Like e-mail, instant messaging has become a part of our lives, at work, at home, at school, on the go -- even on our mobile phones. We take a look at four top chat apps, all of them free, and weigh the relative merits of each.Multitasking: these days, it's a necessary part of any job and of daily life. So the ability to have a phone conversation while sending several instant messages simultaneously can sometimes make or break a business deal -- or your date for Friday night. Instant messaging is fast, convenient, and -- dare we say -- entertaining, whether you use it at work, at home, at school, on the go, or even on your mobile phone.
Unfortunately, none of these chat apps allows you to talk to friends registered with other services. In other words, your AIM account can't talk to you best friend's Yahoo account -- that is, unless you use another piece of software, such as Trillian. Trillian breaks the chat app monopolies by supporting all four major IMs: AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo, aggregating your accounts on each into one interface.
If you're concerned about security risks with instant messaging, specifically about buffer-overflow attacks (a common means of penetrating PC defenses) and spim (IM spam), you could try IMsecure, a security product from the people who make the ZoneAlarm firewall. It's the only product of its kind, and it works with AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo chat apps.
Use our handy chart to compare the features and setup requirements of the Big Four chat apps.
| AOL AIM 5.5 | Yahoo Messenger 6.0 | MSN Messenger 6.2 | ICQ 4.1 | |
| Editors' rating | 7.6 | 8.0 | 7.3 | 8.0 |
| Registration information | Asks somewhat intrusive questions | Asks less-intrusive questions | Asks extremely intrusive questions | Asks personal information that is optional |
| What you can customise | Backgrounds | Backgrounds, skins | Backgrounds | Skins, backgrounds, keyboard shortcuts |
| Business features | Lightbridge Web-based conference calling ($); WebEx Web-based video- conferencing ($) | Video and voice | Video, voice, and whiteboard ($) | Voice and video |
| Works with mobile phone | Yes, 2-way | Yes, 2-way | Yes, 2-way | Yes, 2-way |
| Technical support | E-mail (24-hour response), FAQ | FAQs only | Forum, e-mail, FAQ | E-mail (24-hour response), FAQ |
Note: $ denotes services that require additional fees.
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AOL AI M 5.5
Despite several business-oriented add-ons, AIM 5.5 is a free and versatile instant messenger that's best suited for AOL home users. That said, we like Yahoo and ICQ even better.
Full review |
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ICQ 4.1
The free, legendary chat client just keeps getting better; ICQ is the best pick, along with Yahoo Messenger, for features and versatility.
Full review |
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MSN Messenger 6.2
Relentless offers for premium (fee-based) services turn MSN Messenger into a big advertisement rather than a useful communication tool. For the most free features, use Yahoo or ICQ instead.
Full review |
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Yahoo Messenger 6.0
The most versatile and best free IM client we reviewed, if you can do without e-mail tech support.
Full review |
It's a pity Jabber (www.jabber.org) didn't get a mention. It has several benefits like Trillian (combining protocols etc), with most of the security features of IMSecure (like SSL, encrypting messages between users etc). I've implemented many Jabber servers for companies wanting to take control of their in-house and external instant messaging - in essence creating an IM gateway for their corporate users; rather than arbitrarily blocking IM, embracing and controlling it.