Facebook Messenger for Windows Now Officially Available

Facebook Messenger leaked back in December, and Facebook decided to keep the link active that was pointing to the program’s download. Today, Facebook is officially releasing Messenger for Windows, promising that Mac users will get their version of the messenger application soon as well.

Facebook Messenger basically gives you an option to chat with your Facebook friends and contacts without having the Facebook.com website open at all.

Installation of the program should not be a problem, as it is silent and without settings that need to be made. The Messenger is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. Once installed, you can start it and enter your Facebook login details to get started.

The Messenger opens the main interface that combines Facebook’s header with the news ticker and chat sidebar after log in.

Here you see the friend requests, messages and notifications on top, followed by the live ticker that updates whenever a friend likes, posts or befriends someone on Facebook. This way you see more news and contacts available for chat.

You can start a chat with a left-click on one of your contact’s names. A search is provided to find a specific contact. Only five friends are displayed by default in the interface. You can use the attach to sidebar button to attach the interface to the right side of your monitor, so that it takes up all vertical screen estate there.

Facebook Messenger stores your log in information unless you sign out before you close the application. If you do not sign out, you are automatically logged in again when you start the application again at a later time. You can log out of Facebook with a click on the settings button next to search, and the selection of log out. Here you can also go offline, which may be useful to block chat messages in case they are too distracting or unwanted at that time.

You can chat with multiple friends at the same time. Each friend is displayed in a tab in the chat interface.

The biggest advantage of Facebook Messenger is that it provides access to chat and notifications in a much smaller window. If you are keeping your web browser open only to chat on Facebook, or prefer your chat window and notifications to be visible all the time, then the Messenger app might be for you.

Keep in mind though that it does not support all the features just yet. You cannot chat with groups, do video calls or edit settings other than the settings mentioned above. If that does not bother you, Facebook Messenger for Windows might be just for you.

Update: Facebook Messenger for Windows is currently only compatible with Windows 7. Facebook is however working on versions for Vista and XP.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter. Facebook Messenger, Chat and Notification Client For Windows
Automatically save my Conversation History In Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger On Screen Display
Yahoo Messenger Chat Archive Decoder
Messenger Plus Live About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Tuesday March 6, 2012 -
Tags:facebook chat, windows software

View the original article here

Messenger Plus! Is A Skype Chat Log Viewer, Call Recorder And More

Skype is a popular voice over IP software that you can use for a number of purposes. From audio and video calls over the Internet, to landline calls or messaging. The software has been recently acquired by Microsoft and it is expected that the Redmond company will integrate the technology into several of its core products.

If you have used Skype throughout the years, you have probably identified a few areas of improvement. Messenger Plus! for Skype is a free plugin that adds several missing features to the software.

The plugin attaches a small toolbar to the left of the Skype window which links to various plugin features, and a few web links that you may not be interested in at all.

The first six icons and the last of the toolbar link to the features that the plugin adds to Skype. Recording lets you record Skype audio and video conversations, with options to automate the recording in the program options. You need to click on the record button by default to start a recording. The third button links to the directory all recordings are saved into on the system.

The share button allows you to add animations and winks to Skype. This feature requires Flash to be installed on the system to function properly. The plugin ships with 35 animations that you can preview in a window before sending them to people you communicate with on Skype.

The last feature adds a log viewer to Skype. If you use Skype to chat regularly with contacts, you may have noticed that Skype displays all messages on a single page. There is no sorting available, for instance by date.

The log viewer, once activated, keeps track of your chats and displays them in an easier to access interface. It is for instance possible to select a specific month, day or user directly without having to double-click on the user in Skype to fiddle around in the interface to find the message you are looking for.

Even better, you can search, preview and print any conversation, or export them into text, html, csv or xml files.

You may want to pay a visit to the plugin’s options page. Here you can for instance change the recording quality, enable automatic recording of incoming calls, or disable automatic updating.

I have already mentioned that you find a few links in the toolbar that redirect to the website of the developer. It is easy enough to ignore those. You may also want to pay extra attention to the installation process, as you may end up with a new toolbar, search provider and browser homepage otherwise.

Interested users can download Messenger Plus! for Skype from the developer website. The program is compatible with all recent versions of the voice over IP software.

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter. Sky History, Manage Skype Chat History And Call Logs
Skype Call Recording Software
Skype VOIP Recorder
Skype Chat History Remover
Skype Chat Translator STranslator About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Monday February 13, 2012 -
Tags:skype, skype plugin

You are here: Home » Software » Messenger Plus! Is A Skype Chat Log Viewer, Call Recorder And More

View the original article here