Cool MSN Messenger Tricks

I am really into MSN messenger. It's one of the coolest instant messaging service that I like to use the most. There are so many fun and cool stuff that can be done with MSN messenger. Most people just install and start using it without realizing all the fun and cool stuff that they could have done. I am going to share some cool MSN Messenger tricks here :).

The first thing that I would always do, is to install Messenger Plus! Live. It's a add-on freeware for Windows Live Messenger which adds lots of features and extras that make your MSN instant messenger easier, more useful or just tons more entertaining. While this software does come with embedded advertisement program, the creator of the software, Patchou is generous enough to let the user choose whether to install the ads. Just choose "I refuse to give my support, don't install the sponsor" during the setup, and the MP!L will be totally ads free. Of course, Pat will be thankful if you choose to support him by installing the sponsor program :P. By having MP!L installed, you already have some really cool features for your MSN instant messenger such as: running multiple Messenger sessions, hiding it in the system tray, multiple tabs chat box, and tons of other cool tricks to play around on your MSN Messenger.

Now, after installing MP!L, another cool trick that I would do is to change the skin of my MSN messenger. The original skin from Microsoft looks clean and neat.. but not cool enough.. not my style :P. So let's give it a cool skin then. With the new Messenger skinning feature in the latest release of MP!L(4.5), installing a new skin is really easy. Choose a cool skin that you like here, and download it for free. After downloading any skin that you like, double click on it (.plsk file), and you will be asked to restart your MSN messenger with your brand new skin.. You can download and import as many skin as you want, then easily switch among all the skins that have been imported at anytime later. If you like, you can even create a cool MSN instant messenger skin yourself using MP!L (read the developer guide here)..

Okay, we have a cool skin for our MSN messenger now.. but the advertisement is spoiling it. So the next trick that I would do is to get rid of the advertisement. (Warning.. This is illegal.. so if you do not want to involve in any illegal stuff, then skip this part :P). The trick to remove advertisement from MSN Messenger, is to use this free software called A-Patch -- an utility to customize visual and functionality aspects of MSN Messenger. A-Patch is available for download here (choose the version accordingly). To remove advertisement from MSN Instant Messenger, follow these steps:

1. Exit from Windows Live Messenger.

2. Extract and execute the A-Patch executable.

3. You will be prompted Advance Options screen on the first run. Just click OK to select the default.

4. On the Welcome window (page 2), select “Patch Messenger” under “Choose an Option”, and make sure the path to the Windows Live Messenger is correct (default should be C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger which is shown automatically, unless you change your installation directory, otherwise leave it as it is.).

5. Choose whatever item that you wish to remove from the Live messenger by checking the chack box, then click 'Next' all the way to the last screen. Be sure to check the "Remove Advertisement" option whenever you see one on each page.

My MSN messenger looks really cool now -- a cool skin with no advertisement. To start doing some really cool tricks from MSN Messenger, we will install some custom developed scripts. That will equip our MSN messenger with some really cool functionalities. This is yet another cool feature from MP!L that allow us to install custom developed scripts to the MSN instant messenger. There is a good collection of cool scripts on the MP!L website that you can download. With these scripts, we can do some really useful and cool stuff like checking gmail with MSN messenger, downloading YouTube videos, or some really nasty stuff like sending non-stop continuous nudge, stealing contacts and images, or impersonate as the contact you are talking with. If you wish to develop your own script, find the scripting documentation on MP!L website. I will be writing another post about cool MSN Messenger tricks using ML!L scripts. Stay tuned. :)

Another really cool stuff for MSN instant messenger is the i-Buddy: a USB device that looks just like a MSN messenger buddy characters. This is something extra that is not so related to MSN messenger tricks, but I find this little new product pretty cool. It can interact with events on MSN Messenger: detects emotions (via emoticons) within messages and reacts accordingly. For instance if someone puts a heart emoticon in their message, i-Buddy's head glows and it twists and flaps its wings. And if the blushing emoticon is detected, i-Buddy will glow red. Even cuter, a gleaming red heart in i-Buddy's chest illuminates whenever a contact is online. Isn't that cool? :)

And finally, here are some cute emoticons for MSN instant Messenger:
/hihi /wahaha /OMG /XD /floor /blush /dignose

If you like them, you can download them here.

That's all about the first part of cool MSN Messenger tricks that I want to share. Hope you find it useful :). There will be more MSN messenger tricks that I will be sharing in the coming posts. So stay tuned.