Understood, thank you, but I ask those who are helping to keep one thing in mind:)
I'm not completely clueless, and believe me, I have 3 QIPs and 1 ICQ running on my computer right now... and the best I've managed is 9 contacts online in QIP in 2012.
Completely uninstall all previous versions before installing the new one, including manually deleting the folders containing the remnants of the program. Then everything should work.
