Below my sig is a recap of some recent blogs posted on the official blog for Yahoo Messenger, http://www.YMessengerBlog.com, where you can read the full HTML versions with pictures, working links, etc.
Lenny Vasbinder http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer. -----Original Message----- From: Yahoo! Alerts [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Y! Alert: Yahoo! Messenger Blog Installation options for Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Since we have a lot of users upgrading to Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 right now, I've seen some comments/complaints about the extra programs and settings that are bundled with the Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 installer. I thought I'd take a moment to explain what they are and how you can customize your own installation. In addition to the Messenger client, there are a few other items that you can add at the same time while installing Yahoo! Messenger 9.0: Yahoo! Toolbar , set www.yahoo.com as your browser's home page, and set Yahoo! as your default search provider (in the search box that's built into your browser window). On the first screen of the installer, the additional items are listed. You'll also notice two items at the top - typical install and custom install. Click on the custom install link and it will show you a more detailed set of options for your install including desktop and quick launch shortcuts, Yahoo! Toolbar, and the homepage and search settings mentioned earlier (pictured below). Note that if you already have some of these things installed or set (e.g. you already have Yahoo! as your homepage), they won't appear in the list of options. If you want all of these items installed along with Yahoo! Messenger, just click the Next button at the bottom. Or uncheck the boxes for the items you don't want. None of them are required for the installation of Yahoo! Messenger, they are simply extras that we offer to our Yahoo! users. These same options are offered during the automatic upgrade process that happens when we offer you a new version at sign-in (which many of you are now seeing for Yahoo! Messenger 9.0). These same customization options are available in that installation wizard as well. Sarah Bacon Product Manager We're retiring versions 6.0 to 7.5 As Yahoo! Messenger gets older so too do some of the "vintage" versions that are still in use by some users. In an effort to provide the best experience for our users and maintain high security standards, we will officially retire Yahoo! Messenger versions 6.0 through 7.5 in August, 2009 . This means that if you are currently using a version of Yahoo! Messenger that is below 8.0, you will no longer be able to sign in and use it after the retirement date in August. If you are one of these users, you'll begin seeing messages in-product about the upcoming retirement. You have several options for continuing to use Yahoo! Messenger: Option 1: Download the latest version for Windows You can use Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 which offers enhanced security as well as better protection from spam ( info | video demo | download ). It was even voted the best overall client in the 2009 About.com IM Awards . 9.0 also includes more advanced features like voice calling, free mobile text messaging (SMS), as well as the ability to IM with friends that use Windows LiveT Messenger. Option 2: Use Yahoo! Messenger for the Web If you can't use the latest version mentioned above, you can always sign in to Yahoo! Messenger for the Web from any web browser. No extra download or installation is required. With our web version, you can send IM's as well as SMS text messages to your friend's mobile phones for free. Our web version also includes anywhere archiving, allowing you to access your message history from any computer or browser. Try it now at http://webmessenger.yahoo.com . Option 3: Use the built-in IM feature in Yahoo! Mail Both versions of Yahoo! Mail offer a built-in feature that lets you send and receive IMs. If you're using the all-new Yahoo! Mail, just click the status menu next to your name in the upper header and change your status to "Available". This will sign you into Yahoo! Messenger (you also have the option of staying invisible). IM conversations occur in separate tabs within your Mail page. In Yahoo! Mail Classic, you'll see a module on the left hand side of the page labeled "Chat & Mobile Text". Click on the status menu in that module to change to "Available" (or Invisible). IM conversations will show up in a small box in the lower right corner of your Yahoo! Mail Classic page (but it won't interfere with your Mail messages or using Mail). As an alternative, there are also solutions available for your mobile phone. We recently launched Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone and additional versions are available for other mobile handsets. Find out more And remember, no matter what version you migrate to, your contact list always goes with you. As the date gets closer, we'll remind you again here on the blog and provide the final date for retirement. Thanks, Sarah Bacon Product Manager Fun with groups Some things are just more fun with a group of friends. And using Yahoo! Messenger is one of them. While not new to Yahoo! Messenger, I thought I'd take a moment to highlight the group features that are available in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 . If you're like me, you have a variety of people in your contact list - some are from work, some are friends, others are family. As a result, I have several groups in my contact list. While the groups make it easier for me to find someone in my list, it also enables me to use some handy features for quickly communicating with each group. When you right-click on a group name in your contact list, you'll see a few options. The first is "Broadcast an IM" . When you select this feature, a new IM window pops up and provides a place for you to type your message. When you click Send, that IM gets sent to everyone in that group. No need to open multiple windows to contact each one of them, we'll do it for you. When someone responds, it will come back to you as a new IM conversation between you and that friend. The menu also offers "Start a conference" . This is one of the more fun features in Yahoo! Messenger and it enables you to start a private chat room with your friends. Your friends will receive an invite, asking them to join you in a conference. Conferences are a great way to plan group events, discuss current events, or just kill time. Even if you haven't created groups in your contact list, you can still easily start a conference with a group of friends without having to IM each one separately. Just select multiple contacts from your list using the keyboard/mouse combo SHIFT + click or CTRL + click. Then right-click on one of the selected contacts, go to "More Actions" and select "Start a conference". And if there are certain groups you'd prefer not to be available to (like your work friends when you're signed on over the weekend at home), you can also change stealth settings by group. Just right click on a group name in your list and select "Stealth Settings". Then choose "Appear permanently offline to selected contacts". We use the word permanent in that description because your stealth setting for that group will persist if you sign out and sign back in again. To go back to appearing online to that group of contacts, right-click again and choose Stealth Settings > "Appear online to selected contacts". Sarah Bacon Product Manager What's new in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 A lot of users are just now discovering Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 after upgrading. If you are new to 9.0, here are some tips on what's new, and how to customize it to your liking. Contact list view When you signed into 9.0 for the first time, you probably noticed the changes in your contact list right away. This is the new "detailed" view of the contact list which shows a larger display image, status message and latest update from each contacts. If you prefer the older look of the contact list, just click the menu to the right of the contact search box and select "Compact List". Similarly, you can click on the Contacts menu at the top of your main Messenger window to find these options. Conversation / message formatting In the IM conversation window, we switched to a format where the first message is on the same line as the name, and then subsequent messages are shown without names alongside. If you prefer to have your friend's name next to every message they send in the conversation, there is a keyboard shortcut you can use to change it back to the old style. Click here for instructions on how to change your message format Status menu makeover We made a few changes to let you more easily share what you're up to, what you're into or what you're thinking with your friends. One of the problems we wanted to address was being able to show you're available or busy but still be able to share something with your friends like a website, video or funny thought. With this new status menu, you can indicate whether you're busy or available and separately, provide a status message and even link to something interesting. Yes, the "canned" status messages are gone, but the last nine status messages you used will be listed in the dropdown menu. Click here for more details on the new status message menu New skins We added eleven new skins to 9.0. To switch skin designs, click the gold dot to the left of the minimize/maximize/close buttons in the upper right corner of the main Messenger window. Updates from your friends Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 now displays updates from your contacts alongside their status messages when they make updates on the Yahoo! network at places like Yahoo! Movies, Sports, Shopping, Travel, or on other social websites like Twitter, YouTube, Last.fm, and more. The same goes for you - you can instantly share your own updates with your friends on Yahoo! Messenger. Click here for more details on Updates in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Want to find out more about our latest version? Click here to read more blog articles about Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 . Sarah Bacon Product Manager
