douglasmcgregor.co.uk

Hi there,

I think I've found it – the must have Instant Messaging client.

After deciding to uninstall Windows Live Messenger because of the amount of CPU memory usage it used up, I've been trying to find suitable alternatives with advantages – one of my major needs is the Facebook Chat application – I'm usually always chatting away to mates on there well into the wee small hours of the night.  

I tried Pidgin for a while, which can connect to the Facebook chat application.  Recently it seemed not to load properly – it seemed to load like it was in Windows 95 mode or something bizarre like that.  Plus, the emoticons weren't showing properly – there was a large X where the emoticon graphic should have been.  I can normally guess what emoticon my friends will use if I know them well, based on the conversation.  But it's no good having an IM client that doesn't work properly.  It seemed to go funny after I installed Microsoft Flight Simulator X, but I don't see why that should have affected it.

Step in Digsby.  When I first installed it, it seemed like I'd already registered with it, but I don't remember using it.  Digsby is everything I ever dreamed of, for a geek like me.  As well as the usual MSN chat, you can add just about any other account you can think of – Yahoo, Google Talk, AIM and Jabber, as well as Facebook Chat and MySpaceIM chat.  That's only the start – you can add your social networking accounts such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, and your email accounts.

What I love most about it is that it shows notification popups of different events as they happen – so say you had a Facebook status comment, or someone posted a tweet on Twitter – it would pop up just above the start button with the person's name and an excerpt of their comment or tweet.  It also notifies you and displays text of new emails, and you can delete or reply to the email just by clicking on the notification if you have your mouse near it in time.  

Very efficient as Seven of Nine would say (Seven of Nine, Star Trek Voyager, in case you wonder what the hell I'm talking about!).  I'd say Digsby is going to be the pride and joy of my computer for the next wee while.