gHacks technology news » msn

MSN.Com Gets An Overhaul After Ten Years

Martin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:32:17 +0000

MSN.com is one of the most popular websites on the Internet with roughly 100 million unique visitors per month that come to the website. The design of the Internet portal has not changed a lot in the last ten years. Users who are visiting the old MSN page notice a lot of links and elements on the page leaving many users with the feeling that the page looks cluttered and confusing. Microsoft has recently made the decision, after conducting surveys, that the MSN page needed an overhaul. And that overhaul is now available as a preview.

The best way to see the changes on the page is to display the old and the new MSN homepage as images:

The new page looks much cleaner and more interactive. Microsoft claims that they cut the number of links by almost 50% and while that may be true for the links that are displayed visually it is another story if you analyse all the links on the page. The new MSN page sports 219 external links currently compared to 186 on the old page. These figures are subject to change but it currently means an increase by almost 30 links on the MSN homepage.

The number of objects on the page on the other hand was reduced from 46 on the old page to 29. The total size increased on the other hand to 192568 bytes from 135594 bytes which can be largely attributed to the larger photos that are displayed on the page.

The new page should on the other hand load faster for Internet connections faster than 128 Kilobytes per second thanks to the reduced number of objects that need to be loaded. Here is what Microsoft has to say about the new MSN homepage:

The clean, new MSN is designed to be the best home page on the Web, with powerful Bing search, the top news and hottest entertainment, and convenient access to some of the most popular social networks — all in a fresh new look. Based on customer input, the new design has 50 percent fewer links than the previous home page and a simplified navigation across news, entertainment, sports, finance and lifestyle. In addition, sophisticated technology powers the home page to deliver personally relevant information and improved performance satisfies people’s need for speed.

The new homepage will be gradually enabled for visitors from the United States with the option to access the preview MSN homepage at anytime and from anywhere. What’s your opinion on the new homepage?

Tags: microsoft, msn, msn homepage, msn.com

Hotmail Phishing Attack: Time To Change Passwords

Martin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:26:30 +0000

Microsoft has recently confirmed that thousands of Windows Live Hotmail customer’s credentials were exposed on a third party website. According to Neowin the account information were posted by an anonymous user at the pastebin website. The list that was posted contained over 10.000 account details of accounts starting with the letters A and B which suggests that additional lists might be in the hands of the attackers. Initial investigations suggest that only accounts used to access Windows Live Hotmail were affected (which includes email accounts ending with hotmail.com, msn.com or live.com.

Microsoft determined that the attack was not a breach of internal Microsoft data and believes that the account data was gained by a phishing attack. Phishing attacks are common ways these days to lure users into entering their account data on websites that look like the real deal but are not.

Hotmail users are encouraged to immediately change their account password to protect the account from unauthorized access. It is furthermore recommended to change the account password on other websites if the same password was used for accounts there as well.

A good tool that can help users create and use secure passwords is the Last Pass extension which is available for Firefox,Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

Tags: hotmail, hotmail phishing, last pass, msn, phishing, windows live

MSN Live Messenger Antivirus Script WLM Safe

Martin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:04:19 +0000

Windows Live Messenger, which is also called MSN Live Messenger or just MSN, is one of the most popular instant messengers for the Windows operating system. This makes it a target for all kinds of malicious software and spam. WLM Safe has been developed to specifically protect the Windows Live Messenger from these threats.

To install WLM Safe users need to install the popular Messenger Plus extension for Windows Live Messenger first and add the script then in the options of the extension. WLM Safe comes with several modules that protect all aspects of Windows Live Messenger. The modules are:

Anti-Virus: detects and blocks infected links sent by virus in conversation windows.
Anti-Phishing: detects and blocks phishing links sent by virus in conversation windows.
Anti-Spam: blocks annoying spam messages sent by your contacts.
Anti-Flood: detects flood attacks and block the authors.
Anti-Freeze: block messages that make old messenger’s versions crash.
Anti-Copy: notifies you if one of your Messenger’s contacts copy your Nickname.
Anti-Bot: notifies you if you’re chatting with a Bot.
Anti-Hackers: notifies you if you’re chatting with an Unsafe contact.

The security program for MSN Live Messenger comes with several additional functions that might be useful for some users. It is for example possible to reduce the memory usage of the program, clean its cache or take a look at all processes of the operating system. Other options include locking MSN Messenger from being used by other users and to prevent the uninstallation of scripts in the instant messenger.

Expert users might be able to live without most of these modules while beginners might be best protected if they enable all of them. WLM Safe (via JK Web Talks) is an interesting security program for Windows Live Messenger.

Tags: live messenger, msn, msn live messenger, msn security, windows live messenger, windows software, wlm safe

Completely Uninstall Microsoft Messenger Variants

Martin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:24:59 +0000

Microsoft Messenger variants, such as MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger or Windows Messenger, sometimes cause difficulties during uninstallation throwing error messages such as “Another version of the product is already installed”, “Your computer has a newer version of MSN Messenger than the one you are trying to install”, ““Your computer has a newer version of Windows Live Messenger than the one you are trying to install” or “The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable”.

It can be quite frustrating to discover the root of the problem especially when the user wants a clean uninstall to install a newer version of the product again. Keith over at Techie Buzz discovered the Zap Messenger application which can completely uninstall MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Messenger from a computer system.

It solves all kind of problems that prevent the uninstallation of those products and is not limited to the ones mentioned in the first paragraph. Zap Messenger is a portable application that does require the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0.

The author is not listing the operating systems the software program is compatible with but it seems that it should run fine on Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Tags: instant messenger, msn, msn errors, msn messenger, uninstall msn, windows live, windows live messenger, windows messenger, zap messenger

aMSN: Winks and webcams on Mac and Linux

Joe — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:16:34 +0000

Adium and Pidgin, the popular multi-network IM clients popular on OS X and Linux, lacks support for many features of MSN Messenger, such as webcams, ~~audio conversations,~~ voice clips and winks. This can prove to be annoying if the other party of the conversation wants to conference but lacks software such as Skype.

aMSN is an open-source intant messaging client available for Linux, OS X, FreeBSD and Windows (if you dislike the proprietary client) which supports many features specifically on the MSN network which Adium and Pidgin do not.

The client can handle most features which WLM can, excluding MSN Zone Games. aMSN is much more customisable than Windows Live Messenger too, with dozens of plugins and skins being available.

aMSN lacks the ability to connect to networks besides MSN but if you are in Adium and Pidgin and a situation arises when you may want to use a webcam, aMSN does not take long to load and it is much quicker than booting into Windows.

Update 19th October: aMSN does not yet support audio conversations

Tags: amsn, Linux, mac, msn, msn messenger, Open Source, os x, windows live messenger

Windows Wallpapers From MSN

Martin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:25:32 +0000

Windows Wallpapers from MSN is a beta application and web service that provides Windows users with wallpapers from Microsoft. The software application will automatically check in intervals if new Windows wallpapers are available and download them automatically to the computer system. At the time of testing 156 Windows wallpapers were downloaded to the computer.

Wallpapers from MSN is not your usual wallpaper manager though. It displays the Windows wallpapers in an image library and gives the user options to add his own wallpapers to the application. Each wallpaper can be processed before it is being used as the Windows wallpaper.

The user can use basic photo editing functions like cutting, rotating or cropping images. More interesting that that is the option to add elements to the wallpapers. Three types of objects are available that can be added to a selected wallpaper: Foreground Images, Graphic Elements and Text.

The changes can be previewed and saved to the library. The Wallpaper Settings menu can be used to pick a permanent wallpaper or to rotate the wallpapers frequently. There is no need to run the application if you want to pick a downloaded wallpaper from the list and use it as a static Windows wallpaper or move it to another operating system.

Wallpapers from MSN is one of those nice to have applications for casual computer users. All effects could be added with a photo editor as well. Most wallpapers are well done and the program can be used to increase the wallpaper collection on a computer rapidly.

Tags: all microsoft patches, msn, msn wallpapers, wallpaper-changer, wallpapers, wallpapers from msn, windows software, windows wallpapers

Windows Live Messenger 9 Ad Removal

Martin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:14:52 +0000

Windows Live Messenger 9 is the latest installment of the Microsoft Instant Messenger. It can be downloaded freely from Microsoft. Installation should not pose a problem either as long as you select only the applications that are offered that you would use anyway.

Windows Live Messenger 9 displays advertisements that is changing frequently in the main program interface. This can be quite irritating at times. There is no obvious way to disable the advertisement from withing the Instant Messenger which means that the only way to get rid of it is to use third party tools.

Some tools patch the Windows Live Messenger 9 files directly which will be a problem when updating to a newer version. A far better solution is to leave the Messenger files would be one that would not tamper with the Windows Live Messenger 9 files itself and that is what Live Advert Removal (via Technix) does.

Above is a screenshot of Windows Live Messenger 9 with ads enabled. Live Advert Removal manipulates the Windows host file so that the advertisements cannot be loaded. It still means that a static Windows Live Messenger logo will be displayed at the exact same position but it means that no advertisement will be loaded from the Internet and that there will be no rotation.

The second screenshot displays the results of the host file addition. Using the Live Advert Removal software program is straightforward. It comes as a zip file that contains files to remove and to enable ads in Windows Live Messenger 9.

Experienced users can manipulate the host file manually for the same result. The host file can be found in system32/drivers/etc. The following line has to be added to get the same result: 0.0.0.0 rad.msn.com

Make sure to enable the option in Windows to see hidden and system files to be able to locate the host file.

Tags: im, instant messenger, microsoft live, microsoft messenger, msn, windows live messenger, windows live messenger 9

Coccinella Chat Client With Whiteboard

Martin — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:40:57 +0000

Coccinella is an interesting chat client that brings new features and lots of customization to the table. If you want to compete in the Instant Messenger market you either need backing of a major player or provide users with features that they cannot find elsewhere.

The client Coccinella takes the second path by adding new features like a whiteboard to the Instant Messenger. It can connect to any Jabber/XMPP messaging server (including MSN, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk). But first the basics. The client has all the usual standard features like client lists, group chat, file transfers, avatars, emoticons and secure connections.

Besides that Coccinella supports Voice over IP connections and the previously mentioned whiteboard. Take a look at the screenshot below to get an understanding of how the chat whiteboard works.

That feature comes in pretty handy if you want to visualize information or just draw a nice heart to your loved one. The chat client comes with installers for Windows (Windows 98 to Windows XP, no Vista support yet), Apple Macintosh and Linux. The source is also available at the download page of the website.

Tags: aim, chat, google talk, icq, im, instant messenger, jabber, msn, whiteboard

Dig Digsby, You Have Good Reason to

joshua — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:27:07 +0000

Have you heard of Digsby yet? If not, it’s about time you do. Digsby is a multi-network chat client. Doesn’t sound like that big a deal? Use Pidgin or Miranda already? Well Digsby has a couple more cards up its sleeve, along with your Chat accounts Digsby also aggregates social network accounts and email. At the moment the list of supported services isn’t huge but you will be able to talk on AIM, Jabbar, Gtalk, Yahoo, ICQ and MSN. You can use just about any email account including Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo mail. Supported social networks at this point are MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

It’s still a beta product but significant changes have been made over the last few months including new features, optimisation and bug fixes. It’s not perfect but it’s very usable. If you’re a fan of MSN for all the ‘nudge’ and ‘wink’ type features then this isn’t for you. If you like the sparse chat style of Gtalk then this is, at the moment Digsby is pretty simple when it comes to chat features.

One great thing about Digsby is that you can chat to people on Facebook Chat through the client, a unique feature for Digsby till a few weeks ago when some other clients began to get it as well. Another great thing about Digsby is the ability to combine contacts different accounts all into one by merging and creating a alias, makes it much easier keeping track of people.It’s also very customizable and you can get various skins and change the layout around to how you like. By creating a Digsby account you can synchronize it across multiple locations and computers and keep all your settings. A very promising application and worth checking out!

Tags: aim, chat, digsby, gmail, instant messenger, msn, myspace, social networks

Pimp your MSN Messenger with HiYo

Martin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:06:24 +0000

I’m not using Instant Messengers and also do not use the Web 2.0 equivalent in the form of Twitter and comparable services. That’s something that stuck with me since I began using the Internet in the early 90’s and I never changed my stance on the subject. Instant Messengers are nevertheless highly popular and Everton came up with a nice addition for MSN Messenger.

One of the reasons why I never bothered to use Instant Messengers was the “spammy” connotation of them. There have been many services on the Internet that offered add-ons, smileys and other gimmicks for Instant Messengers that turned out to infect the user’s computer with malicious software or use the information entered by the user to spam him into oblivion.

HiYo seems to be different. The add-on for MSN Messenger comes without adware, spyware and other malicious software. It adds a new toolbar to the compose window that provides access to new content that can be added to posts like images and animations.

HiYo is loaded with tons of free animated Emoticons
Send the most hilarious Audibles to your friends on MSN Messenger
Find any Emoticon, Wink, Animation, Sound Effect, Audible or Nudge easily
Send HiYo’s crazy Winks to move and shake your buddy’s conversation window
Replace your old Display Pictures with cool animated slideshows

One interesting aspect is that content gets suggested by HiYo which is great for the flow of conversation because it does not usually take ages to find the right image for the current situation.

Tags: emoticons, hiyo, icons, instant messenger, msn, msn messenger, smileys

Encrypt your instant messages with Pidgin

Martin — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:56:49 +0000

Pidgin is an Open Source multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that was formerly known as ~~Prince~~ Gaim. It works with many popular Instant Messaging clients like AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo!. Normal conversations with Pidgin, or most other Instant Messaging clients are not encrypted which means that the text is transferred in plain text which means that any technologically inclined user can snoop on the conversation which is probably something that you would not want. I’m not only talking business situations here but also the daily chats at work with your friends or wife that you better keep secret. It could also come in handy if you are of the paranoid kind and prefer to tighten security on anything that you come in contact with.

The Pidgin Encryption plugin adds encryption to Pidgin by generating a public and private key during activation. Let me give you a short rundown on that encryption scheme. The public keys are accessible by all of your contacts which can use them to encrypt their messages. The only person who can decrypt those messages is the one with the private key that builds a pair with that public key. It comes down to swapping the public keys so that messages can be encrypted and decrypted on the fly.

Thankfully Pidgin does most of that automatically. There is no need, like in other applications, to transfer the public key on a different way to the other users. The keys are automatically created and the public key is automatically transferred to all contacts. There is however the possibility to exchange the keys using different way to increase the security. Meet your friend at a secret location and hand him the self destructing disk with your public key..

You obviously need Pidgin for that and the Pidgin Encryption Plugin. You can regenerate your key in the preferences and change the default size of 1024 bits to a value between 512 and 4096 bits. Make sure that both “Automatically Encrypt” boxes are checked. A list of the public keys of your buddies is also available in the preferences.

By default the conversations take place unencrypted. A user needs to press the TX button to encrypt the messages. If the user on the other end is not using the plugin he will see a notification that the message is encrypted and that he needs the plugin. If that is the case the TX button will show to be secure while the RX button will be plain. (I guess TX stands for Transmit while RX for Receive)

To always use encryption when chatting with a specific user you need to right-click that user and select Turn Auto-Encrypt On. To avoid man in the middle attacks you need to compare keys with your buddy. This can be done in the Pidgin preferences. I suggest another way of communication to compare the keys. (phone, irc, voip)

A last tip. If you use multiple computers you probably want to make sure that all use the same keys. You can do that by moving the keys from .pidgin directory in *nix or in the application data directory in Windows to the new computer. The keys are stored in the three files:

id.priv (private keys)
id (public keys)
known_keys

Each line of the files represents one key which means that you can also copy only selected keys to the other machine.

Tags: aim, encryption, gaim, icq, instant messenger, msn, pidgin, Security, yahoo

MSN Messenger blocks links to Youtube

Martin — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:50:08 +0000

I’m slowly changing my view on several aspects of my “geeky” life. I used to jump on bandwagons as soon as someone started reporting about the latest evil scheme of a big cooperation or country. While it is definitely legit to call them out and make the issue public it is in no way justified to assume that what you know and are reporting is the real reason.

An article about MSN Messenger blocking links to sites like Youtube.com and probably several others. The user sending the link would receive the message “The following message could not be delivered to all recipients”. The outcry was heard loud and wide with stories appearing on Slashdot, Digg and probably a million other websites who were simply reiterating what one blog started.

The Internet loves conspiracy theories and some sites especially when they can fight against the root of all evil Microsoft. What I want to say is that no one but Microsoft (hopefully) knows the reason why those links have not been send to the recipient. It could be that they decided to filter some urls that belong to their competition, it could be a glitch, an error after server upgrades or a improperly configured spam filter.

The issue seems to have been fixed and everything returned back to normal. I have no means of testing if this is really true but from the multitude of comments on those popular news aggregator websites it seems that it is.

I’m still posting the workaround in case they are still blocked for some users. Stripping the url of the http:// prefix is all that needs to be done to be able to send the link.

I do not mean to be saying that webmasters should not report about the issue until they know what is going on but if they get hold of such a story they should not draw conclusions so easily.

Update: An Microsoft representative posted an article that explains what happened.

Tags: block, filtering, messenger, msn, msn messenger, youtube

Microsoft shows us another reason why DRM is evil

Martin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:04:01 +0000

Those users who made purchases in online stores that were using DRM to “protect” the files from being copied and traded are slowly beginning to reap what they sowed. I never bought music or other files that were protected by DRM. The protection is not that hard to crack anyway if someone really wanted to do that and the last resort is as always to record the audio or video signal. So, it’s not about the limitations, it was about something else that made me turn away from media with DRM.

What made me turn away back then is slowly becoming a problem for those users who did not turn away, who did purchase music and videos on those Internet stores. DRM is dependent on that store and license servers. If those stores and servers are gone, be it because the company ceases to exist or because it makes the decision to close the online store, then guess what ? The user is left with DRM files that cannot be transferred to a new computer or retrieved anymore. Without a licensing server there is no way to activate the music and videos legally.

How does that sound ? Some users defended DRM by stating that smaller companies would probably run into those problems but if a user would buy from big companies, like Microsoft, Apple or Yahoo they would not run into them. (Was not Google involved in something similar last year?) This can be easily refuted right now by pointing to the announcement that Microsoft made:

As of August 31, 2008, we will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for the songs you purchased from MSN Music or the authorization of additional computers.

So, if you did purchase music from MSN Music you better start burning the music to CDs and DVDs and rip them again to get rid of the DRM so that you can keep the music that you did purchase for a lifetime.

I do not feel sorry for the users who made the purchases. If no one would buy music with DRM the companies would sooner than later start online shops without DRM. Not that it protects anything either.

via [Download Squad]

Tags: drm, drm failure, microsoft, msn, msn music, music store

MSN E-Fix another tool to fix MSN Errors

Martin — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:27:08 +0000

The MSN Messenger seems to be highly popular in Italy because this is already the second tool, the first was MSN Repair, that I’m reviewing that is fixing MSN Messenger errors that was developed in Italy. Which leads to the conclusion that the MSN Messenger could be popular in Italy, or that the Italian version of MSN could be buggy or that Italian users are causing those bugs, hehe. Whatever it is MSN E-Fix fixes several error messages that MSN users can encounter while using the instant messenger.

MSN E-Fix can be run from any location and it actually comes in four different language versions which is surely an improvement over the other program that I reviewed some days ago which was only available in Italian. It was not hard to use though but I still prefer a program in a language that I understand to avoid errors. The supported languages are English, Italian, French and Spanish with Dutch scheduled to be included in one of the future releases.

Once started the program displays a list of error codes on the left side that can be checked and a Go button that should be pressed once all errors that should be fixed have been checked. The author send me a message where he compares his software to MSN Repair. I have no way of checking those claims because as you might know I do not use an Instant Messenger which is one reason why I will not publish them here.

Anyone with MSN Messenger and some errors who would try them out is welcome to let me know about the results though.

Tags: microsoft messenger, msn, msn errors, msn messenger, msn repair

MSN Repair

Martin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:56:43 +0000

MSN Repair is a small utility developed by the Italian software developer Valentino Marangi. MSN Repair 2 is the successor of the first version of MSN Repair which was already downloaded more than 50000 times. Version 2 soon topped that and was already downloaded more than 200.000 times which leads to the question if you should use an instant messenger that seems to be problematic for many users..

Still, MSN Repair 2 (Italian) fixes problems and common errors in Windows Live Messenger and MSN Messenger. Valention kept the user interface simply which is really the best design for repair applications in my opinion. First, there is the button repair which repairs Registry settings, program libraries and files that have been altered since installation of MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger.

The second option is to correct specific errors by clicking on the Select Errors link in the program window. In total 13 common errors can be selected from the list which will then be repaired by MSN Repair 2.

Here is the list of errors that are fixed:

Error 81000314
Error 800b0001
Error 81000370
Error 80040111
Error 800401f3
Error 80048820
Error 80048883
Error 80072ee6
Error 80072efd
Unable to send / receive sounds (Plus)
Incorporates Windows Messenger (version already installed on Windows)
Not accessed but not by errors
Unable to add contacts

Tags: instant messenger, messenger error, msn, msn error, msn messenger, msn repair, windows live messenger

Instantbird a Mozilla based Instant Messenger

Martin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:56:28 +0000

Instantbird plans to be for Instant Messengers what Firefox is for web browsers. The first version with the number 0.1 does show a lot of promise but naturally lacks the stability of a software that has been developed for years. It uses the Mozilla rendering engine to render IMs and the Pidgin libpurple to connect to the various networks.

Eight Instant Messaging networks are currently mentioned on the Instantbird homepage, those are: AIM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, QQ, XMPP and Yahoo!. Several others are however available as well if you want to add a new network. It runs pretty solid for such an early version though and it will be interesting to see how this project evolves in the future.

The roadmap looks promising and is outlined at the developers website of Instandbird. Localization, smiley and sound themes are for instance scheduled for version 0.2 of the client. It will take some time but if the developers manage to put the same effort and dedication into this project than the other teams are putting into developing Firefox, Thunderbird and Songbird they will surely create a remarkable software.

Instantbird is Open Source and available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh.

Read More:

Instantbird Homepage
via Download Squad

Tags: google talk, icq, im, instant messanger, instantbird, msn

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 beta 2

Martin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:05:26 +0000

Beta 2 of Windows Live Messenger has been released today and can be downloaded from the official Microsoft Live Messenger website. The successor of MSN is available in more than 30 languages and can be installed with several additional products such as Writer, Mail, Photo Gallery, Toolbar and Family Safety.

Writer lets you publish content to your blog, Mail check all mail accounts in one place, Photo Gallery organize and share photos, the Toolbar is used for searching the web and Family Safety tries to protect family members. Installation does take some time, maybe because of the run on the Microsoft download servers.

Read More:

Windows Live Messenger Download
Changes between 8.1 and 8.5

Tags: instant messenger, microsoft, msn, software, windows live messenger

Koolim Web Messenger

Martin — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:42:12 +0000

Web Messengers that allow you to connect to Instant Messenger networks are becoming extremely popular because they make it possible to connect to those networks and chat with your buddies and contacts from computers that where it is not possible to install Instant Messenger software. Meebo was one of the first Web Messengers that I wrote about and Koolim is a comparable service which has the advantage that it is not that popular yet.

Popular web services like Meebo get blocked from school, university and work networks quite frequently and it is always nice to have an ace – Koolim – in your sleeve. Koolim should work even if the computer you are working with is protected by a firewall.

Koolim supports the major Instant Messenger networks: AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk and ICQ plus several lesser known networks such as Jabber, X-Fire and Gadu-Gadu.

Every user has the option to either log into any of the IM networks by entering his username and password or by signing up to Koolim and handling matters from the inside.

Koolim Homepage
via: Genbeta

Tags: aim, google talk, icq, im, instant messenger, koolim, meebo, msn, yahoo

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 leaked

Martin — Mon, 28 May 2007 20:56:49 +0000

If you can’t wait to use the upcoming Windows Live Messenger 8.5 you could try and download the leaked version of it which is not official of course. The language of the leaked Live Messenger 8.5 is Spanish but you could download the English language file as well to change the language to English.

The program itself got a complete new user interface better suited for Windows Vista plus additional changes which have not been announced yet. Windows Plus users should download the msimg32.dll and place it in the appropriate directory to add plus functionality again. Not everything will be working though as of now.

I would probably make at least a complete backup of my system before I would install this leaked version. The above version appears to be without the adware that was added by the initial leaker. You should still scan the downloaded files before you execute any of them.

You should also note that support for plugins (add-ins) has been dropped.

Update: The above download links are not working anymore, try the following mirrors:

Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Mirror 1, Mirror 2

Tags: live messenger 8.5, messenger, microsoft messenger, msn, windows live messenger 8.5

Imo.im a Meebo alternative

Martin — Mon, 07 May 2007 06:28:01 +0000

Like Meebo Imo.im offers any users the possibility to connect to various instant messengers using a simple web interface. Imo.im lets you connect to the following four popular instant messengers: AIM, Yahoo, MSN and Google Talk. The service that Imo.im offers is free and easy to use. Just enter your username and password and select the service that you want to log in to. It is possible to sign on into more than one account at a time. By using the Link Accounts feature you can link those accounts which would have the results that once you log into one account all other accounts will be available as well without logging into them separately.

Imo.im offers one more feature that separates it from other websites that let you log into your instant messenger. The so called Group Chat feature lets you invite buddies from all four instant messengers that are currently supported. This way you can chat with everyone even if they do use a different instant messenger. Buddies do not have to sign into Imo.im to use the group chat feature. This would only be necessary if they wanted to invite other users by themselves.

I personally think that Imo.im is already a great alternative to Meebo, especially if Meebo has been banned from your network. This new service is surely to new to be banned as well which makes it an excellent opportunity to use instant messenger services. Imo.im is still a early alpha but already working fine in my opinion.

If you did try Imo.im let me know how you like the service.

Tags: aim, google talk, imo.im, instant messenger, meebo alternative, msn, yahoo

gHacks technology news » msn

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