A closer look at Messenger in Yahoo! Toolbar
June 12, 2007 on 7:42 am | In Features |
When you install Yahoo! Messenger, you also have the option of installing Yahoo! Toolbar along with it. I know, I know – you may groan when you see additional software offered during an installation. But there’s a reason - there are some very handy Messenger features integrated right into Toolbar, giving you access to your online friends no matter where you are on the internet.
Once you’ve installed Yahoo! Toolbar, it automatically appears near the top of your web browser. Depending on whether you’re signed in to the Yahoo! network, you may or may not see the Yahoo! Messenger button. To add it, click on the toolbar’s “Settings” button and select “Add/Edit Buttons”. Locate the Messenger smiley in the button name list and click “Add this Button”. (Note that the Messenger button is only available for Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer.)
The Yahoo! Messenger toolbar button offers some handy features when you’re signed in. It shows you what friends are online and organizes them into the same groups you have in your contact list in Messenger (it can also show offline contacts). Just select a friend from the list to start an IM, even if your Messenger window is closed. There’s also one-click access to your Messenger conversation archive.
You can also change your status message from the Messenger button, and even set your status to display the URL of the web page you’re currently on (I use this a lot when I find a good story in the Odd News section of Yahoo! News). You can also choose “Send this page” from the menu to IM the URL of the page you’re on to a friend.
The Messenger toolbar button also offers a Sidebar option that when selected, opens up a Sidebar on the left side of your browser that displays your list of contacts (see screenshot). This makes it really easy to see who comes off and online, and quickly IM friends while you’re surfing the web. There’s even a little “Send Current Web Link” button next to each friend.
In addition to the Messenger button, you can customize your Yahoo! Toolbar with feature-filled buttons from other favorite Yahoo! services including News, Maps, My Yahoo!, Sports, Groups and more.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
Yea we love our ie (whoever uses that LOL) or firefox being slowed down with usless toolbars thanks for that i can sleep tonight now
now on to real issues any word on the chat room joining problem?
Comment by BLAH — June 12, 2007 #
yea he is right what about the real issues here such as chatrooms and the supposedly new vista compatible messenger . Each week yu post at least two entries of info which are in my opinion a waste of time ….please post about the real issues and how yahoo is dealing with them……toolbars yur team must be at the bottom of the bucket diggin for ways to avoid the real issues at hand
Comment by steve — June 12, 2007 #
will we evere see Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vist any time soon??????????
Comment by david — June 12, 2007 #
Please, give us atleast some news about Vista Messenger
All this stuff is just, well… stuff.
Comment by Andie — June 12, 2007 #
Even if it has the most useful features in the world, I just don’t like cluttering up the UI of a web browser with toolbars. Whenever I use a web browser, I intend to look at web sites, not manage Yahoo Messenger contacts or whatever.
I don’t see why everyone is complaining about Yahoo Messenger for Vista. YM 8.1 is compatable with Vista and voice will work after installing the TrueSpeech codec found here: http://www.bytescribe.com/downloads/tsp_codec_install.exe
I wish people would have a bit more patience… Making the chat servers perfect and getting rid of all the spams bots and other junk isn’t an easy task. They can’t just flip a switch and have everything work all fine and dandy. Because Yahoo chat is free, Yahoo made the Yahoo Chat team small. You can’t expect mircles from a small team overnight. We’re getting what we paid for.
Comment by Infinite_Luta — June 12, 2007 #
Does anybody at Yahoo Corporate know how positively AWFUL the chat system has become in the last two weeks? Forget bots… we’re used to that. But between users not being logged out of rooms when they leave (and thus leaving rooms artificially “full”), and the join room process becoming much slower, chat has become an exercise in pure frustration. This is not about making chat “perfect”… it’s current state is below *abysmal*. If it were my company, I’d be positively ASHAMED of service levels like this!
Install Yahoo toolbar and take even a REMOTE chance on new Yahoo software when the chat system is so AWFUL? You have GOT to be kidding!
Comment by Luke — June 12, 2007 #
Um, Kenny……this is a Yahoo Messenger Blog…to discuss issues related to Yahoo Messenger. On second thought, what the heck. Nothing ELSE seems to be accomplished on this blog. Why not turn it into a dating service? ; - )
Comment by Robin — June 13, 2007 #
I would have to agree with Luke.. The chat room situation is horrible. I feel even I could write better software at the moment.. and how much do I know about writing software? Not much.. but it seems with all the technology readily available in both the commercial and open source markets, a company as big as Yahoo should be able to make something as simple as a CHAT ROOM! Write it in AJAX, Java, who cares!
I do notice the one part of the chat rooms that seems to be working correctly are of course the ads. If you cant get something as simple as chat rooms to work correctly, what makes Yahoo think that we want to take the time to check out their other services?
And one more thing.. WHERE IS THE NEW MAC BETA 2? Surely if its being blogged about, it has to be close? Who cares about Vista!
Come on Yahoo.. its time to show us that you actually WANT us to use your services!
Comment by Jeremy — June 13, 2007 #
i just have a question if anyone can help it would be great here it is : How do i add someone to my yahoo messenger on my phone and why does it work when i try it?
Comment by paul — June 13, 2007 #
ya we wan yahoo Vista Messenger we been wait for a vary long time now for it where is it it sould be out by now
Comment by david — June 13, 2007 #
Hi Everyone… Sadly one of our geeky saddo teckie types in the office has just had our server replaced and he’s put a block on all things IM. Does anyone know a clever way around this so that i can still chat to my loverly chums on yahoo (only in my lunch break of course!!).
Cheers
Adam
goatac@yahoo.com
Comment by adam — June 13, 2007 #
Hi …
I’ve had the following problem with Yahoo IM and would like to know if there is any solution. I usually log on as invisible and turn on those friends to whom I wish to be visible. However, on occasion, Yahoo disconnects and then reconnects … and when it reconnects, it logs me back on as “available” … an annoyance. Why does it do that, since I have the box checked to log me on as invisible?
Comment by Jeff — June 13, 2007 #
PLEASE GUYS… when you exit a chat room by logging off Messenger instead of by leaving the chat room, Yahoo does NOT take you off the room list. The result is that rooms end up artificially full, and then can’t be entered.
Can you please FIX this already?!?!?!!?!?
Comment by Luke — June 13, 2007 #
Thank you!
Comment by JackLee — June 13, 2007 #
Ok folks this is really really frustrating me does anyone else have this problem? i see people going on/offline as if they were on my friends list i have never talked to them and they pm me saying who are you? i get like at least 5 pms everytime i log on! im sick of it and the massive increase in email spam recently im thinking about using msn all the time :l
Comment by Hmm — June 13, 2007 #
Hmm, I’ve been getting that for years. Strangers pm me when I log on. I can see strangers log off. I also see friends come and go on my Friends List, even though they think they are invisible. And spam, spam, spam. Msn is much better.
Comment by Robin — June 14, 2007 #
OK GUYS, WE ALL COMPLAIN ABOUT YAHOO CHAT, AND I HAVE SEEN THAT WHEN YOU INSTALL “CAMFROG” CHAT IN THE LAST VERSION IT ASKS TO INSTALL YAHOO TOOLBAR: WELL IT’S CLEAR, YAHOO MADE A PARTNERSHIP WITH CAMFROG, WANTS HIS CHAT USERS TO MIGRATE ON CAMFROG, SO MAKES ITS CHAT SO IMPOSSIBLE TO USE!! THE ONLY THING I DO NOT UNDERSTAND IS WHY THEY DO NOT ADMIT ALL THIS. THEY HAVE OFFICIALLY CLOSED ALL EUROPEAN CHATROOMS, SNCE 2004, BUT IF YOU WANT YOU CAN ENTER THEM ANYWAY… I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THS BEHAVIOUR!! See you all.
Comment by Jiegen — June 14, 2007 #
hi..i am wondering if it has to do with windows vista that i always get cut off and reconnect as well as that the communication seems to freeze constantly, anybody experiencing the same or have an idea how to fix that…its soo annoying..please email
Comment by thinkposeytive — June 14, 2007 #
Chatrooms - it has been actually about 6 months since 2006 that the chatrooms are messed up. Not everyone abuses this global communication feature but the majority of world is losing because of a few deviants. This could be a tool to economic development, conflict mitigation and understanding between cultures. One question, why did Yahoo take down the voice chat 3 weeks before the last Iranian election, thus smashing reformists who could be in office now, instead of the current regime? Yahoo should realize that global communication can be used as a tool for the betterment of many people. Please fix chat.
Comment by huriyah — June 14, 2007 #
@ jeff
if you are running v8 you might want to check out the Yahoo! Plugin “Status Restorer” which really is brilliant
http://us.gallery.yahoo.com/apps/760
‘…The Status Restorer content tab does just one thing: it sets your status back to what it was the last time you were online. This is helpful if you’ve set your status to, say, “Busy - Meetings” and your wireless connection drops out. When Messenger reconnects, it defaults to the “Available” status. The Status Restorer plug-in will instead set your status back to “Busy - Meetings.”
The tab will restore your status only if you sign back in within 10 minutes, since you probably want a different status after a long time away from Messenger. Also, if you sign in as invisible, the tab will leave your status as invisible….’
Comment by bee — June 14, 2007 #
FYI, Yahoo! Messenger v8.1.0.402 is out.
http://download.yahoo.com/ycs/msg/dl/msgr8/us/ymsgr810_402_us.exe
Comment by Venom — June 14, 2007 #
I just gotta say this for the people who are all like “Be patcient, they can’t fix the chat rooms over night” and other comments of the sort. Normally I’d agree with such people. Changing a world-wide service like this is a tricky thing, can’t be done in a flash. However, there’s just one little problem… We’ve been nagging Yahoo! about this for months, even years now! I was somewhat relieved when the up-date before the last one seemed to fix the chat rooms… and then they went back to sucking big-time again. More than once in the past months people have made direct comments towards this Sarah person, telling her that the rest of the program is fine, or that whatever problems there are with it are minor and can wait, but the primary feature many of us use is the chat-rooms. But does Yahoo! bother fixing that issue? No… they just procced to add more and more useless features that just take up space, like this cursed toolbar. Many users I know, both in real-life and on-line, feel that they can do without pointless features like this. Assuming Yahoo! takes their customers’ voices seriously, which I severly doubt, we can only hope that they’ll quit screwing around and fix the blasted chat-rooms already! And heck, while their at it, bring back the user rooms too, just to show they really care about their customers. Sorry if any of this is just the same old stuff for some, but I’m just fed up with Yahoo!’s seemingly neglectful behavior towards us, their clients.
Comment by Janus — June 14, 2007 #
By the way, since I’m posting and ranting on about the problems with Yahoo! Messanger like a mad-man, could they please fix this friggin’ problem with YIM randoming logging people out? It’s a real annoyance when trying to speak with friends.
Comment by Janus — June 14, 2007 #
I just gotta say this for the people who are all like “Be patcient, they can’t fix the chat rooms over night” and other comments of the sort. Normally I’d agree with such people.
LOL They have had since 2000 to fix chat rooms…… yahoo rooms have always been a mecca for spam a joke it just did not used to be so bad remember the old c++ exploit lmao it was around for MONTHS and the most recent http room dc it was around again months its not an overnight thing its been going on far to long this blog is digital suicide for yahoos chat service lol sad when bots outnumber chatters a few years ago i can remember for example there was like 3 of every room and when it gets full another opens now there is like thousands because of bots LOL .
Comment by HMMMMM — June 15, 2007 #
as for that sarah person she addresses issues the general public DO NOT CARE ABOUT like hmmm yahoo on your phone….. it don’t work on your pc why would anyone want that. or even yahoos ”new” web based messenger this is not new its had a flash interface put on it they killed java chat the best web yahoo there was it was HARD to be booted off Yahoo has been in decline since the user rooms were gone thats what i have noticed personally anyway the other blog writer had the best idea by addressing the spam issue yea nothing will be done about it would have already they have had since 2000 i believe but its bad when they have to admit they have a problem just to shut the users up LMAO
Comment by Karl — June 15, 2007 #
TODAY READING YAHOO VISTA WILL BE FOR YOU IN NOVEMBER 2007 SO YOU WAIT AND GO TO OTHER PLACES WHILE YAHOO GET RUN MORE BY HACKERS AND KEEP YAHOO OPEN FOR HACKER YAHOO LIKES YOU REINSTALL WINDOWS FOR HACKING
Comment by Lance — June 16, 2007 #
Is this what you’re referring to Lance ?
This quote has been taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Messenger#Upcoming_releases
“Yahoo! will soon unveil a completely rehauled version for Windows Vista to a generally enthusiastic response. It has been designed to exploit the new design elements of Vista’s Windows Presentation Foundation with a possible release date of November 9, 2007 - the same date as Yahoo! Mail integration.
Macintosh client 3.0 Beta 2 will have more features, including Voice.”
Only yahoo can verify this.
Comment by Rick — June 17, 2007 #
I think the vista version of messenger is overrated… Yahoo should be focusing on removing bugs and improving stablity of the main windows client so it’ll work for vista users rather than than making a completely new version which will likely end up neglected like the Mac OSX version. I’m also willing to wager the Vista version Yahoo Messenger won’t have voice chat in chat rooms and conferences since Windows Vista doesn’t include the TrueSpeech codec (which is used for voice chat). Voice in chat and conferences isn’t availible in the OSX version for the exact same reason; I don’t see why Vista will be any different.
Comment by Infinite_Luta — June 17, 2007 #
I have tryed to change my yahoo messenger a few times only to have lost all of my friends I talk to all around the world.I have windows XP and it a Dell demention maybe i am doing something wrong but if i try again i can loss over 200 email address .Do U have any suggestions?Is there a way to do it ?………Thanks
Comment by chris Evangelo — June 17, 2007 #
vb_packets: please refer to the ‘Chat rooms: State of the Union” post for the latest news on the chat rooms. http://blog.messenger.yahoo.com/blog/2007/05/25/chat-rooms-state-of-the-union/
Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — June 18, 2007 #
Just joined the group.
Working in the field of neuro-endocrinology, psychoimmunology, and complementary integrative healing/medicine
Comment by Ron White — June 19, 2007 #
just a minor venting… But at some point I remember seeing lots of strangers log in - none of whom are on my friends list, and now I see it at random from time to time… but now I get 20 or so arabic people a day buzzing me to say I’m on their friends list and harassing me even though I have never met them, and it had only started a few weeks ago. It has perfectly ruined my ability to work or use yahoo. Is there a way of fixing this short of blocking all people who are not on my friends list from communication?
Comment by Jason — July 27, 2007 #
I agree with Mr James. I Like the old yahoo messenger it is worth having to me, its good when you can communicate with family and friends around the globe and I would like to have it BACK com’on give me my yahoo mes-sen-gerrrr
Comment by Jan — June 10, 2008 #
yeah I’ve had that vista crap too it is very annoying and I too get angry it shuts down windows xp ooo- I can’t stand when that happens.what happens when a person is in class online. so is there anybody out there that knows????????????
Comment by Jan — June 10, 2008 #
please ignor the last post it was a mistake ‘’sorry”
please don’t get offended. have a real good day!.
Comment by Jan — June 10, 2008 #