MSN Messenger is becoming increasingly popular as more and more users are given unlimited internet access.

If you have no idea what it is, then, like its competitors, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger etc is a small programme, this one is only a 1.5MB download, that enables you to know when your friends are also online and you are able to chat with them. Individual programmes have added bonuses.

The important thing about deciding to use a messenger system is to make sure that all your friends use the same one. At the moment I’ve got most friends on MSN but a few non-conformists on Yahoo who I’m persuading to join the club.

So how to decide which one to use? Well read the reviews. I’ve written a lengthy one on Yahoo.

So anywayz, MSN has a close link with Hotmail. Is you are one of the 60 million odd members with a Hotmail account then MSN is for you. To sign in you use your e-mail address. And when you sign in you are told how many new emails you have, and clicking on this message will go directly to your inbox.

Also whenever you are sent an email whenever you are online you get sent a little message, Cindy has sent you an email. However if you are one of the unlucky Hotmail users that gets spammed you’ll every 2 mins get sent Get Paid To Surf!! Has sent you an email Young Teens Has sent you an email.

If this is the case maybe get a new address making sure you don’t sign up to any subscriptions. Or you can also use your existing email address using the Passport facility, but I wouldn’t recommend this for novices.

When chatting, you are able to send smilies, ;-) and stuff, also (l) = heart, (b) = beer etc. You have all the obvious facilities such as the ability to change colour and font etc.

Unlike Yahoo you cannot send sounds such as snd=yahoo to alert other users. You do get the ability to send attachments thro Messenger. But also unlike Yahoo you cannot send messages when the other user is offline.

It actually looks quite dull because there is a plain white background; you are unable to change the background to a skin.

You can have voice conversations with the person on the other end. Remember that you can chat to your cousin in Australia or Canada thro MSN. So for 1p/min or free if you’re lucky, you can chat to them using your PC with microphone and speakers.

The quality is really good provided that you’ve got 64MB + of RAM.

Also you are able to use the Net2Phone facility to phone anyone in USA for FREE. Quite good when you download a page of celebrity phone numbers off the net :-p

A problem can be that your MSN ID is so pathetically easy to hack into. All the other user needs to know is your secret question, not even your postcode! You secret question might be something easily guessable such as your city of birth. So make sure you make this question really difficult for others to find out.

You are able to block users you don’t like so they no longer bother you, with or without you knowing about it.

So basically this programmes great but be warned, if you’re at college then this can take up a sickening amount of your time. I say Ill be on for 10 mins, I end up on for 1 and a half hours and resultantly I’m disgusted with myself!

A problem is that when you are Invisible, i.e. you are online but it doesn’t say you were on other people’s lists, you are unable to talk to users unlike on Yahoo.

You can also have multi-way conversations with ppl, but this is a maximum of 4 people per conference.

It is rather convenient as well – you can choose for it to load up as soon as your PC starts automatically, then when you go online, it will immediately sign in.


UPDATE
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Ciao



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