A completely new look and also new feature turn Windows Live Messenger into a real competitor for Yahoo! Messenger.

You can, of course, send an instant message, call a computer, call a phone number, send a mobile message or send an e-mail. You can edit your status display and start a video chat with your friends.

Customizable skins and new emoticons are only a few of the new features included in Windows Live Messenger. During the installation process, you are also prompted to install the Rhapsody Music Service which allows you to discover, play and share music from the Rhapsody catalog.

Pluses: You can create custom emoticons by selecting an image on your computer which will be automatically resized. Now, you can send messages to offline contacts so that they will receive them as soon as they log in, but this feature need to be improved.

Other exciting features of Microsoft Live Messenger are the Whiteboard, Remote Assistance and Application Sharing. These features, only available with Microsoft Live Messenger give chatters the opportunity to share data or be part in a remote assistance session with partial all complete control of the target workstation.

Drawbacks / flaws: In case you receive a file, it will be saved in the default directory instead of prompting you to choose the location yourself. Of course, the received files directory can be chosen from the options menu. The Web Calling service is available for long distance calls to only a few countries, but the list is growing. The offline messages feature is not working at all; so far, after signing in, I didn't receive any offline messages.

In conclusion: Finally a true instant messenger coming from Microsoft. Worth downloading and installing, but still it needs some improvements.

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