Used Windows Live Messenger for Windows? Share your experience and help other users.
Key Details of Windows Live Messenger
- The legendary messenger app of Windows
- Last updated on
- Virus scan status:
Clean (it’s extremely likely that this software program is clean)
Editors’ Review
Previously known as MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger is Microsoft's answer to instant messaging. While largely the same as its predecessor, Windows Live Messenger is unique for allowing you to share folders and files locally with fellow users. It also serves up the usual animated emoticons, winks, and buzzes, along with multiplayer gaming, free PC-to-PC calling, mobile phone messaging, and video chatting. Plus it adds VoIP capabilities that let you call telephones around the world for a fee. Its one major omission, though, is it lacks the capability to receive inbound calls from landlines or cell phones, a service that competitor Yahoo Messenger with Voice offers.
The Album Viewer feature is compatible with Windows Photo Gallery, providing an interactive photo viewing experience. Users can view, upload, and comment on photos from Facebook and SkyDrive. It also supports detailed tagging on SkyDrive, which helps you organize your photos better.
One unique feature of Windows Live Messenger is the ability to appear offline to specific contacts while still appearing online to others. This is helpful for managing your online visibility without having to block your contacts completely.
The service offers integration with social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. It displays updates and status changes from your contacts directly in the messenger, allowing you to post updates and photos through the app as well.
Offline messaging is another great feature. You can send messages to contacts who are offline, and they will receive them once they log in. You can also send and receive messages when you set your status to appear offline.
Windows Live Messenger also included games and applications. Users could play various games with friends or invite them to use external applications through the conversation window.
Although Messenger Companion has been discontinued, it allowed users to see and comment on web content shared by friends. It integrated deeply using the Windows Live ID to sync with your contact list for easy sharing.
In terms of protocol and security, Windows Live Messenger used the Microsoft Notification Protocol (MSNP). Earlier versions were open, but later versions included limited encryption. This raised concerns about security, especially on public networks.
Once installed, Windows Live Messenger displays a drop-down menu of features along the top, contacts within the center pane, a search box on the bottom, and tabs for eBay, Rhapsody, and other services along the left. Microsoft fans will like the integration with MSN Spaces and the company's other properties. Also a plus is that Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Live Messenger now let you directly connect with buddies who use either tool. To do so in the past, you'd have to use a tool such as Trillian.
Bottom Line
We like Windows Live Messenger's Sharing Folders feature, which lets you to transfer files to and from your buddy's computer by displaying a mirror of each others' files on your desktops. The service can also store hundreds of contacts, and with a Webcam installed, you can make video chats with a full 640x480-pixel screen. In fact, we recommend Windows Live Messenger's video chat over that of other IM tools. Anyone who is entrenched within the Microsoft world will probably be best served by this particular IM client.
What’s new in version 14.0.8117.0416
- This version may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Used Windows Live Messenger for Windows? Share your experience and help other users.
