Provide suggestions on best free instant messaging client for Windows

Ashraf February 28, 2013 11

Hey dotTechies,

For our next Best Free Windows Software article, we plan on writing Best Free Instant Messaging Client for Windows. To do that, we need your help.

Please provide in the comments below the instant messaging clients you feel are worthy to be featured in our article.

Thanks everyone!

-Mr. Boss

POSTED IN » Best Free Windows Software

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About the author: Ashraf View all posts by Ashraf

Happily married to the most beautiful woman ever, Ashraf is the founder of dotTech. Ashraf spends insane hours on dotTech (usually writing articles but sometimes doing absolutely nothing except staring). Yes he is weird, but he is also very friendly.

11 Comments »

Andreasvb February 28, 2013 at 4:02 PM (comment permalink) -

Trillian is my choice. Lots of protocols.

https://www.trillian.im/

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Ashraf February 28, 2013 at 4:05 PM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

-Digsby
-Trillian
-Pidgin
-Miranda

I actually did a comparison of the four a while back: http://dottech.org/5164/which-im-app-should-i-use/

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kikin February 28, 2013 at 6:53 PM (comment permalink) -

IDEAL:
-Encrypted conversations
-Webcam with big windows to see (oneself and the other person)

…For example: Skype have a very small and poor windows to see oneself

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Ashraf February 28, 2013 at 8:14 PM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

[@kikin] Encrypted conversations are out of the scope of instant messaging clients. That would have to be built into an IM’ing service.

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Anupam March 1, 2013 at 1:08 AM (comment permalink) -

Besides the four you mentioned in your comment above… Digsby, Pidgin, Miranda, and Trillian… there are

Emesene: http://blog.emesene.org/index.html

and

InstantBird: http://instantbird.com/

Both are pretty decent.

There is also the web based messenger:

imo.im: https://imo.im/

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o(o.o)o March 1, 2013 at 8:24 AM (comment permalink) -

[@Ashraf]

But IM clients should have at least some form of encryption for data in transit imho. At the very least, IM clients should employ SSL/TLS for conversations between two parties, rigtt?

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Steve March 1, 2013 at 8:27 AM (comment permalink) -

My favourite one is Brosix – http://brosix.com

Works on Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android and has a web based client.

has lots of useful features. File transfer, audio and video call are standard. Also has screen shot, screen sharing, whiteboard and co-browse.

And they suggested that very soon will be able to work with the other networks – Yahoo Messenger, AIM, ICQ, Facebook, Google Talk.

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anoop.ghildiyal March 1, 2013 at 8:34 AM (comment permalink) -

Lync is one of the instant messaging sofware. I think It is a part of office 2010. I works good for me.

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Kels March 1, 2013 at 8:42 AM (comment permalink) -

[@Steve]

I use Brosix too– they have a mobile app and a lot of cool features like screen sharing.

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Cocoon March 3, 2013 at 11:46 PM (comment permalink) -

[@Kels]

I use the same messenger – Brosix. Secure instant messaging is great for business. I run a private instant messaging network where I can add or remove users and I know that there are only authorized users in my network – no risk of data leaks, hacker attacks or other security issues. It is great to have control over your interoffice communication :)

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Ashraf March 4, 2013 at 3:21 AM (comment permalink) -
Mr. Boss

[@o(o.o)o] If it is supported by the IM service, then yes.

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