MSN Messenger Alternative

allllec · 17 Jun 2007 at 06:50

Anyone know of any lightweight msn alternatives? i just want the ability to talk and send files. no fancy stuff. and free of course.

as you might see i've got a WMP alternative thread going. i like both these bits of software but they are bloated and this carppy rig gets a bit sluggish when you start multitasking and these are two of the biggest culprits.

good that sonds so pathetic! new rig time me thinks - shame i have 25p and a cigerette to my name (and thats litteraly it!)

:-(

BigBoy · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:02

have a look for GAIM light weight and will connect to nearly all the different types od im network.

allllec · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:17

sorry to be a noob but where can i find this? very intrigued :-)

ta

alec

GraemeUK · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:33

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gaim/

Now called

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin/

Google is an amazing thing

Meatball · 17 Jun 2007 at 09:38

GAIM
Trillian
Yahoo! Messenger

allllec · 17 Jun 2007 at 10:11

GAIM light weight

thought he ment Gaim Light Weight - as in that was a program. oh what wounders a comma can do ahaha. lol i get ya - tryed it - unstable on this box for some reason? seems to crash randomly. ah well - ive pretty much given in now! lol thanks anyway guys.

ta

alec

MarcLister · 17 Jun 2007 at 12:30

Yeah give Pidgin a go. I really like it.

Magister · 17 Jun 2007 at 12:38

If you're on XP, the regular built-in Windows Messenger is nice and lightweight, except that it doesn't support avatars or personal messages.

Aside from that, Miranda IM is the best I've found. Needs some addons and tweaking to get everything the way I like it, though.

BigBoy · 17 Jun 2007 at 14:36

allllec said:
thought he ment Gaim Light Weight - as in that was a program. oh what wounders a comma can do ahaha. lol i get ya - tryed it - unstable on this box for some reason? seems to crash randomly. ah well - ive pretty much given in now! lol thanks anyway guys.

ta

alec

you must be doing something wrong then mate as i have never had a problem with GAIM its smooth as a baby's behind.

MarcLister · 17 Jun 2007 at 14:37

BigBoy said:
you must be doing something wrong then mate as i have never had a problem with GAIM its smooth as a baby's behind.

He could have been using one of the beta Gaim versions that they had out for a while.

Have to say though that Pidgin is very stable from what I've seen.

jbloggs · 17 Jun 2007 at 16:19

A good selection of alternatives in the Instant Messengers section.

glissando · 17 Jun 2007 at 22:40

Whatever you do DO NOT download a program called "Star Messenger" - it's a vehicle for spyware/nasty stuff under a "legit" disguise. It is in fact just a ripped-off version of Miranda but with tons of spyware attached.

allllec · 17 Jun 2007 at 22:48

Thanks for the heads up!

MarcLister · 17 Jun 2007 at 22:50

glissando said:
Whatever you do DO NOT download a program called "Star Messenger" - it's a vehicle for spyware/nasty stuff under a "legit" disguise. It is in fact just a ripped-off version of Miranda but with tons of spyware attached.

I've an MSN contact who is really quite annoying. I also go to Uni with him. I'm half tempted to see if I can persuade him to run this. :cool:

bledd · 18 Jun 2007 at 08:40

you could use apatch with your msn messenger, it removes the adverts and crud from msn

get it from here

http://apatch.org/downloads.php

here's my config for it (save you a bit of time), right click save as this http://bleddyn.co.uk/forums/ocuk/apatch.aps then load the aps file with apatch when it's open (close msn to do the patching)

monkeysmith · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:25

I use Trillian, find it better than other IM's, just usability and plugins. Although, have been waiting for the new release for years now, might start looking at what else there is.

fumbles · 18 Jun 2007 at 09:40

Personally I use Pidgin, however there is a MSN clone called aMSN.

More features and what not.

http://www.amsn-project.net/download.php

Mindriot · 18 Jun 2007 at 11:13

I use Miranda IM even though i dont use multi protocols but you can customise miranda so much with plugins you can get it to look like anything really

For example this is how mine looks:

Simple and unobtrusive

MarcLister · 18 Jun 2007 at 11:19

@Mindriot - Cool. Looks very nice. Can you list what plugins you used? Whenever I use Miranda I always find a dodgy plugin that knackers Miranda.

And do you have smilies in Miranda? I've tried to get the Tango smilies into Miranda but I've never succeeded. Its really annoying. If I could get them working then its a straight fight between Pidgin and Miranda for which client I dump MSN/WLM for.

A[L]C · 30 Aug 2007 at 21:24

bledd. said:
you could use apatch with your msn messenger, it removes the adverts and crud from msn

get it from here

http://apatch.org/downloads.php

here's my config for it (save you a bit of time), right click save as this http://bleddyn.co.uk/forums/ocuk/apatch.aps then load the aps file with apatch when it's open (close msn to do the patching)

bledd is that for Windows Live Messenger 8.5 BETA?