Question: Yahoo or MSN Messenger?

[Bureaucratic Model 1-3]

I think I'm going to sign up for one, for old times sake, but which is better? I used to have a thing for MSN but it didn't end well.

That guy in blue was me, just to be perfectly clear.

Opinions anyone?

Maybe the forums should get a chat room... or one night of the week, like wensday or something, we could all haul our lazy carcasses over a to a Yahoo board, I don't know...

Hmmm....

[Pitch]

Last I remember hearing, Yahoo! Messenger was loaded with Spyware. If you go for MSN Messenger, try to get a version pre 5.0. The most recent version is bogged down with ads and a ton of extra CRAP that is absolutely pointless and un-necessary. There may very well be some spyware along with that, also, Lord knows you can't trust Microsoft.

I'd recommend signing up for both and opting for one of those multi-messenger programs. Trillian comes to mind, though it can be a RAM drainer. I'm stuck with gaim, it's not the best of messengers, but it should do the trick for chatrooms and such, if that's what you're after.

Really, I'd just recommend a light-weight AIM program. miniaim's my favorite. Less than 100KB, does the basics, doesn't drain computer power... or get regular AIM and download one of the hacks for it. There's a lot of options.

---

_{btw, the Questions section, I think was for MMLS-related questions ;}

[GS Dragono]

I'd say MSN. I've had no problems with it, and I've heard the spyware thing about Yahoo too. I don't know any other details.

[Rage]

Probably Yahoo. I have both a msn and yahoo messenger. I don't see the difference in them. I just use them to chat with my friends.

Then again after a couple of days download the yahoo one. My computer started to slow down but I fixed that with all of those fancy aol virus scan and it went back to normal.

[Chiz]

I personally recommend AIM. Never was really impressed with MSN's offerings, and never had any buddies who used YIM. Also, since AIM was the client-of-choice by most of the people on the MMLEx team back when I joined up...

Assuming you're on Windows, I have to recommend AIM 5.5 or 5.9 with AIMutation 1.3.2 installed. All IM clients have ads nowandays, but AIM 5.x can easily be cleansed with a few third party additions.

AIM Triton sucks. Avoid it at all costs.

The only thing bad I can say about AIM is that as of late, a couple trojans have been making the rounds quite a bit, but honestly, all it takes is a little caution to avoid them, such as carefully inspecting a link before clicking it, and avoiding links that come with messages that sound uncharacteristic of your friends' personality or interests. It also helps to avoid any links having to do with awesome cars and "pictures of us on MySpace". Don't bother clicking any links in people's profiles, either, mainly because even the good ones aren't worth the effort.

But of course, that goes into common sense. But, hey, the reason trojans and such are successful is because common sense isn't very common.

You can download old versions of AIM (go for 5.5.3599 or 5.9.3861) here.
MSN 5.0 and previous can be found here.
...and older versions of YIM can be found here.
...and older versions of various other IM clients, as well as a variety of other programs, can be found at www.oldversion.com/.

[Bureaucratic Model 1-3]

This has been very interesting, you guys seem to know a lot about IM's and when I do go with one I'll probably try for AOL 5.whatever and be careful, or MSN just because I'm a glutton for punishment and Abado looks so cool however I've elected not to right now because I've got to get some work done before school starts or the reapers gonna be my constant bedtime companion and he snores.

Seriously, I'll get right on this when there's a break in my schedule long enough for Instant Messaging. Lucky y'all I guess.

[914]

I use MSN and only msn. I've had aim before, but I didn't find like it as much as MSN's hawtness.