| Yahoo! Messenger | |
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An old Version of Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Contact List under Windows | | Developer: | Yahoo! | | Latest release: | 8.1.0.421 (Windows) / 3.0b2 (Mac) / August 29, 2007/ September 06, 2007 | | OS: | Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Mac OS 8, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Unix | | Genre: | VoIP/Instant messaging client | | License: | Proprietary freeware | | Website: | messenger.yahoo.com | Yahoo! Messenger is a popular advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories. This article or section should be merged with Yahoo! Yahoo! Movies provides information on current movie theater releases, including showtimes, critical reviews and general popular opinion. ...
Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail) service from Yahoo!. It is the largest [1] e-mail provider on the Internet, serving millions of users. ...
Image File history File links Yahoo!_Messenger. ...
Image File history File links Ymessenger7. ...
âSoftware developmentâ redirects here. ...
âYahooâ redirects here. ...
A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. ...
is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
// An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ...
Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ...
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation: [miË], [Ém iË]), is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft. ...
Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K) is a preemptive, interruptible, graphical and business-oriented operating system that was designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor 32-bit Intel x86 computers. ...
Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ...
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft. ...
Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...
Mac OS 8 is a series of versions of the Mac OS that supported a transition through major changes in the Macintosh hardware platform. ...
Sherlock 2 for Mac OS 9 with the new metallic appearance Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apples Classic Mac OS. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as The Best Internet Operating System Ever, highlighting Sherlock 2s Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple...
Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...
Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ...
Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. ...
IP Telephony, also called Internet telephony, is the technology that makes it possible to have a telephone conversation over the Internet or a dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) network instead of dedicated voice transmission lines. ...
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ...
In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ...
A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ...
It has been suggested that closed source be merged into this article or section. ...
The term Freeware refers to gratis proprietary software with closed source. ...
A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML...
Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ...
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ...
In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ...
YMSG is the underlying network protocol used by the Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging client, for Yahoo!. Yahoo! Instant Messager supports many features beyond just messaging, including off-line messaging, file transfer, chat, conferencing, voice chat, webcams and avatars. ...
âYahooâ redirects here. ...
Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail) service from Yahoo!. It is the largest [1] e-mail provider on the Internet, serving millions of users. ...
In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages. It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars. ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, owned by Time Warners AOL subsidiary. ...
âWindowsâ redirects here. ...
This article is about the comic strip. ...
Dilbert (first published April 16, 1989) is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. ...
Example of an avatar as used on internet forums. ...
Yahoo! Messenger 2.5.3 for Mac, released in 2003, is the current stable version for Mac OS X. It has far fewer features than the current Windows release and has been reported to be quite buggy. In June of 2006 Messenger for Mac 3.0b1 was released as a beta, and remains in beta more than a year later. This beta has a more modern interface than 2.5.3 and includes avatars,display image viewing, BUZZ facility, and some other features comparable to those on the Windows version. However, it is still lacking the more advanced features contained in the Windows version, such as PC-to-PC calling, photo sharing, an address book and chat room access. The latest beta version (rc4 released in May 2007) also contains bugs, including a java bug when Safari 3 is installed that causes new messages to pop to the top of the window causing the user to repeatedly scroll to the bottom of the window as new messages arrive. Yahoo! has announced a partnership with Microsoft to join their instant messaging networks. This would make Yahoo! Messenger compatible with Microsoft's .NET Messenger Service. It also made Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger compatible with Yahoo!'s Network. This change has taken effect as of July 13, 2006, - Yahoo! Messenger has integrated instant messaging with Windows Live Messenger users, and is fully functional. Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ...
The . ...
For the old versions of this software called MSN Messenger, see MSN Messenger. ...
For the old versions of this software called MSN Messenger, see MSN Messenger. ...
British Telecommunications' BT Communicator software is based on Yahoo! Messenger. BT Communicator was withdrawn on 31st December 2006 [1]. Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on March 9, 1998. Features
Yahoo! Voice -
Yahoo! Voice is a Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service [2], [3] provided by Yahoo! via its Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging application. Yahoo! Voice is a Voice over IP PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service [1], [2] provided by Yahoo! via its Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging application. ...
how VoIP works A typical analog telephone adapter for connecting an ordinary phone to a VoIP network Ciscos implementation of VoIP - IP Phone Voice over Internet Protocol, also called VoIP, IP Telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband is the routing of voice conversations over...
âYahooâ redirects here. ...
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ...
Voicemail and file sharing Yahoo! added voicemail and file sending capabilities to their client. File-sharing of sizes up to 1GB was added.
Plug-ins As of 8.0, Yahoo! Messenger has added the ability for users to create plug-ins (via the use of the freely available Yahoo! Messenger Plug-in SDK), which are then hosted and showcased on the Yahoo! Plug-in gallery.
Yahoo! Mail integration On July 2, 2007, Yahoo! plans to integrate Yahoo! Mail Beta and Yahoo! Messenger [1]. Conversations will eventually be archived and stored in the same manner as emails. This allows users to search within their chat logs easily, and to have them centrally stored no matter what computer is used to have conversations. is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Yahoo! Mail is a Web-based email (webmail) service from Yahoo!. It is the largest [1] e-mail provider on the Internet, serving millions of users. ...
Chat All versions of Yahoo! Messenger have included the ability to access Yahoo! Chat rooms. On June 19, 2005, with no advance warning, Yahoo! disabled users' ability to create their own chat rooms. The move came after KPRC-TV in Houston, Texas reported that many of the user-created rooms were geared toward pedophilia. Many regulars in these rooms used the rooms to set up meetings to have sex with children and trade lewd pictures. While it was thought this move came as a result of several advertisers pulling their ads from Yahoo!, a more likely cause was a $10 million lawsuit filed by watchdog groups of internet portals on behalf of a 12-year-old victim of molestation. is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
For KPRC Radio, see KPRC (AM). ...
âHoustonâ redirects here. ...
Pedophilia or pædophilia (see spelling differences) is a mental state in which an adult has a preferential sexual attraction to prepubescent and in some definitions, preadolescent children. ...
Yahoo! has since closed down the chat.yahoo.com site (which is now a redirect to a section of the Yahoo! Messenger page) because the great majority of chat users accessed it through Messenger. In August of 2007, it began requiring word verification in order to use Yahoo! Chat. Officially, this is to guard against spammers and automated bots, which had been a source of frustration for many chatters. However, as this also logs users' IP addresses, this feature could presumably be used to monitor against the type of behavior that prevailed in the pedophilia-oriented rooms. The company is still working on a way to allow users to create their own rooms while providing safeguards against abuse. Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Early CAPTCHAs such as these, generated by the EZ-Gimpy program, were used on Yahoo. ...
URI scheme Yahoo! Messenger's installation process automatically installs an extra URI scheme ("protocol") handler into some web browsers, so that URIs beginning "ymsgr:" can open a new Yahoo! Messenger window with specified parameters. This is similar in function to the mailto: URI scheme, which creates a new e-mail message using the system's default mail program. For instance, a web page might include a link like the following in its HTML source to open a window for sending a message to the YIM user notarealuser: A URI scheme is the top level of the URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) naming structure. ...
<a href="ymsgr:sendim?notarealuser">Send Message</a> To specify a message body, the m parameter is used, so that the link location might look like this: ymsgr:sendim?notarealuser&m=This+is+my+message Offline Messaging Offline messaging, a feature long offered by Yahoo!, allows online users to send messages to their contacts, even if said contacts are not signed in at the time. The sender's offline contacts will receive these messages when they next go online. âYahooâ redirects here. ...
On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced plans to introduce interoperability between their two messengers, creating the second largest instant messenger userbase worldwide: 40 percent of all users (AIM currently holds 56 percent). The announcement comes after years of 3rd party interoperability success (most notably, Trillian, Pidgin) and criticisms that the major instant messengers were locking their networks. Microsoft has also had talks with AOL in an attempt to introduce further interoperability, but so far, AOL seems unwilling to participate. For the old versions of this software called MSN Messenger, see MSN Messenger. ...
is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
AIM is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below: AOL Instant Messenger A I M Management Group Inc. ...
Trillian is a multiprotocol instant messaging application for Windows created by Cerulean Studios that can connect to multiple IM services, such as AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Bonjour, Jabber, and Skype networks (the latter four with Trillian Pro which allows for additional plugins). ...
Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client that supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols. ...
Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger was launched July 12, 2006. This allows, for Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger users to chat to each other without the need to create an account on the other service, provided both contacts use the latest versions of the clients. For now, it's impossible to talk using the voice service among both messengers. is the 193rd day of the year (194th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Games There are various games and applications available that can be accessed via the conversation window by clicking the games icon and challenging your current contact.
yahoomessenger.exe (previously ypager.exe) yahoomessenger.exe is the main process belonging to the Yahoo! Instant Messenger application, an Internet messaging program. The name of the Yahoo! instance messaging client changed from ypager.exe to yahoomessenger.exe since version 7.5.0 beta. Software development stages In computer programming, development stage terminology expresses how the development of a piece of software has progressed and how much further development it may require. ...
Note that this applies to the Windows version of Yahoo! Messenger.
Upcoming releases Yahoo! will soon unveil a completely re-hauled [4] version for Windows Vista. It has been designed to exploit the new design elements of Vista's Windows Presentation Foundation. Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...
This subsystem is a part of . ...
The Mac OSX client version 3.0 Beta 2 will reportedly have more features, including Voice [5], and a better connection with the most recent versions of OSX However, Yahoo! have yet to announce a release date for this beta.
Latest releases
A screenshot of Yahoo! Messenger 3.0b1 for Mac OS X - Windows - 8.1.0.419 / August 29, 2007
- Mac OS X - 3.0b2 / September 06, 2007
- Several third-party clients exist that can connect to the Yahoo! Messenger network, such as, Fire, Adium and Proteus. Adium can access the chat rooms, the others cannot - they are for instant messaging only. Given Yahoo!'s apparent lack of interest in updating Messenger for Macintosh, many of these third-party clients actually have more features and are less buggy than Yahoo!'s product.
- Unix - 1.0.4 / September 2003
- BlackBerry - Research In Motion and Yahoo! offer a free Yahoo! Messenger client for modern BlackBerry devices. Note that this is not supported on the Cingular network.
Image File history File links Yahoo_Messenger_for_Mac. ...
Image File history File links Yahoo_Messenger_for_Mac. ...
is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Fire is the first instant messenger client for Mac OS X (previously for OPENSTEP), that can access IRC, Jabber, AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, and Apple Bonjour. ...
Adium is a popular instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple protocols through the libpurple library. ...
Proteus is an instant messenger client for Mac OS X that can access the Jabber, AIM, .Mac, ICQ, MSN, Lotus Sametime, Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Japan networks, as well as supporting chat over local Bonjour networks. ...
Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ...
The Gentoo Linux operating system (pronounced ) is a Linux distribution named after the Gentoo penguin. ...
Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ...
This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ...
Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a popular multi-platform instant messaging client that supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols. ...
This article is about the wireless e-mail device. ...
Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (TSX: RIM, NASDAQ: RIMM) is a Canadian wireless device company. ...
Cingular Wireless is the largest United States mobile phone company, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. ...
Feature & release history Windows There are many versions between those listed here and prior to last version listed here. These are "major releases". See one of several sites listed in external links to find other, older versions of the product. - 1.0 March 9, 1998
- 3.0 August 17, 2000
- 7.0.0.426 — August 8, 2005
- Renamed to "Yahoo! Messenger with Voice"
- Drag-and-drop photo sharing
- Drag-and-drop file sharing
- PC-to-PC calling
- Voicemail
- Ringtones
- Yahoo! 360° integration
- Pop-up Contact Cards
- Spam Reporting
- New tabs
- New emoticons
- Archive updates
- LiveWords (Beta)
- 7.0.0.437 — August 30, 2005
- 8.0.0.505 — June 20, 2006
- 8.0.0.508 — July 13, 2006
- Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts
- 8.0.0.701 — August 10, 2006
- The release date signifies the release of a beta version. This is not clearly documented on the Yahoo site.
- 8.0.0.716 — September 29, 2006
- 8.1.0.195 — October 25, 2006
- Renamed to "Yahoo! Messenger"
- Ability to check for updates from the help menu
- 8.1.0.209 — December 4, 2006
- 8.1.0.239 — January 19, 2007
- Improvements in voice quality and sign-in, fixes for minor bugs with Windows Vista
- 8.1.0.244 - March 14, 2007
- 8.1.0.249 - March 28, 2007
- 8.1.0.401 - June 8, 2007
- Fixes a vulnerability with the Webcam ActiveX control
- 8.1.0.402 - June 15, 2007
- Fixes a buffer overflow in an ActiveX control
- 8.1.0.413 - July 17, 2007
- 8.1.0.416 - August 22, 2007
- Changes to voice library for better Vista support. (Users can get voice in Windows Vista without using a proxy app anymore, provided they still install codec themselves)
- Fix to two Cam exploits
- 8.1.0.419 - August 29, 2007
- Two more security patches
- 8.1.0.421
is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Voicemail (or voice mail, vmail or VMS, sometimes called messagebank) is a centralized system of managing telephone messages for a large group of people. ...
A ring tone is the sound made by a telephone when ringing. ...
Yahoo! 360° (a. ...
Messaging spam, sometimes called SPIM, is a type of spam targeting users of instant messaging services. ...
An emoticon, also called a smiley, is a sequence of printable characters such as :) or :-) that is intended to represent a human facial expression and convey an emotion. ...
is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 338th day of the year (339th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...
is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Mac - 2.5.3 - September 24, 2003
- 3.0 beta 1 - June 28, 2006
- New UI
- Display Images
- Avatars Support
- Stealth Settings
- Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger contacts
- YMSG14
- Prior Releases - Undocumented
- 3.0 beta 1 revision 2 - July 13, 2006
- Auto Reconnect
- YMSG14 related bug fixes.
- 3.0 beta 2 [6] - September 06, 2007
- Tabbed IM windows
- Chat rooms
- Improved stability for webcam and file transfer
- More emoticons
- Message archiving
- YMSG15
- No voice calling
is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A typical webcam A web camera (or webcam) is a real-time camera (usually, though not always, a video camera) whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application. ...
is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 194th day of the year (195th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
September 6 is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years). ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Malware Yahoo! Messenger (along with other networks such as Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger) is often used as a conduit or "vector" for delivering malicious software such as spyware, viruses, worms, and trojans to unsuspecting computer users. The two methods used by hackers to deliver malware over the IM vector are (1) sending a file transfer with a virus-infected file, and (2) delivering a message with socially engineered content containing a web address (URL) containing active malicious code. Viruses and worms with colorful names such as W32.Yalove or W32/Spybot-MQ have been identified as targeting users of the Yahoo! Messenger network over the past few years. The threat of infection by these two methods is substantial and growing. The IM Security Center, a collaboration between security companies and corporations, has tracked attacks over IM since 2003 and shows well over 1000 distinct attacks over the public IM networks. The first half of 2007 saw an 84% increase in IM attacks over the first half of 2006. While IM-specific attacks remain a small percentage of overall virus and malware threats, the continued growth in usage of IM, along with the rapid adoption of IM in the workplace (See Instant Messaging) make IM an attractive vector for hackers, and both individuals and companies must take precautions to avoid infection. Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ...
The most common method of delivering a malicious payload is the use of social engineering to construct a message that appears to be coming from a contact on the recipient's contact list. A socially engineered message is one that is written in a friendly, informal manner, that could easily be mistaken as coming from a friend. The message usually will say something like "Click here to see pics of me from vacation!" or "Is this you?" with a web address -- known as a "poison URL" -- for the recipient to click. Upon clicking the web address, the recipient is connected to a website containing active content, which is immediately downloaded to the recipient's computer. In most cases, the payload contains an installer, a number of hidden files containing text, and code which causes the same socially engineered message with poison URL to be sent to every contact on the contact list. When the message is sent to all contacts, the cycle starts again, as each contact believes they are receiving a message from a trusted friend. In this manner, IM-borne malware is capable of propagating very rapidly through company and external networks. Worms and viruses are discovered on a regular basis by security companies, particularly by the three companies with IM-specific security products, Akonix Systems, FaceTime Communications, and Symantec. According to IM security researchers at Akonix, the number of new threats identified each month is 30 to 35, with a high of 88 in October, 2006. An instant messaging manager is a software product created specifically to secure, archive, and/or filter the content of instant messages on the popular instant messaging networks. ...
Compatible software Adium is a popular instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple protocols through the libpurple library. ...
Agile Messenger is a multiprotocol instant messaging application for mobile devices which allows users to be connected to multiple instant messaging networks while away from the PC. Agile Messenger supports AIM, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and XMPP. Versions are available for Windows Mobile/Windows CE, Symbian OS, Palm OS...
BitlBee is an IRC to other IM-chat-networks gateway created by Wilmer van der Gaast and others. ...
Centericq is a text mode menu- and window-driven IM interface that supports the ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM, MSN, IRC, and Jabber protocols. ...
Fire is the first instant messaging client for Mac OS X (previously for OPENSTEP), that can access IRC, Jabber, AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger, and Bonjour. ...
imeem logo imeem is a social media service where users interact with each other by watching, posting, and sharing content of all media types, including blogs, photos, audio, and video. ...
IM+ is a multi-network mobile IM client that enables chat capabilities within all public instant messaging systems. ...
IMVU is a graphical instant messaging client with more than 1 million users. ...
Instan-t is a multi-protocol instant messaging software program developed by Interactive Networks Inc. ...
The Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel Jabberwocky is a poem of nonsense verse written by Lewis Carroll, and found as a part of his novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). ...
Kopete is a multi-protocol, free software instant messaging client. ...
Meca Messenger is an instant messaging client that supports multiple protocols. ...
Meebo is an in-browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ [1], and Jabber and is based on the open source library libpurple created by the software developers of Pidgin[2]. // Although still in its early stages, the...
Meetro is a multi-network instant messenger with location-based services (LBS). ...
Miranda Instant Messenger is a minimalist, open source multiprotocol instant messaging application, designed for Microsoft Windows. ...
Paltalk is an internet chat service for text, voice and video chatting. ...
Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client that supports many commonly used instant messaging protocols. ...
Proteus is a popular instant messaging client for Mac OS X that supports multiple protocols through the libgaim library. ...
Qnext is a Java-based P2P client that provides instant messaging, audio chat, video conferencing, music streaming, photo sharing, online gaming, file transfer and file sharing. ...
Simple Instant Messenger (SIM) is a free software multiprotocol instant messaging client available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. SIM-ICQ was discontinued for a time because its founder Vladimir Shutoff, a Russian programmer, left the project. ...
This article is about the instant messaging client. ...
This article is about the instant messaging client. ...
This article is about the instant messaging client. ...
For the old versions of this software called MSN Messenger, see MSN Messenger. ...
References See also The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messaging clients. ...
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messaging protocols. ...
This is a comparison of Internet Relay Chat clients. ...
Instant messaging (IM) is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ...
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