>So Microsoft threw some switch or other today that has resulted in many Pidgin users who try to connect to the MSN network being greeted with the following pop-up: –

Now i’m not a Pidgin user but I can appreciate it’s enough to get anyone in a flap so here’s how to “fix” it courtesy of the brains @ retrohack whose Windows instructions i’ve adapted for Ubuntu.

1. Open https://omega.contacts.msn.com in your browser
2. You will get a directory access denied error  – for once it’s what we want to see!
3. Click the ‘security’ or ‘padlock’ icon usually found to the left of the URL in the address bar to view the certificate.
4. Click around to find the ‘export certificate’ feature (In Chrome/ium this is the ‘details’ tab)
5. Rename the exported certificate omega.contacts.msn.com and copy it to the Pidgin certificates folder located in your home folder at .purplecertificatesx509tls_peers (You’ll need to press CTRL+H to see hidden files)
6. Overwrite the existing file with the one you’ve just exported
7. Breathe.  You’re done.