Entered CNET Catalog: 01/08/2004
SKU: CNETMSNPREMIUM
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 01/29/2004
Setting up MSN Premium is simple enough: Just pop in the CD, and a wizard locates your existing settings and steps you through the process of installing 180MB worth of software. The whole process took about 20 minutes on our test machine, including a mandatory reboot.
MSN Premium features a customizable Dashboard that lets you add photos, links, and other content and resize it at will.
All three versions of MSN use the same basic interface, which differs only slightly from MSN 8.0's. As before, the Dashboard appears on the right-hand side of the screen and displays weather, stock prices, and the like. But now you can resize and customize it with photos or links to other MSN services or have it float permanently on your desktop. The MSN home page is less cluttered and more customizable; it features ton of broadband content from partners such as ESPN and MSNBC. (Though we had problems getting it to work correctly during testing.) Overall, MSN's current interface is clearly superior to AOL's mass of overlapping windows and is still our pick for the easiest interface.
MSN Premium is packed with so many features--photo editors, an encyclopedia, online games, and a suite of security software--it's hard to imagine Microsoft squeezing anything else into it or any other ISP competing. (AOL rivals MSN Premium on the number of features provided, but MSN's interface is far superior.) MSN Premium adds a pop-up blocker and complementary subscriptions to McAfee Virus Guard and Personal Firewall Plus, essential tools for any broadband user. AOL also offers a pop-up blocker, McAfee Firewall Express, and McAfee VirusScan, but you'll have to pay $3 a month for the latter, on top of your $15-a-month AOL charges--the same you'd pay if you bought it directly from McAfee.
Sending cute pics of the kids is a snap with MSN; just insert them into an e-mail message and pick a layout. Recipients can view higher-res versions on MSN's servers and order prints.
MSN Premium adds a number of tools to aid digital shutterbugs, including the ability to upload photos, edit them, and share them with your family. For example, to share pictures with Grandma, you can insert thumbnails of photos into an e-mail message, choose a layout for them with a couple of clicks, write captions, then hit the Send button. When Granny clicks a thumbnail, her browser launches and takes her to an MSN page where the photo has been stored. She can then order prints via MSN Photo Plus. MSN members get 30MB of permanent storage and can send up to 500MB per day of pictures. AOL also lets you edit photos and insert them in e-mail, but MSN gives you more tools for laying them out and adding captions.
MSN's excellent parental controls are easier to find in the new version, and its improved spam filter caught about 80 percent of the junk we received--that's not as good as standalone filters, such has Norton AntiSpam, but better than MSN 8.0. Finally, users of Outlook 2003 can access their MSN in-box from inside the e-mail client, view MSN and Outlook schedules side by side, and drag files between them--a handy feature for folks who like to manage their personal and professional lives from one place.
The only real glitch we encountered in MSN Premium was performance. We ran into occasional problems getting the software to launch on an older PC, as well as problems running other applications at the same time and getting the MSN home page to load correctly. Granted, our 800MHz Pentium 4-based Dell Dimension 4100 test bed (with 128MB of memory and Windows 98 SE) was dated, but we'd wager it's not unlike many home PCs today. Even though our test bed's specs were at or above the minimum requirements listed, we repeatedly received warnings telling us that we were low on system resources. We did not experience similar problems with MSN 8.0 on the same machine, which should come as no great shock since a Microsoft product always requires more power than its predecessor.
MSN's broadband video page was pretty to look at, but we couldn't get any of the clips to play on our test system.
We also were unable to play video files on MSN broadband; according to MSN support, we needed more system resources, even though our PC surpassed the minimum requirements and videos on other Web sites played just fine. Your mileage may vary, but MSN subscribers with older PCs will likely pay a price in performance.
Good help is truly hard to find these days, but MSN's support is generally first-rate. Along with AOL, MSN is one of the last bastions of toll-free, 24/7 phone support. MSN also has made its information more accessible; a new Status And Support page quickly summarizes each part of the service and the time you last connected and gives you links to phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and online chat options. We made three calls to support, and a technician answered the phone almost immediately each time, though the person couldn't always solve our problems. We also sent e-mail to support, getting a response in less than 24 hours as promised. Chat support was less impressive; we waited 20 minutes to connect with a technician before we gave up.
MSN's Status And Support page serves up a quick snapshot of your most recent activities; clicking a feedback link automatically e-mails a connection log to tech support.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
User Rating: 
5/10
No POP with MSN
Pros: Comes cheap with Qwest
Cons: Does not allow sending on pop acounts
My big problem is that I have a POP3 account through my university. MSN allows you to set up a POP3 account to READ messages, but does not allow you to SEND POP3 messages. That makes the account pretty much useless. My school tech support says that other ISP's in this area do not impose this limitation.
MSN was the first DSL available in my area, so I was one of the first to sign up. It remains my least expensive option when purchased through my phone company, but I'm seriously looking into changing.
As usual with Microsoft products, it tries to pretend that there are no other software providers. Its account set up Wizard will allow you to use Outlook, but nothing else.
In summary, MSN is like most Microsoft products. It's fine, as long as you limit yourself to what Microsoft thinks you should do. It does not, however, play well with others.
User Rating: 
9/10
Get Product!!! Better then AOL
Pros: Better Email then AOL, better video qulity then AOL.. Better everything then AOL...
Cons: There are no CONS
User Rating: 
4/10
Pretty useless stuff...
Pros: Good marketing for Verizon, better content can be had for free @ Yahoo/other sites.
Cons: Locks you into IE, bunch of useless software that duplicates what came with my computer (MSWorks).
User Rating: 
7/10
A Real Family Friendly Product.
Pros: Parantal controls, setup, Freedom to customize my homepage. Pop up blocker. Only one junk mail received in a 30 day period! Storage, and number of mailboxes offered ... enough for each family member without being charged for it like the last ISP I was wit
Cons: Error reporting message (for what ever reason locks up the system, but a quick end task takes care of it. My friend has the same problem with their MSN dial up, so it is not my system! A little slow delivering mail too.
User Rating: 9/10
MSN Is (ALMOST) the Best!!
Pros: The speed is amazing,easy to use,buit in pop-up blocker never fails,no more annoying ebay ads!Interface is really nice,not cluttered,and cutomer service is always so nice!I give MSN Premium an A.
Cons: Only one problem,though,I'm probably the only who has this problem,but,sometimes,when I'm online and looking around,I happen to click on something that might pop-up(like an enlarged picture)and all of a sudden,MSN,shuts down completely,in an instant!Not a
User Rating: 
10/10
Best ISP. Know one can top features
Pros: Very fast (dialup) and has so many features that you will always find what you want. And let me give you a clue. This has been proven that MSN is the most safest ISP vs Hackers. AOL (mainly because of the software they put on your computer) was rated the
Cons: HAHAHAHAHA CONS NO CONS
User Rating: 9/10
Must have better than IE 6.0
Pros: Features are great Including combining all ur email into 1 easy place, The Dashboard feature it's great to have my links on the side of my screen.
Cons: None that i have found
User Rating: 9/10
Like it
Pros: the new features in Premium compared to MSN 8 are excellent. I left cable due to the price and went to DSL. I wasnt sure if I would like it but teamed up with Verizon and msn premium I will never switch back. a great deal for the money 29.95
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
A MUST HAVE For Broadband!
Pros: Very cheap, A+ customer support, Doesn't hog your bandwith (Like AOL For Broadband), Great Features (That Actually work), FREE McAfee VirusScan and Firewall PLUS Subscription.
Cons: None so far!
User Rating: 
8/10
Can't Beat The Price And Content
Pros: Bundled with Verizon's DSL Package.Downloads of 728 and uploads of 128.First 30 days free and then $29.99 a month.No annual commitment.
Cons: It does slow down the system a bit.I use WinXP Pro with 512 Ram and P 4 1.6 Ghtz processor.My machine didn't skip a beat though.I don't like their messenger service because not enough people are on it and its not compatable with AIM.
User Rating: 9/10
Best Internet Service Yet!
Pros: The interface is clean and refreshing, great pop-up blocker and junk mail filtering, great tech support. I won't switch to another ISP because of MSN's great features.
Cons: It's slow with older pc's (266mhz PII), sometimes the homepage will load unless you refresh, sometimes you can't log on for mail but can surf online. Miss the online photo storage now replaced with Picture It!
User Rating: 8/10
Great for everyone!
Pros: I love the photo editing software and it's nicer how it's on your computer.. Not on a server so everything is in ONE place!
Cons: It's a bit clunky if you don't understand how to resize the toolbar.
User Rating: 8/10
Overall MSN 9 is Amazing
Pros: Antivirus, Firewall, New Customization, Multiple Email Account Management all GREAT.
Cons: Folders created on computer still lack sophistication for identifying, backing up and restoring to. Plus, MSN Premium should come with limited hours of Dial-up
User Rating: 8/10
Great new features
Pros: Pop-up blocker Calender Multiple email accounts can all be read in MSN mail.
Cons: A little buggy. Twice my windows have all completely closed and left only the desktop. Very strange!
User Rating: 10/10
MSN Premium is The Best!
Pros: It has features such as Videos,(Cool!)"Rich" Email, connection sensitive internet software ,Customizable My MSN page and Dashboard, great content, effective Pop Up Blocker, FREE "Safety" Software. It's all GREAT!
Cons: NONE!
User Rating: 8/10
Super Sized Broadband Meal!
Pros: Great photo features -- gotta try Photo Story! Email is the best in the biz. On it for 3 weeks and have not received a single piece of junk mail in my inbox. I love the Enhanced Video -- access to Leno highlights are so fun.
Cons: Sometimes the servers are busy and my mail is unaccessible.
User Rating: 8/10
Must have for BroadBand connections
Pros: Homepage is awesome, decent amount of content to add to page. Optimized for broadband connections (or XP), page load extremely fast. Built in popup blocker. Media content - news, weather, etc. video.
Cons: Homepage sometime does load up, have to refresh, etc. several times to load. Having to pay more money per month.
User Rating: 8/10
MSN changed for better
Pros: Good, user friendly interface,good content,overall looks and style are also good.
Cons: Only one I can see, I am a broadband user & the MSN video that's supposed to work, does not do anything.I have all the criteria that MSN says I need for it, but it does NOTHING.
User Rating: 8/10
decent product!
Pros: solid browser.Very good organization of content.Nice looking environment.Easy to get done what you want to get done , i.e. calendar services , web mail&pop mail, task management, research, photo sharing ,excellent IM.For broadband users, especially th
Cons: No or little cable subscriptions available for using MSN direct as your provider.Seems to be plenty of DSL available though.Lousy free music available (ala AOL) Limited Video selection. Lack of entertainment content , IMHO.
