Picture the situation. You love Google Talk. Your family is stuck on Windows Live Messenger. Your friends in Poland all love Gadu-Gadu and, for some strange reason, your best friend insists on ICQ. You obviously have an IM crisis, and in the interests of peace and friendship, you need to sort it, fast.

When you install Pidgin, it will ask you for the details of the accounts you want to add. Pidgin can remember your passwords for you, but if you do not enable this option you'll have to sign in every time. Once you're set up, you can do all the things you would expect - change your icon, create groups, configure alerts, send files and even add bunches of Pidgin plug-ins.

For the more technically minded, one of Pidgin's best features are the configuration options. These are much easier to access than in other applications and allow you to manage certificates, toggle advanced settings for your accounts, individually or together, set up proxy servers and even join chat rooms. Sounds too complicated? Don't worry, that's the beauty of Pidgin - you can get as technical or as simple as you like. It's the perfect client for everyone.

Simple, effective and multi-protocol - what more could you ask for?!

Download Pidgin 2.10.7 in Softonic

QQ Messenger may not sound familiar, but it's the most popular IM client in China.

When you think about IM clients, the first names that come to your head are Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and the likes. But have you ever heard of QQ Messenger?

With more than one billion registered accounts, QQ Messenger is now more than just a simple IM client: it's a whole social phenomenon that millions of people use on a daily basis, and an essential part of their lives.

The truth is that QQ Messenger is not that different from other IM clients you may have used. There are the typical contacts list – which you can organize by groups - support for voice and video chats, smileys, nudges, ability to send photos and share files (with support for pause/resume!), and other utilities we're used to finding in IM clients. There's one important difference however: in QQ Messenger you hardly find any ads!

Besides the traditional IM tools, QQ Messenger also includes some not-so-common features. You'll be able to capture an area of your screen or record a short video clip on the spot, and share both of them instantly with your contacts. Another area where QQ Messenger stands out is personalization. You can customize almost anything, from choosing a skin for the interface to selecting the font for your messages. The program also includes a wide selection of avatars and personal pictures to choose from, but if you don't like any of them, simply upload one from your hard drive. The only thing that didn't work for us was downloading more themes from the Web.

QQ Messenger is mainly a tool for chat, but it can also be used to help your friends or customers thanks to its integrated Remote assistance tool: a basic remote control app that grants you access to your friend's desktop and enables you to help them with any computer issue.

In general terms, QQ Messenger surprised us for various reasons: first, it features a nicely designed interface with cute buttons and icons, which is hard to find in IM clients; second, it has interesting extra features that make it a complete communication tool; and third, it's amazing how such a popular program with more than a billion users is still known by so few people over here!

On the downside, I have to admit that QQ Messenger was a bit unreliable when trying to add contacts - which, by the way, are identified with numbers, like good old ICQ. Not a very user-friendly method, I'd say. Other than that, QQ Messenger is a great IM cilent that is definitely worth trying out.

QQ Messenger, the most widely used IM client in China, has now an international version that may help it become even more popular!

Download QQ Messenger International 1.6 in Softonic

Trillian supports multiple chat networks, such as Live Messenger, AOL Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook, MySpaceIM, Skype, Jabber, IRC, Twitter, e-mail accounts (POP3 and IMAP) and Bonjour, besides the Trillian proprietary network.

This means that the program's interface can get quite bloated with contacts from a dozen different IM platforms. Luckily, you decide which networks to load on Trillian startup, and also temporarily hide certain lists or merge contacts into one single entry per person, which may help organize things a bit.

The new version of Trillian has improved many aspects of the program. Initial setting is now much quicker and easier, and the interface has totally been redesigned not only for a better integration with Windows 7, but also to provide you with a more compact, easily manageable window.

In a way, Trillian is not just a multi-platform instant messaging tool anymore, but a complete social timeline where you can chat with your friends – either by text, voice or video - and also see what they’re up to on Facebook or Twitter.

Trillian is back with an even more powerful mult-platform IM client, featuring support for a dozen protocols and an attractive, intuitive design.

Download Trillian 5.3.0.7 in Softonic

The program saves the information in three different formats: as plain text, HTML or XML. Belkasoft Yahoo! Messenger History Extractor is capable of extracting specific data from your Yahoo!

Messenger history in specific filters such as by date, by contacts, files sent only, or received messages. Also, there is a scheduler feature in this program that lets you extract messages and data from your Yahoo!

Messenger history in the specific date that you indicate, and can also batch process extractions. Lastly, Belkasoft Yahoo! Messenger History Extractor supports multi-byte code pages like Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

This application is an ideal tool for extracting important information and reviewing past chat conversations. This product is compatible only with Windows XP version and lower.

Download Belkasoft Yahoo! Messenger History Extractor 1.01 in Softonic

x), Yahoo Messenger (including version 9. x), AIM/AOL (including version 6. x, with encrypted protocol), ICQ (included version 6. x), Google GTalk, and Skype.

Support record chat in both plain text and HTML/Rich text* format, including emotion icons, font and colors. The chat monitor system auto start when there's new chat session occurred, do not need to keep the main program running to monitor chat, the chat monitor will be run in a complete hidden (stealth) mode.

And it's designed to support multi-user system, it will monitor chat from all windows users on the same computer. Improved from previous versions, MessengerLog 360 has more features than ever before, such as, a improved auto chat log uploader, via email or FTP, suitable for parental controls; a robust chat log file manager, come with strong encryption and compression; an advanced chat log search engine; plus automatic online updating, and 15 color themes.

Download MessengerLog 360 Pro 7.65 in Softonic

Having friends from other countries is great, but sometimes the different languages make it difficult.

MeGlobe Desktop can lend you a hand in this matter. This multi-network IM client includes a translator with support for 15 languages that helps you understand what your friend is trying to say, even if you don't speak the same language and live miles apart.

The translator in MeGlobe Desktop doesn't work in real time, which means you have to copy the text from the translator window and paste it into the chat window. It's a bit messy, but it does the trick. Also, if the translation is not exactly what you expected, you can edit it and the program will learn from your corrections.

MeGlobe Desktop supports three networks (AIM, Yahoo! Messenger and Live Messenger), apart from its own network. You can join public chat rooms – so far, it looks like there's only one - and also have private conversations with selected users. On the downside, we missed having some configuration settings to play around with.

The program works fine, though it doesn't have as many users as other IM networks, and the sign up process is a bit buggy. I'd suggest you sign up from the MeGlobe website instead.

MeGlobe Desktop is a nice idea, but it still has plenty of room for development.

Download MeGlobe Desktop Beta 0.6.1294 in Softonic

Collanos Phone is three tools in one - a multi-protocol instant messaging client, VoIP app and a
video conference suite.

The program supports a multitude of IM clients and protocols including Jabber, MSN, ICQ, AOL, and Yahoo! The VoIP phone function is based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard while the Instant Messenger is based on the popular Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) standard. As far as conference calls are concerned, it doesn't support more than three callers at a time which is a definite drawback for large meetings. It is very well organised though in the way it shows useful information about contacts in the profiles. The program is based on existing Collanos user profiles so if you use any other Collanos products, the profile is instantly imported and shared in Collanos Phone. The other thing that makes life easier is that you make calls from the Windows taskbar - simply right click on the Collanos Phone symbol and you are given options to call or start conference calls.

A very basic but professional VoIP and IM client that's suitable for businesses although general users won't find all the fun features you find in most similar communication suites such as MSN Live Messenger.

Download Collanos Phone 1.0 Beta in Softonic

Smooch allows you to keep in contact with your friends, adding your contacts from Yahoo, MSN and Smooch's proprietary network, but not others (Mirc, ICQ, Libero, Google Talk, etc.

), unlike its competitors.

Also, once opened, the program requires you to log in, without offering you the chance to register directly from the application and without providing a direct link to an online registration form.

. At present, the 'Feature' menu only contains a 'coming soon' message, while the 'Smooch' page is completely white! We can forgive them because it’s still a beta version.