OOT-ish...MSN Messenger . . .Follow

I like alla sooo much, i don't even bother with other sites. I just ask everything here. Someone is bound to have the same issue.

Si I have been using the MSN Messenger for years. I've used Yahoo, AIM and others (and at one time, Trillion, because I could log on them all with just one messenger open), but over the years I just gave up on the others and stayed with MSN Messenger.

I like ti keep mine updated as much as I can. Within the last 2 weeks (not sure exact day) Windows Live Messenger came out (dub #14, but really it is the 9th in the series).
So I update, tell the people I was talking to I'll brb, log out and close the messenger.
And I update.
Now here is where my issue is. When I logged back in, my contact list was EMPTY. I had around 100+ contacts.

So I check out the Help w/ the Live Messenger, and they have a help for my issue. 2 things I could do. 1) Just re-add them or 2)Make sure Live is getting your contact info from the old Messenger's folder right.

I opted for #2 (actually it was #1 in the list). Nothing.

So I then try the other "help" option, by just adding people back (all of them are in my hotmail contact group, just had to copy and paste emails..right?). When I add someone, it tells me they don't even have messenger/the email doesn't exist.

WTF? I know exist, I told them to give me a few min so I could restart...

Have any of you had/have this issue? I'm now trying to (found as i was typing) a site that has the Messenger v.8 to download. Microsoft, why do you fail with me so much -.-?

That's wierd because your friend list isn't stored in your computer, but elsewhere, which allows you to log from anywhere. One error that annoyed me a few time was that "search" bar at the top of MSN itself. Erase everything in it, as that bar allows you to search for contacts in your list by email or screenname. So if you wrote in there "1uygf6" by accident, it might not be showing anyone up.

This I know, and yes..it is what makes this such a pain.
I had one of my bros sign in on their account, and it too was blank.

I typed that I found a site for old versions. But it was false (the downloads would crap out at 20%).
Any one know a good/safe site that I could maybe get the lower version?