the public (as always). Long-term solutions, if thought to be probable enough to likely stick around for the long haul, are now the main focal point of our 6+ year long commitment to keeping up with the times and chat scene progression (or lack thereof) through YTK's development. Yahoo! Chat's near-death experience continues to threaten everyone's chat lives and now Microsoft's "renewed" interest in acquiring Yahoo! Inc. are major events to consider. Too many times Brock and I have worked around the clock to offer something great just to have it exterminated by Yahoo! Inc's network engineers and their Messenger development team. As usual we'll do our best, time permitted, to continue providing you with updates that improve, fix, and otherwise add new useful features as they're tested and finalized.
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A new business model is also being discussed concerning whether or not YTK will stay commercial software the way it is now or if it'll become freeware (sponsored for example) and bundled with legitimate third party software (which would be custom/optional to install) or whether it becomes full-fledged donation-ware. This isn't a decision we're making real soon so don't think that we've already decided, we haven't. Due to the size of the project and complexity involved in everything that it does, open-sourcing it will likely never happen. While I am a fan of open source software, making an Object Pascal (Delphi) project open source for such functionality would be a serious headache for even the most seasoned programmers. Modifying YTK's sizable amount of source code to update for future Yahoo! Chat and Messenger compatibility, for personal reasons, and/or to add or remove functionality without the knowledge, experience, and, most importantly, without the understanding of so many facets REQUIRED would be a pretty worthless endeavor. If this project wasn't so specific for enhancement, it being completely targeted at a single IM service provider and their official client and chat network server operation, then it'd be more useful to the standard developer who might want to tinker with the Yahoo! Chat network and Messenger itself (from both the client and/or server roles to all major services and facilities it offers).

I just noticed that Yahoo! has now ditched their old RE2 webcam servers in favor of new ones, just as they did with their old MUD webcam servers months back. The RE2 webcam servers can still be used, for now, but will cause false positives with YTK's Webcam Presence Verification scanning feature due to the new family of servers that Yahoo! now wants us to primarily use. If you've noticed that real webcam users have been auto-ignored in the last day or two then this would be why. Plugging in their new webcam lookup server's hostname will fix the issue and no more false positives will occur.

Here's a temporary fix until the next build of YTK Enhanced is released --> http://ytkpro.com/Cam_Server_Update.zip

Simply extract the Cam_Server_Update.cmd program from the zip file and run it. You won't be prompted for any input. After you run the program your Webcam Presence Scanning Primary Lookup Server should now show this one instead...

Forum Topic: http://www.ytk.smfnew.com/index.php?topic=1562.0

YTK Enhanced Version 2.6 Build 108 Beta Release Notes:

--> Removed U-Mode's old "Cloak Mode" functionality that allowed your name to stay in the room even after being disconnected from the chat server. This anti-boot option has now been reduced to Auto-Reconnect which provides all of Yahoo!'s YMSG protocol versions 15, 16, 17, 18, and 102 for session connectivity and still uses our very own ultra fast, single packet universal cookie login which still completely prevents your account from being locked out of chat (effective until you sign out of YM or close YTK/YM)

--> Removed all the old SP1 & AC4 YMSG Chat Servers since they no longer work

--> Removed all the old RE2 SIP PC Call Servers as most no longer work anymore

--> Fixed an IMVironment bug that caused a confliction with the old file transfer packet so now IMV's are correctly identified when group zoning blocks them instead of being reported as "File Transfers" in the alert bar

--> Fixed a bug with the "Let Messenger Choose" setting in the SIP PC Voice & Video Call Server Selector where YTK would sometimes not relay the connection properly

--> Added the new YMSG version 18 (which YM 11 natively uses) to Auto-Reconnect's Protocol Version Selector

--> Added the new Yahoo! Messenger Update Servers and reworked YTK's YM Update Checker for new builds of YM 11 as well as new versions that may be available in the future

--> Added the new (non -Px) NE1 and SP2 PC calling servers to the PC Calling Voice & Video Server Selector

--> Improved our Duplicate PM detection and blocking for both inbound and outbound messages so you'll never see one again nor will the people you contact via PM

--> Removed all of the old secondary MUD cam lookup servers for WPV cam scanning and replaced them with the new secondary cam lookup server

--> Slightly increased WPV's webcam bot scanning speed a bit (this is going to be rewritten from the ground up next build). No false positives occur as usual and it's more reliable than ever with the new secondary cam lookup server in use

--> Added a new internal spam rule that blocks and auto-ignores users posting messages with links that contain an HTML entity code obfuscation technique to bypass Yahoo!'s own spam link filtering rules in chat rooms

--> Added a new internal spam rule that blocks and auto-ignores users posting messages with a link as their first message received

--> Removed the Refresh Voice Toolbar Button enable/disable option from the control panel so it can no longer be disabled since it didn't properly work anyway and because of the set ordering the custom toolbar buttons in chat are designed to be in (a future option will allow you to order them however you like)

--> Fixed a bug with checking the Global Ignore Bin before blocking Spam Greeting messages from users who post a spam greeting signature as their first message received so you no longer see multiple entries from the same ignored user in the loggers

--> Removed the YMSG/HTTP Keep-Alive Ping option as it is now useless and was buggy causing disconnections to occur for _some_ of our users Yahoo! accounts

--> Fixed Username Auto-Complete since YM 11 Beta partially broke it

--> Fixed the Recent Rooms List as YM 11 Beta broke it

--> Fixed the custom Toolbar Buttons that YTK adds to the chat room since YM 11 Beta broke it

--> Fixed our alternate Auto-Reconnect YMSG protocol version support as YM 11 wasn't working correctly with it initially

--> Cleaned up several unit sections of source code for various features and service handlers

--> ALL of YM 11/YMSG version 18's new packet types and services are now recognized and supported (there's over a half dozen new packet types) which includes Facebook Chat (requires you to link your FB account to your Yahoo! Messenger account first to use it)

--> Other miscellaneous corrections were made to account for Yahoo!'s packet type use and service changes

--> Fully backwards compatible with ALL Yahoo! Messenger builds (versions 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, and 10.0)

--> Full [initial] support for this first build of Yahoo! Messenger 11 Beta has been completed

--> Tested and working correctly with Windows 7's newly released Service Pack 1

Make sure you UNINSTALL your current build of YTK Enhanced BEFORE installing this new build!

Download YTK Enhanced Version 2.6 Beta Build 108!

Since focus is upon releasing a new YTK Enhanced update, it could be awhile before the next major YTK Pro update, YTK Pro v2.0 is released. However since YTK Pro currently doesn't function correctly due to Yahoo's recent changes it now is deemed unsupported until YTK Pro v2.0 is released! As a precaution I have temporary removed the YTK Pro forum sections from the forums and mention of YTK Pro from the main website including downloads to YTK Pro as it is NOT supported at the current time. There will be no technical support regarding YTK Pro until YTK Pro v2.0 is released!

I understand how frustrating this is for our YTK Pro users but rest assured you are not forgotten or being "thrown to the side" or anything like that. YTK Pro is very much alive however it'll take time to finish so please exercise patience while Adam and Brock do their best to finish it... it'll be worth it.

Also, please don't post topics when an update is coming out. There is no ETA or release dates for this or YTK Enhanced updates. Any topics posted about this will be pointed towards this topic and locked.

Thanks!

As many of you don't know, I have partnered with the Italian-based NoVirusThanks Company Srl and in the past 8 months I have been the lead programmer of our new anti-rootkit software application which is compatible on 32-bit Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista and Windows 7. We fully expect to make a commercial launch later today, please take a moment to look at what our anti-rootkit's feature capabilities are.

http://www.novirusthanks.org/products/novirusthanks-anti-rootkit/

NoVirusThanks Anti-Rootkit is a must-have for anyone seeking true 32-bit Windows NT kernel security and system threat analysis. The vast detection range of industry standard rootkits is truly amazing especially without compromising system stability even in the most hostile, malware-plagued environments, which is unlike any of our future competitor's products to date.

More screen shots and stealth malware (rootkit) detection videos are coming, make sure to bookmark http://www.NoVirusThanks.org and also check out their great line of Freeware security tools. Stay Tuned!

Update: NoVirusThanks Anti-Rootkit v1.0 has been released and is now commercially available to the public. Please make sure you check out the newly added detection screen shots and some youtube videos of it in action vs. some of the most malicious stealth rootkits.

http://www.novirusthanks.org/products/novirusthanks-anti-rootkit/

Brock and I are working on getting updates out soon. There aren't any critical bugs in our software to immediately address but it has been approximately 2 months since YTK Enhanced was updated and much longer for YTK Pro and VC Sync. VC Sync has been free since March and has no issues other than some reports about voice dominance not working/working as well in particular chat rooms which leads me to believe that certain voice servers have been updated in a way that affects it.

More updates will be posted back here as progress is made. We're shooting to have updates out very soon.

Update: We're nearly finished with the new build. Some loose ends need to be tied up and then some testing will be done before the new build of YTK Enhanced is released. It's taken longer than expected because of our busy lives, outside of Yahoo! Chat third party development, and due to the amount of research and time that needed to be put in.

Please DO NOT post anymore about when the new update(s) will be available. The new build of YTK Enhanced will be available when it's completely finished and has been fully tested.

It appears auto-resume has been patched by Yahoo due to it's use in locking chat rooms with bots. Because of this, U-Mode will NOT function anymore and using it will cause you to be logged out of chat the second it engaged so you'll have to disable it until U-Mode can be removed in the next YTK Enhanced build!

Temporary solution to chat logout upon join:
Sign out of Yahoo! Messenger
Uncheck U-Mode
Sign into Yahoo! Messenger

Thanks for your patience.

Regards,
YTK Staff

Several days ago Yahoo! made some changes that affected YTK Enhanced's connectivity to Yahoo! Messenger & the YMSG chat servers. I temporarily issued a quick registry fix that helped for a few days. As of yesterday my fix now negatively affects YTK's chat connection (again, due to Yahoo! making another change with their servers).

So... YOU NEED TO EITHER UNINSTALL Yahoo! Messenger versions 9.0 - 10.0 if you're using one of these versions OR use this new fix (which is what Yahoo! now uses for their server lookups) to fix your YTK connection issues.

I've removed the old and now non-working connection fix from our server that I previously issued. You can either uninstall Yahoo! Messenger (9.0 or 10.0) or simply use this new YTK connection fix to undo what the old 'fix' did.

You can download the new *working* connection fix HERE --> http://ytkpro.com/YTK-Conn-Fix.zip

If you are using Yahoo! Messenger versions 8.0 or 8.1 then you do not need this new connection fix.

This new fix simply restores the changes made by the old and now obsolete one I issued which will save you the time of uninstalling & reinstalling Yahoo! Messenger (unless you want/need to do this for whatever reason).

YTK Enhanced Version 2.6 Build 98 Beta Release Notes:

--> Updated vHook.dll's connection interception hooks for the new YMSG chat servers so connectivity is now properly restored.

--> Added all of the new *currently working only* YMSG chat servers to YTK's server selector list.

--> Fixed the PC to PC Call Keep-Alive option since it wasn't being disabled properly (was still enabled even after unchecking it and starting YTK again).

--> Removed (temporarily) the captchaes1.a1.chat.ac4.yahoo.com server from the Chat Captcha server selector list due to it's numerous problems such as it's occasional unavailability, the room list not being sent after completing the captcha challenge, and being logged out of chat after 5 minutes of not typing (idling).

--> Added all of Yahoo!'s Messenger update check servers (for checking new versions & build availability & downloading) to YTK's YM Update Server Selector.

--> Added all the new PC to PC Call Voice & Video/Phone-in|Phone-Out servers to the PC Call Server Selector (except for the -p1, -p2, & -p3 servers which are still being tested before they're added).

--> Fixed a bug in FTTS (File Transfer Type Screening) that was found (privately by myself) which allowed for a disallowed file extension to be sent with a legitimate/allowed file extension allowing dangerous files to be potentially downloaded. This was due to FTTS not handling multi-part file transfers and only single files at a time. Now, if a disallowed file extension is included in a multi-part file transfer the entire packet & session will be dropped/blocked. Future plans I have will simply strip the disallowed files out of a multi-part transfer and only download the allowed ones that are set up according to your allowed file transfer extensions list making it possible to utilize this feature even if a disallowed file type is detected in the transfer request.

--> For now our own custom anti-crack measures have been temporarily removed to decisively verify whether one of the routines was causing problems in YTK's normal operation such as blank chat rooms with no people in them (room list being blank) and/or no chat text being present in the room.

--> Some miscellaneous little fixes here and there including some additional code cleanup and extra validity checks within certain zoned and unhandled YMSG services (packet types).

Make sure you UNINSTALL your current build of YTK Enhanced BEFORE installing this new build!

Download YTK Enhanced Beta Build 98!