Yahoo Messenger 8.1.0.413

Publisher's description of Yahoo Messenger

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Yahoo Messenger is a free service that allows you to see when friends come online and to send them instant messages. It also can alert you to new e-mail in your Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Personals accounts, or when you have upcoming events recorded in your Yahoo Calendar. Yahoo Messenger offers firewall support, a standby mode that minimizes the program until an Internet connection is made, the ability to save and print your conversations, and a tabbed interface that provides quick access to your favorite stocks, news, and sports scores.

Other features include the ability to create a chat room automatically, stock price alerts, the ability to send messages to friends (even if they're not online when you are), a Quick Compact mode that hides the Messenger tools to maximize your viewing area, Messenger Themes, and voice chat, which allows you to talk for free to anybody else on the Internet. It also includes Launchcast Radio, Yahoo Games, and Yahoo Audibles. Using a Webcam, you can see who you're chatting with or view the Webcam of any Yahoo member who has granted you access. Version 8.1.0.413 includes unspecified updates.

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Editor's review of Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo Messenger 8 with voice capabilities is a step up from the already impressive older versions, and a must-download for regular users of YIM. The most notable update is the integration of messaging services with Windows Live, a process that allows you to add Windows Live users as simply as your Yahoo buddies. While this new feature isn't nearly as interoperable as Trillian, the plus side is users can still enjoy the lively emoticons and avatars, the extensive plug-in library developers can contribute to, and VoIP services exclusive to the Yahoo experience. Users should be forewarned that the download stub will finish installing the program online, and that the download includes bundled software that may install unwanted programs. In the preinstallation window, click over to custom install to deselect the extra browser services such as the Yahoo toolbar. We could also live without the all-consuming corporate sponsorship of the IMVironments and the heavy-handed branding in the avatar section (who uses those, anyway?), and it would be nice to see a link to hidden smileys in the emoticon drop-down, but these are minor niggles when weighed against the benefits of a user-friendly, feature-rich chat client that only continues to improve.

User reviews of Yahoo Messenger

• Average user rating: out of 922 votes
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  Yahoo Messenger

  Awesome program to chat with Friends!!!

  by: Dano on 17-Aug-2007 10:25:47 AM

  Pros: Chat with people from all over the world. Comes with Google tool bar (optional)

  I Think its an awesome program to have! PM your favorite friends when there available and make new friends in chat room. Overall a good program to have fun with :)

  Cons: Might make changes to your computer like change your default site you visit however, this is also optional you just have to read the installer. Chat rooms work sometimes so, if your trying to loggin be patient. Also note: some people can boot you off the chat room. And send a file to people does not work either. So, use email for that.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (5 of 7 users said yes)

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  Yahoo Messenger

  It's great.

  by: BrokenButterfly on 06-Jun-2008 10:10:06 PM

  Pros: Very simple interface, easy to use, very fast response and very functionable.

  So MUCH BETTER than BETA 9.

  Cons: Yahoo's smileys need some work. They looked annoying.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (2 of 2 users said yes)

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  Yahoo Messenger

  Annoying Yahoo Toolbars, Mail, and other tools installed

  by: WheelerCub on 29-Apr-2008 12:31:48 PM

  Pros: Yahoo is a great IM application in general, but there are much better out there such as Digsby or Trillian which will let you IM your Yahoo IM buddies along with AIM, MSN, ICQ, Google Chat, etc.

  download.com/Digsby/3000-2150_4-10822157.html

  Cons: Thought I'd try out the primary IM client for Yahoo and was sorely disappointed. The hokeys options for the chat client are very limited and there is no way to modify them (e.g. ALT+S to send). The installation also added the annoying Yahoo Toolbar into my browser windows without my permission which nobody who has experience using the Web actually needs. It also added a Yahoo email application, Yahoo Services Management app, and a couple others that I never asked for totaling nearly 100MB of unapproved garbage.

  Also, after I uninstalled everything, the Yahoo Toolbar was still in my browser window and I had to manually remove it. Not very user friendly.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (1 of 2 users said yes)

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  Yahoo Messenger

  it's simply outrageous

  by: Guild wars Rules on 09-Nov-2007 09:34:40 AM

  Cons: This one of the most annoying software i have ever installed on my computer.

  After instalation I found out that yahoo toolbar was intalled too without even asking my permission (at least I haven't notice it)

  thay also took them self the liberty to put dozens of shortcuts to yahoo in my

  start menu and favorites.you can't delete them from your favorites

  because thay are marked as read only. the only way you can delete them is in safe mode, and guess what happen after i successfully deleted them.

  my i-explorer crushed every time I closed it. this problem where solved only

  after i disabled yahoo add-on in the ActiveX Control

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  Yahoo Messenger

  DISAPPOINTING: NO LONGER A COMPETITIVE MESSENGER. SUDDENLY GONE AWOL. DUMP IT!!

  by: Vanillaman on 03-Oct-2007 11:56:43 PM

  Pros: I have used Yahoo Messenger for a very long time now, but.......

  Cons: ........now all of a sudden its `alerts & notifications' have dropped and no longer work. Forget about their support, as they are extremely slow and when they do respond you get conflicting, contradictory information and they fail abismally to keep you updated or informed, so you never know what is going on.

  Also, someone wrote a rather exaggerated bad/negative review, but on a positive note, it make me wonder why I've been getting all this junk mail from Nigeria & all over Africa claiming that I'd had a major inheritance.......

  Very disappointed with Yahoo! after all this time.

  Was this review helpful? Yes | No (3 of 10 users said yes)

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