"Yahoo Messenger" Nice Little Tool For Friends And Family!
Written: Jan 01 '01 (Updated Aug 19 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use with lots of shortcuts for fast surfing in Yahoo and finding friends.
Cons: None!
The Bottom Line: If you have friends or family that have Yahoo then you should download this quick tool.
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| Pandemonium's Full Review: Yahoo! Messenger |
After my last opinion on Yahoo! chats I thought I should write another opinion about one of their services. I have nothing against anything Yahoo! has to offer besides their chats.
Yahoo! messenger is definitely one of the best on the Internet. It has all the same basic features as most others but, their is a few things that make theirs a little different. Some of these new features are phone calls from computer to phone, being invisible, (most others have this but, relatively new to Yahoo!) sending files, and quite a few features that it can keep you informed about. You can also travel around most of Yahoo's site from just the instant messenger. The whole thing is small and relatively easy to use. (will take you some time to go through all the gadgets) You will also have to option to turn of the pager from coming on every time you start your computer. (a must have)
You can make the pager any size you want on your screen or just minimize it if you wish. There is an option here if you minimize the pager you can remove the Yahoo! messenger task bar button. (a feature I really like) First option you will see after you start it up is the login button. This is where you can change user (anyone familiar with Yahoo! knows you could have a ton of this if you want), disconnect, refresh, go too your account info, (this will open a new window in your browser) change your privacy options, (which their is a lot to play with here) or sign out and exit.
PREFERENCES
The preferences is where you can change most of the options on the pager. Here you can change general information, content, appearance, messages, alerts and sounds, some chat options, your privacy, and your connection. The heart of the pager. Most here are the basics but, there is a few I think I should mention.
The appearance option is a nice addition. You can change the theme of the pager from default, games, or custom giving it a new look. You can of course, change your font style and size. Also, the text color you wish to use. Just remember other members might change their fonts or colors so their is an option to always use yours and overriding what they have made as theirs
In the content section you can tell the pager what you want information about such as stocks, news, sports, auction, calendar, and more. This is pretty in-depth as well. You can of course set which things you want to know about and what you don't want the pager to have information about.
On the alert and sounds, the pager will buzz you when a friend comes on or offline, a friend buzzes you, when you receive an instant message, a mail message, a calendar reminder, or even a stock alert. All of these you can customize and choose what sound you want to hear from your computer. Such a nice change from hearing the same sound over and over again as most other services.
In the privacy section you can ignore who you choose by putting the user name in a box and just block those users from seeing you online. You can finally be invisible on the Yahoo! messenger from other users and it's about time. I never would use this pager because of this but, now I do with this option.
You can also tell it what connection you are using. Whether or not you have a proxy setting, or behind a firewall. There is still more you can do here but, this is the general idea.
MESSAGE
The next button you will see at the top of the pager is message. This is where you will be ale to send a message, invite to a conference or invite to a voice conference, send a file, make a phone call, create a chat room, join a chat room or go too a favorite chat room, go straight to a chat user, start a conversation or join a conversation, view offline messages, or invite a friend. Most of these are of course self explanatory so no need to explain them but, they have a few nice new feature.
You can send a file from your computer to another user right from the pager. When you click this option a window pops up and asks for the user name you wish the file to go too, shows your profile name which you can switch to others without having to log off and back in, browse your computer for the file, and write a brief description of it. This is really easy to use. Of course, the person you are sending the file to has to have the Yahoo! messenger as well.
They do have a new feature in their Yahoo! messenger that I am still having a hard time believing. (but it is true) If you have a Yahoo! account with Instant messenger they now have a feature for free long distance phone calls in the US from computer to phone. No joke. Even if you don't have the Yahoo! messenger and have an account, check the home page, then look up in the top left corner of their home page, click on Yahoo! messenger, and download it. There is no limit of the amount of time using free long distance phone calls from your computer to a a phone anywhere in the US. No strings attached that I have found, (my brother takes the Yahoo! magazine and saw this offer as well) If you don't have a Yahoo account this is worth one in itself!
The chat rooms you go too from the pager are not in the same place as Yahoo! chats. When you choose to join or create a chat room from the pager, it jumps you right into the room without any loading of any kind. There are tons of rooms in lots of categories to choose from and so far every time I have went to one people have been actually there. You can also save your favorite chat rooms that you go too for quick and easy return. If you choose to create one yourself there is some nice options to choose from such as making the room public for anyone to see and join, making the room private so you can stop people from joining the room at anytime, make the room invite only, or you can also allow voice chat. (not recommended unless you know the people you are going to chat with) This is one of the best features on the pager.
Of course Yahoo! has kept its offline message feature. It is much easier than sending a E-mail to the person and also makes it if you meet someone from the chats you don't have to give out yours or get theirs if you want to send a message without having to meet them online first. This is a feature I wish all instant messenger services have. There is a couple that do such as Pal Talk.
FRIENDS
This is where you can add a friend to your friends list. Also, put them in groups such as friends or family to separate them. You can do this at Yahoo!'s site but, it is much faster (as most other things are) using the pager. If you wish, there is a short cut here to change the groups you have, which is also available at their site. You can delete a friend, view profiles, view files that you may have, edit contact info, change your status from being available or not, choose to show your online friends or not, and search for friends. That is about it for what you can do here.
Y!
Next the next button you will see is Y!. This is where you can change what information you would like Yahoo! to give you as I mentioned in a previous section. Anything from Stocks, news sports, weather, bookmarks, travel, calendar, and auctions. Also, their is lots of shortcuts here into the Yahoo! site itself. Some of the most used shortcuts here are check mail, mark calendar, play games, and chat with friends. With the amount of time it takes to start running the pager, this way is much faster than going to the site. Everything you do here will pop up a window in your browser (with you already logged in) and take you directly to the page you wish to go. These shortcuts are another nice addition to save time.
HELP
The last button is of course the help button. You can take a messenger tour, auto setup wizard, messenger help and instructions, and find out about Yahoo! messenger. I really don't think most people will need to use any help here due to the fact the pager is easy to use but, if you do there is plenty of help here.
One nice thing I found here was the ability to configure your audio setup with the pager. You can setup your speaker volume here before you start using it and make sure it is at a volume you would like. Test out your microphone volume by speaking into it, having the pager record it, then play it back and hear how you would sound to others. This is nice especially if you are a person that likes to sing Karaoke as I am on the Internet. If you hear an echo there is a step you can do to take care of that. After that it will test your Internet connection and do the necessary adjustments to your audio sound. The last step is to talk into your microphone and hear how you sound. Another nice feature on the pager.
FINAL THOUGHT
At the bottom of the pager you will have more shortcuts. These include your status online, news, sports, calendar, or an overview. These buttons can also be hidden if you wish but, they are small. With the option to stretch and shrink the pager you should have no problems with these buttons on the bottom
That is it for the pager for the most part. I recommend this to anyone that chats at all or just has a few friends you like to meet sometimes on the Internet. It is much better than your typical instant message service for most browsers. Again, with the phone call from your computer to another phone plan they offer, makes Yahoo! messenger worth having for anyone.
Thank you for your time.
Recommended:
Yes
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Pandemonium
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Member: D.J.
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In my little corner of Epinions relaxing, sipping beer, playing a game, listening to music.
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