Windows Live Messenger

Connect and share instantly on the world’s most popular IM network

Download Windows Live Messenger

Call their phones. Call their PCs.

Call your friends' mobile or landline phones. It's affordable both within the US and internationally. And calling someone's PC is always free.

See them on the screen

Show and tell: Grab a webcam and start a video conversation within minutes.

Share stuff

Set up a Sharing Folder with a friend. Drop in photos and other stuff, as many as your computer can handle. See it even when one of you is offline.

Soon: talk to your Yahoo! friends, too

With Windows Live Messenger, you can soon connect with your Yahoo! Messenger with Voice contacts.  Forget needing multiple accounts to talk to your friends. Do it all from Windows Live Messenger.  The world's largest IM network is about to get bigger – and better.

Ta da! It’s the next-generation MSN® Messenger. Along with everything you already love about Messenger—your contact list, emoticons, and instant access to your friends—there are brilliant new ways to connect and share photos (and other stuff). As always, it's free to download Messenger and use most of its features.

Features

PC-to-PC Calling

Speak your mind: Have a high-quality voice conversation using PC-to-PC Calling. Free.

Telephone calling, too

Start making calls within minutes to mobile and landline phones across the county or around the world. (You’ll need to sign up for service with Verizon, but it’s super easy).

Even better video conversations

Those old science fiction movies with TV phones? That's what the new Messenger will give you, only better: live, full-screen (640x480) video.

Sharing Folders

Drag a file onto a contact’s name. You’ve just created a Sharing Folder. Now you and your contact can get to all the files in the folder any time, even if one of you is offline.

Text message their phones

See a little mobile icon next to a friend's name?  Just right click to send a text message.

Your two-way, super-powered address book

With Windows Live Contacts, whenever your contacts update their information, it will also be changed in your Messenger address book. Instantly. (Your Windows Live Mail address book will be updated, too).

Windows Live™ Alerts

Headlines, sports scores, traffic, or just about anything else you want to keep up with—get pop-up notifications of things as they happen.

Soon: Talk to your Yahoo! friends, too

Download Windows Live Messenger

Windows Live Messenger (WLM), formerly known as MSN Messenger, is a freeware instant messaging client for Microsoft Windows XP and Vista, first released on July 22, 1999 by the Microsoft corporation. It is part of Microsoft's Windows Live set of online services. The current version is 8.0, which was released on June 19, 2006. Amongst its users it is still often referred to as "MSN," (referring to pre-8.0 versions) primarily because many people do not give attention to the name change or because they are not familiar with Windows Live. Some people simply call it MSN because it is familiar and easier to say. In some parts of Latin America and Spain it is known as simply "Messenger". Windows Live Messenger is often used to refer to the .NET Messenger Service (the protocols and server that allow the system to operate) rather than any particular client. The business-oriented client for Windows is called Office Communicator. It is possible for virtually any computer with an Internet connection, Windows XP and Internet Explorer to connect to the Messenger Service by using MSN Web Messenger, or one of the unofficial equivalents (which have advantages such as compatibility with browsers other than IE, but do not have an interface that mimics the one of the MSN Messenger 7.5 application).