keep in touch (Microsoft MSN Messenger Service)

Member Name: princesshotpants

Product:	Microsoft MSN Messenger Service
Date:	10/12/08 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good service, quite reliable

Disadvantages: cuts out sometimes

I've been using MSN Messenger for years now and don't have too many complaints about it. Most of the time it's been working well enough for me and it's a great way to stay in touch with far away relatives and saves spending loads of money on phone bills and are much quicker than sending letters or even emails.

MSN Messenger has been launched by Microsoft and is an online chat service that you need to download onto your computer and you get to have private conversations, be that typing or speaking with your online buddies.

I haven't had many problems with logging in but have found that the service has sometimes not been working due to maintenance and other people have also had the same problems at that particular time.

I like that you can opt to have messenger notify you when you get new emails coming into your hotmail or msn email account and it also tells you when your friends are logging in.

You get to chose what friends you add onto your messenger and if someone should bother you or you don't want to talk to them for a bit, you have the option to block people. You can also update your status and let people know that you're available to chat, busy, out to lunch, on the phone, etc.

The voice and webcam service isn't always as reliable and easy to use as I would like though. I guess it depends on your internet speed and that of the person you're having the chat with. I know that after a while of smooth phoning (free phoning from PC to PC), it cuts out after about 30 minutes and you just have to redial again.

I did have one more problem in the past, where one of my friends who I have as contacts and know has had a virus come on to their msn that sends a message and if you're not cautious, might end up clicking on their link and get the virus on to your PC that way. The message wasn't theirs but just the automatically generated one with the virus link attached. That's quite annoying as it targets all their contacts without them knowing.

Other than the virus thing and the phone or webcam being disconnected, I haven't had much trouble and find MSN Messenger a good service that makes keeping in touch with friends and family easy.

Summary: a good online service to keep in touch with friends and family

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