windows live messenger error

[caoineadh]

recently my windows live messenger has been crashing a lot. it displays an error which says something like: ''Windows Live Messenger has encountered a problem and needs to close''. i have noticed that this occurs when i send or receive a voice chat and sometimes when i send or receive an emoticon. sometimes doing these things doesn't cause it to crash, but causes my emoticons not 2 be displayed properly. it also causes the sentences of my friend to display wrongly if they have included an emoticon in the sentence. it is quite an annoying problem to have, as i really don't know what on earth is wrong or how 2 fix it. could anyone give me any help on what this problem might be caused by and how i could fix it. cheers