The best Windows apps for your new PC.
Chat
Pidgin
- CNET editors' rating: 5.0 stars
If you've need to use Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and Google at the same time from the same window, Pidgin is your bird. Like other third-party IM clients, this open-source messenger accesses multiple IM networks, including MySpaceIM, as well as lesser-known protocols such as Jabber and Gadu-Gadu.
The IM features are unimpeachable: smileys, file transfers, and multiperson chats. The Buddy Pounce feature automatically performs certain actions when a contact signs on or off. Pidgin gets lots of intangibles right: logging and time-stamping, for instance, are well-executed. Twenty-two plug-ins come prepackaged, but there are still some bugs. Still, Pidgin remains a highly recommended text-only messaging app.
Still in beta, Digsby gets an honorable mention for integrating so many social-networking services and e-mail notifications with instant messaging, but it's also a memory hog and known for being unstable. Recent efforts have gone to great lengths to correct these problems, but it's still a bit wobbly.
ooVoo
- CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars
ooVoo is an iChat-like video-conferencing and chat tool for Windows, loaded with useful, powerful tools that make it a viable alternative for small work groups using conference calls and screen-sharing applications. A recording feature lets users tape video chats with other participants. Since the video and audio are being recorded to the hard drive, the only time limit is how much free space the computer's hard drive has.
An optional companion for ooVoo's video player can be used for screen sharing or file sharing, and a fun facial-overlay tool that applies digital masks either to users' faces or to backgrounds. High-quality video streams are also supported. Two qualms: the audio quality was a bit too compressed, and datastream delays made on-the-fly comments nearly impossible. But overall, ooVoo makes for a strong alternative to other VoIP and conferencing software.
