Oh no!. TROUBLESHOOTING on [m]sn.?

' windows live messenger has made a several failed attempts to sign you in. your firewall may be blocking Windows Live Messenger from connecting to the services. Please review your Firewall Settings. See the retailers instruction for more information ' . i look on my firewall, & it says that its not block. please help me, i need my msn to talk to my family from around the world. i know, i can use ebuddy & stuff .. but i'm not confortable with it. It doesnt work .. it been for a months, soo earlier i downloaded 8.1 wlm, but it says that i cant use that msn anymore cos evryone have to download new version, soo i was soo PISSED!. please help me, give me some good answers. pls, ur my only hope .. =(