Years ago, when valley towns were first wired with electricity, people discovered an unexpected connection with their neighbors. The intimacy of other people's routines came along with knowing when the next farmhouse would turn on its porch light, when the downstairs rooms would darken and when the bedroom windows would fill with light. The MSN^TM Messenger Service brings a sophisticated version of that experience to your online community. With MSN Messenger, you can tell which of your friends are online when you are, and have instant conversations with them using your favorite Internet communication tools such as Outlook^® Express and NetMeeting^®.

The buddy system
With MSN Messenger Service, you can create your own online neighborhood using the MSN Messenger Service contact list. The contact list allows you to populate your online community with anyone you choose: your sister, your boss, the lady who sells garden seeds at the corner store, or the best man in your wedding who just moved to Palau. And your friends can add you to their lists, too, if you agree to be added.

Once you have decided who you'd like to have on your contact list, you're ready to begin. When you log onto the Internet and open Messenger (or visit the Message Center on your MSN homepage), you’ll see a list of your contacts who are currently online.

When you and your friends are online, exchanging messages is as instantaneous as in a regular conversation, even if the person you're talking to is halfway around the world. And it’s easy to know exactly what's going on in your real-time conversation as it's happening. You can tell when your friend is typing a reply, for example, or whether someone is still logged in but seems to be away from his or her desk. If you are busy and unable to talk, you can change your status to "busy" or "on the phone,” or you can even choose to appear as if you are offline.

Protecting your privacy
With MSN Messenger Service, you have the tools to control who can see when you're online and who can send you instant messages. You can avoid prying eyes by:

• Preventing people from adding you to their contact list.
• Granting or withdrawing permission for others to watch your online status. 
• Blocking any sender with a single click. 

Reach out and touch...anyone
MSN Messenger Service works well with many of your favorite communication tools, including Internet Explorer 5, Outlook Express 5, MSN Hotmail^®, and NetMeeting. After installing MSN Messenger Service, you can click a button in Internet Explorer 5 to chat with your friends about a Web site that you found, or check your friends' online status and send them real-time messages from within Outlook Express 5. You can even invite someone you are chatting with to set up a full Internet conferencing session using NetMeeting.

So go ahead. Chat about the merits of Cheez Whiz, whether the 49ers have a chance this fall, or what feng shui would mean to Foucault. MSN Messenger Service makes it easy to talk about anything you want to whomever you want--instantly.

Susan Hutton likes to know which transcontinental friends are online when she is.

To set up MSN Messenger Service:

1. Create a Hotmail account and get a Microsoft Passport.
2. When your registration is complete, click MSN Messenger Service from the Sign Up Successful! page.

Note: If you have a Hotmail e-mail account, you already have a Passport, so you can go directly to the MSN Messenger Service download page.

More information:
To learn more, visit the MSN Messenger Service homepage.