Microsoft is planning to block all hotlinks, Winks and Dynamic Display Pictures from being sent or received for a testing period starting today until Thursday 31st.
An MSN spokesperson credited the additional testing to the recent virus attacks which attempted to use MSN Messenger as a way to spread harmful code. Over the 48 hour testing the period the MSN Messenger team will be testing different methods of blocking malicious code from being transferred on MSN Messenger.
The testing will only affect users using MSN Messenger 7 build 732 and any public builds are likely to be unaffected. Initially the MSN Messenger 7 beta was halted when users discovered a fatal flaw in the implementation of the new Winks feature.
MSN Messenger 7 is expected to be released in the coming months.