MSN Messenger 6.2
Download for free from CNET Download.com.

CNET Editors' Review
CNET Editors' Rating
- Reviewed by: Stephen Bigelow
- Released on:
- Reviewed on:
The good: Free; attractive Web-based interface; good technical support.
The bad: Intrusive registration; individual services often require sign-ups or payment; relies heavily on HTML Web pages.
The bottom line: 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.
Our first complaint about MSN Messenger is its intrusiveness. To use MSN Messenger, you' ... Expand full review
Our first complaint about MSN Messenger is its intrusiveness. To use MSN Messenger, you'll have to register for a free Microsoft .Net Passport account. A new account demands personal information such as gender, date of birth, and occupation. If you already have a Hotmail account, you just need to associate that account with .Net Passport. Once you've registered your new account, the 5MB download and installation process thankfully takes just a couple of minutes. MSN Messenger accounts won't work within other IM clients, unfortunately, but you can use software such as Trillian to mix messengers.
You can customize your MSN Messenger interface with themes or backgrounds. Extra features within MSN Messenger break into 10 main areas, each with its own tab. The messaging tab stays on top by default; others include alerts, extras (themes and greeting cards), stocks, travel, Xbox, shopping, games, MSNBC news, and local traffic. This basic interface is clean and well designed, but its proliferation of hyperlinks can be distracting. For example, clicking the Stocks tab opens a stock tracker, but clicking a link such as Pay My Bills opens a new Web page within your default Internet browser to an MSN bill-pay site involving paid access. There are many similar examples across MSN Messenger, making the utility seem more like an advertisement for paid Microsoft services than a handy IM tool.
User Reviews
See all user reviewsMost recent user reviews
Showing 3 of 5 reviews
"no rateing is low enough" By slash_4600
Pros: absolutly posativly with out a doubt nothing
Cons: everylittle thing from the name to the very last pixle of the box it has on ur screen
Summary: where can I start messegeing is poor on all versions
u halfto pay for everything and on yahoo its all free, u can`t change ur status at times u can only sing in 60% of the time for w/e reason norton internet security found this program to b ... Expand full review
"Way too much other stuff" By desidude
Pros: Web cam is somewhat stable
Cons: I just want to chat and not be bothered by popups and advertisements. This has alot of other stuff you dont really need if you just need the bacis of text messageing.
Summary: Compaired to AIM and Yahoo Messenger, it crashes much more often and has more advertisements than others. I use gaim as my primary messenger and has been working great for me. I still prefere it over the new msn 7.