Instant Messenger programs

Sister Grace · July 29, 2008, 04:03:00 PM

i've been thinking about installing an IM program on my computer; what does everyone recommend?

Ash · July 29, 2008, 04:24:40 PM

Definitely Yahoo Messenger.

I've been using it for almost 8 years and have never had any problems with it.
It has more features than other IM programs and is easier to use and several people here use it.

I recommend using version 8.1. They have a 9.0 Beta version but it isn't very good.

http://messenger.yahoo.com/

ghouck · July 29, 2008, 05:19:58 PM

Yahoo does work pretty good. I'm not sure what advantages others may have, but Yahoo has all the basics (Public and Private chat, Webcam, Voice). With being better though, it gets used more, so there's more spam crap, but it's fairly well under control.

Sister Grace · July 29, 2008, 08:41:25 PM

Quote from: Ash on July 29, 2008, 04:24:40 PM
Definitely Yahoo Messenger.
I've been using it for almost 8 years and have never had any problems with it.
It has more features than other IM programs and is easier to use and several people here use it.

I recommend using version 8.1. They have a 9.0 Beta version but it isn't very good.

http://messenger.yahoo.com/

I took your advice and did version 8.1; I'm trying to curb my phone bill and hoping this will help. Anyways my screen name is SisterGrace78, anyone feel free to look me up.

Ash · July 29, 2008, 10:15:05 PM

If you're trying to curb your phone bill, you made a good choice.

Yahoo Messenger has a feature called "Phone Out" where you pre-pay $10 or $25 (whichever amount you choose) and you can make p.c. to phone calls (including cell phones) right from Yahoo Messenger to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for 1 cent per minute.
It's an awesome deal.

Your remaining balance is shown right there on Messenger and as you make calls, it subtracts the time from your balance. And it won't keep billing you every month if you don't want it to.
Once your time runs out, you can either choose to have it auto-refill or not.
$10 gets you 1000 minutes. That's a better deal than any other phone service that I know of.
You must have a mic or headset, though.

Here's the link:

http://voice.yahoo.com/

asimpson2006 · July 30, 2008, 09:43:10 AM

I use several different ones but I usually use Trillan and MSN Messenger. What I like about Trillan is that youc an use different IM programs at once (Like having multiple AOL IM names, Yahoo, MSN, others) at one time in one program. It's nice for when you have multiple IM names and talk to different people on those. Plus it can also keep track of IM conversations which really comes in handy when you need to check something out that someone said before.

I only MSN messenger at home and at work when I talk to a friend of mine who lives in South Korea.

Patient7 · July 30, 2008, 11:10:40 AM

I use AIM which is allright but if you have something good I wouldn't change. My main problem is that I don't know how to change my E-mail adress so I'm pretty much stuck with this one for a while.

sprite75 · July 30, 2008, 12:12:32 PM

Well, for anyone who is on Macs I'd recommend Adium. It's compatible with all the major services - AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Google, MySpace, Jabber and so on. Unlike iChat, which only supports AIM, XMPP, and Bonjour. They have the 1.3 version in Beta right now, which will add support for Facebook chat. I'm trying to decide whether or not to upgrade to the Beta or just wait until 1.3 is officially released.