MSN messenger: how not to upgrade.

[MoonbathingXXI]

Hello everybody,

First of all I would like to say hi again, and thank you for any advice you may give me.

I have a NEC laptop and an XP OS. As many of you know, it seems those of us that use MSN Messenger are required to upgrade to the newest version –a rather large, heavy one.

I don’t really want to do it, and I don’t want to download any windows updates… More than that, at a certain moment I gave up trying to make Messenger 5.0 and 7.0 work, and I finally tried to install the newest version; it made me download a program, “Windows Installer 3.1”, and after that my computer kept freezing for hours. I had to uninstall it and go back to the “last good configuration” when I rebooted my PC.

I’d rather chat through Skype –but everybody has MSN Messenger, and you just can’t tell people “there are many ways to chat, and most of them are way better tan the one you use”… They don’t pay any attention, and many of them take it personally, as an insult.

Is there any way to NOT upgrade? To use say version 5.0 or 7.0? Alternatively: is there any way to make newer versions work without downloading Windows Installer 3.1?

Once more, thanks a lot.

Moonbathing.

[the gaffer]

If you search the forum this i believe has been asked and covered before,alternately you could use AMSN which is an alternative and compatible with msn messenger aMSN - Opening your communication (http://www.amsn-project.net/) you can also sign in in more than 1 user so its good for winding your mates up ;)

[MoonbathingXXI]

Hello the Gaffer,

I’d like to say thanks once more, and let you know how I finally dealt with my MSN Messenger problem.

I found two alternatives to MSN. One of them is called Pidgin:

Download Pidgin for Windows (http://www.pidgin.im/download/windows/)

Pidgin - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com (http://download.cnet.com/Pidgin/3000-2150_4-10281799.html)

I found it very user-friendly; still, many people who chatted with me (they were using MSN) complained that I couldn’t see exactly what they could see… Emoticons and stuff like that (people are weird, aren’t they?)

So I eventually downloaded the second alternative, the one suggested by you: aMSN –which is simply perfect, especially for kids (my daughter is thirteen and she says it’s almost the same as MSN)

aMSN - Opening your communication (http://www.amsn-project.net/)

(For rookies like me: you can use both Pidgin and aMSN purely as clients, portals through which you can communicate with others using the same protocol, regardless of the client they are using)

Would it be possible to change the title of this threat to “Alternatives to MSN”? It might be a better title.

Thanks again,

Moonbathing