Hey Friends, I rewrote this whole review since Yahoo Messenger has undergone vast changes
A Comprehensive Messenger Review.
Do you Yahoo?
Basics for Newbie’s:
Q1) What’s a Messenger?
Messenger is an application (''program'' in terms of a layman) through which we can communicate with other people who are online at the same time by sending and receiving messages, It can be Text, Voice or Video. Messenger is also known as IM (Instant Messenger)
Q2) So what’s Yahoo Messenger?
Yahoo Messenger is an application, a product of Yahoo Inc., It comes in different flavors for different Operation Systems like Windows version, Macintosh Version and Linux Version, Web Version and Mobile Version.
Q3) Are there any other such Messengers available?
Yes, There are lot of other messengers available on Internet such as ICQ(AOL Online), MSN Messenger(Microsoft), IrC, AIM, IndiaTimes Messenger, Rediff Bol etc.
Q4) How much does it cost?
The Best thing is, It's Free. It doesn’t cost a penny.
Details for Experts
To send and receive messages from Yahoo Messenger one has to install it first, then add your friends Yahoo ID, click on the ID, type your message and Click Send.
Note: You and the other person have to be online to send and receive messages instantly or else you can send messages as offline message **(add on).
You can edit your Contact Information in the Yahoo Messenger from Login >> Edit My Contact Info.. and then send it to your friends by right clicking on their ID's and click Send My Contact Info., by doing this, whenever you are online the other person can see you name rather than your Yahoo ID so its easy to remember to whom does that ID belong to **(add on)
You can even edit your friends Contact Information, Right click on their ID and then click Edit contact Info.. so that whenever your friend is online you will see his/her name rather than his/her ID.
One can even View Webcam, View Profile, View Shared Files, View Message Archive(record of messages sent and received) of other yahoo users by Right click on their ID then click View Webcam, View Profile, View Shared Files and View Message Archive respectively.
One can even Send File by doing same as above, but there are certain file size limits when sending a file (approx. 2MB)
Note: One operation can be performed at a time.
You can Group your friends or relatives to different groups created by you, Right Click on the Default Group, then Click Create New Group... and then Give a name to your new Group. now when ever you want to add a new Yahoo ID to a group, Right Click on the Group Name and then Click Friend to Group...
We can send same message by Clicking the Message Icon and type Yahoo ID's seperated with commas,to people of the same group by right clicking on the Group name and click Send Message to all in this Group Similarly you can Rename and Delete Group. You can even shift Yahoo ID's from one group to another group by just Dragging and Dropping the ID from one Group to another.
You can even create different profiles(a substitute ID) from Login >> My Profiles, one can use these ID's to chat or communicate in Chat Rooms without revealing your real Yahoo ID. **(add on)
One can Change Preferences from Login >> Preferences or simple Ctrl+P like you can disable automatic launching of yahoo messenger from startup, Automatic Sign-in for Yahoo Mail, Address Book and Calendar, Remove Yahoo Messenger from Taskbar, Disable/Enable Yahoo Insider when you log-in, Edit Appearance, Enable/Disable Sound Alerts (Sometimes Sounds are Bugging!), Block Users (Who Bug You)
You can Directly Log on to Yahoo Chat Rooms and Chat with thousands of people from all around the world, Great Advantage. **(add on)
One can even Create his/her own Chat Room, Invite Friends to Chat Rooms etc. Chatting with the help of Yahoo Messenger is really a great advantage, Other messengers lack this feature, and forgetting the basic use of messenger i.e. Communicating with new people.
You can also view only friends who are online by clicking View >> Show only online Friends **(add on)
You can Hide from others when you are online from other people, go to yahoo profile and then edit the preferences, so that other users whom you don't know can't bug you.
Other Goodies and New Features
SMS buzz: You can Send SMS to any mobile device in India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and USA (Some Mobile Service Providers are not enabled yet).
Mobile Messenger: You can log on to yahoo through mobile device, First you have to register your device by clicking Login to Mobile Device, after resisting you can Login to Mobile device, so that your friends can now send you messages even when you not online (vice-versa).
Voice Communication : If you have a mic and headphone, you can Speak all around the world with Yahoo Users.
Video View: If you or your friend had a WebCam then you can see him/her live!
Alerts: You can receive Mail Alerts(Whenever you receive new mails), Birthday Alerts(If you have added Birthdates in your Yahoo Calendar Account) etc.
FireWall: Prevent Intrusion from Hackers and allows you to log on if u have firewall installed on your computer. **(add on)
Emoticons: Icons which can Display your moods and Emotions. Sounds Great.
IMvironments: Add Environments to life.
Status: You can hide from others that you are online by Changing your status to Invisible or even you can type your personal status message.
Conclusion
In such competitive world you need to communicate with people fast and cheap as possible, In such scenario applications such as Yahoo Messengers play and important
role in life of persons like me.
We can even play games from messenger like Tic-Tac-Toe and my Fav. Chess with near and dear once, Eliminating the distance of hundreds and thousands of Kilometers, giving a real life experience.
It has also become very famous business tool, even Yahoo has a separate Business Enterprise Messenger.
by keeping in view all features of Yahoo Messenger, I Rate Yahoo Messenger 9/10.
Yahoo is the best thing that has happened to me.
https://messenger.yahoo.com
Till Then Keep Messaging!
