My wife uses AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). My best friend uses Yahoo Instant Messenger (YIM). My boss uses ICQ. Luckily, I don't know anyone who uses MSN messenger, but if I did...

How can I communicate with everyone at once? Enter Trillian, a FREE chat program that connects you to all of your friends with one snazzy program. Plus, you don't have to put up with annoying ads or spyware!

The installation is straight-forward. Accept the defaults, and you'll be fine. Next, you'll need to set-up the various chat services. Trillian supports AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, and IRC (Internet Relay Chat). For each one, you'll need an account with the respective service. However, you don't need to have an account for each service. For instance, I use AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ, but I don't know anyon who uses MSN. Therefore, I never setup an MSN account.

If you already have accounts with the services you need, then all the better. Just type in your Screen Name for that service, and your password, and Trillian will connect you. It will even download your buddy lists.

A fantastic feature in Trillian is the ability to rename your buddies. For instance, my friend has a Screen Name of SrBtz1847. Trillian allows me to rename him to just "Mike". It still connects to his ScreenName, but it makes it a LOT easier for me to find who I want to chat with!

For those who are into customization, Trillian is fully "skinnable", allowing you to choose what you want your contact window and chat windows to look like.

Until there's one overwhelming leader in the instant messaging field, we're stuck with lots of different chat services. Trillian is one program that makes your life easier, by combining all those chat clients into one easy interface.

If you need help installing or configuring Trillian, post your question in the Q&A Forums. If you have comments about Trillian or want to recommend other chat programs, post a comment below. We welcome your feedback!