For people who have a lot of stuff in their MSN/Windows Messenger sharing folders, it's a bit of bandwidth to get it all back from people online. So, when formatting your drive, you should backup your SHARING FOLDERS, usually located in the below location:

(root):\Documents and Settings\(username)\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Messenger\(email address)\Sharing Folders

or (for example)

C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Messenger\user@hotmail.com\Sharing Folders

From there you can just copy the information back when you've done reinstalling.

PeAcE.

I recommend just putting the files on an external hard drive - works for me.

External is the best way to go.