Trilian is an Instant Messaging client that supports multiple IM services such as Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and even IRC channels. It’s a good alternative than having to run several dozen messaging clients in the background (one for each IM service) consuming valuable RAM. Trillian supports audio chat, file transfers, display pictures, SMS support and basically all major functions of the official dedicated clients. One more useful feature I discovered about Trillian is that it can be installed on machines without having to require administrator rights. As you may already know, clients like Windows Live Messenger are impossible to install without administrator rights to your user account. With Trillian, you can stay in touch wit your friends even at work, school or university even if you couldn’t install the official IM client.
Developer Description
Trillian™ is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.
Trillian provides unique functionality such as contact message history, a powerful skinning language, tabbed messaging, global status changes (set all networks away at once), Instant Lookup (automatic Wikipedia integration), contact alerts, an advanced automation system to trigger events based on anything happening in the client, docking, hundreds of emoticons, emotisounds, shell extensions for file transfers, and systray notifications.
Supported IM protocols and features
AOL Instant Messenger
- Basic Messaging
- SecureIM
- Privacy Settings
- File Transfers
- Direct Connections
- Group Conferences
- Display Pictures
- Mobile Messaging
- Mail Notification
- Full Native Status Support
- Audio Chat
- Video Chat
ICQ
- Basic Messaging
- SecureIM
- Privacy Settings
- File Transfers
- Display Pictures
- Mobile Messaging
- Full Native Status Support
MSN Messenger
- Basic Messaging
- Privacy Settings
- File Transfers
- Group Conferences
- Display Pictures
- Mobile Messaging
- Mail Notification
- Full Native Status Support
- Audio Chat
- Video Chat
Yahoo! Messenger
- Basic Messaging
- Privacy Settings
- File Transfers
- Group Conferences
- Yahoo! Chat Rooms
- Display Pictures
- Mobile Messaging
- Mail Notification
- Full Native Status Support
- Audio Chat
- Video Chat
Other Network Support
- IRC
- Jabber (including Google Talk)
- Novell GroupWise Messenger
- Rendezvous
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