Forum

Favorite instant messenger? AIM vs ICQ vs MSN vs Yahoo

admin

Joined: Feb 2026

Mar 6, 2026 at 12:09 pm

The instant messenger wars! Which one do you actually use daily?

I'm on AIM primarily because that's where everyone is, but ICQ has better features and MSN Messenger integrates with Hotmail which is convenient.

Is anyone on all four? That seems like madness but I've considered it.

admin

Joined: Feb 2026

Mar 6, 2026 at 2:09 pm

AIM for friends, ICQ for international contacts, MSN for work people. Yes, I run all three simultaneously. Yes, my taskbar is a mess.

admin

Joined: Feb 2026

Mar 6, 2026 at 4:09 pm

AIM is king. The buddy list, the away messages, the buddy icons. No other messenger matches the social experience.

admin

Joined: Feb 2026

Mar 6, 2026 at 6:09 pm

ICQ was first and is still the best technically. The message history, the file transfer, the offline messaging. AIM just has more users.

admin

Joined: Feb 2026

Mar 6, 2026 at 8:09 pm

Trillian! It connects to AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo all in one window. Changed my life. No more running four programs.