Teens aren't the only group found IM handy. Many teens use IM daily to talk to five or six friends at a time while simultaneously listening to music, doing homework and talking on their cell phone. When e-mail contact isn't fast or convenient enough, Internet users turn to IM. For more information about instant messaging, check out How Instant Messaging Works.

Small, separate IM windows on the screen allow you to carry on conversations with several different people at a time.

That person reads the message and types back a response. Within a few seconds, the message appears in an IM window on the recipient's computer screen. You type in a message, which then travels in digital form over the Internet from your computer through the provider's server to the other person's computer. What exactly is it? Instant messaging allows you to carry on a conversation with someone else via your personal computer. You can, for example, access contacts and messages anywhere from any Web browser, communicate in any of 40 languages and share photos and large-file Web video.īefore we delve further into Yahoo Messenger, let's take a quick look at instant messaging. Yahoo Messenger offers firewall support, a standby mode that minimizes the program until an Internet connection is made, the ability to save and print your conversations, and a tabbed interface that provides quick access to your favorite stocks, news, and sports scores.Once you download Yahoo Messenger software and complete the Yahoo Messenger sign in, you'll find the service also does a lot more.

It also can alert you to new e-mail in your Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Personals accounts, or when you have upcoming events recorded in your Yahoo Calendar. Yahoo Messenger is a free service that allows you to see when friends come online and to send them instant messages.

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