It all sounds very easy in THEORY, but I suspect the PRACTICE is very different. I’ve been trying for a week now – more out of curiosity than any real need – to register with an e-mail that does NOT end in @passport.com, @hotmail.com or @msn.com.

For instance, I try going to the Passport registration site, as suggested by one of you:
http://www.passport.com

This redirects me immediately to:
http://www.passport.net/Consumer/default.asp?lc=1033&lc=1033

And, there you’ll see that they insist that my e-mail address must end in @passport.com:
Sign in … @passport.com

Investigating a little further, I saw that I can add an alternative e-mail address (one of the options on the right of the page). So I entered an alternative e-mail address “successfully”, with the intention later of swapping the two addresses. Well, I didn’t even get that far because my alternative e-mail address hasn’t been accepted… (Even though I received a message saying that they would send details to this address of how to proceed)

Is there ANYBODY among you who has successfully registered a non-passport/msn/hotmail address? (less theory and more reality please!)

And if so, what’s the trick? After all, surely a lot of you who are reading this have work e-mail addresses (like me) and would prefer to have everything integrated in one handy e-mail address??

Cheers
Mike

“MSN Plus! is free and is a wonderful addon to MSN Messenger if you do not have it already. The newest release will be out Sunday, May 23rd 2004 at 8:00AM GMT so be sure to get it”

Thanks for the tip-off! Yes, I downloaded MSN Plus! earlier today (somebody here recommended it) and it certainly is a wonderful addition. I’m delighted with version 2 of MSN Plus! so heaven only knows what treats are in store for us in version 3! And just a few days away now….

Cheers
Mike

“If you open the logs through MSN Messenger, they should be in a format suitable for copy and pasting.”

I AM opening the logs through MSN Messenger, but they are NOT in a format suitable for copy and pasting. They are in XML format. Have I missed something?

Mike

Dear Oreo and Shifter

Thanks a million for those replies, both immensely helpful in their own way to a newbee like myself. I think I can now pursue *most* of my questions in the specific forums, where they belong really.

I would, however, before retiring from this “general” forum, like to add/ask a couple more things:

1) I’ve successfully updated and installed MSN Messenger. It appears to be able to run side-by-side with Yahoo. Is there any reason why they wouldn’t? (I have some contacts who use Yahoo and a few more who use MSN)

2) At present, my web camera picture if I open a session in Yahoo is perfect; if I open it in MSN Messenger it’s horrendous (a bit like a photographic negative). Does this problem report ring any bells with anybody here? By the way, I use a Logitech webcam and, until today, it had seemed pretty good to me. Can’t help feeling that the problem lies in my MSN set-up, raher than in the camera itself. Don’t worry, I’ll transfer this problem to the WebCam / MSN forums.

3) Still mightily confused by NetMeeting and Windows Messenger. And the more I read, the more confused I get. I read for example that NetMeeting has been decatalogued. Really? So how come it’s still accessible from all the menus, including Windows XP. I also notice that NetMeeting is available once inside MSN Messenger. And then at the same time I read that Windows Messenger (for 2000 and XP… or only for XP?) has replaced NetMeeting? Really? Is Windows Messenger on the menus too?? Or is this a downloadable program. Well, anyway, I could literally go on for the rest of my life with questions about NetMeeting and Windows Messenger, so I think I’ll leave it here.

4) “I think the best way for us to help you decide on an IM client is for you to tell use what features you require (voice, webcam, logging, whiteboard, etc) and what its main purpose is (business, personal, etc).”

OK – well, I really want all of those features you just mentioned: voice, webcam, logging and whiteboard. The main purpose is, in fact, more professional than personal – in order to be able to talk to our clients, discuss issues, etc.

This is why an application like NetMeeting *sounded* wonderful if it’s bundled with every Windows (Is it?!) – but I just can’t get to grips with it at all – plus, if, as I say, it’s been discontinued (Has it?!), then there’e not much point flogging a dead horse. Or is Windows Messenger the new NetMeeting?? Sorry, I appear to be back on the same subject as 3) again.

Well, I’ll really appreciate any further thoughts or pointers from any of you – and then I promise to drop the subject.

Thanks in advance
Mike