Chapter 25: Internet Conferencing with Windows Messenger and NetMeeting

Chatting Online with Windows Messenger

Windows Messenger enables you to chat with friends or coworkers who are online at the time that you want to chat. It's quicker than e-mail, and multiple people can take part in the conversation. Windows Messenger also enables you to speak to other users and send messages to pagers.

Windows Messenger is usually loaded automatically when Windows starts up. If the Windows Messenger icon appears in the notification area of the taskbar, click it to display the Windows Messenger window. If it's not on the taskbar, run Windows Messenger by choosing Start | All Programs | Windows Messenger. Windows Messenger may ask whether you want to download updates to the program. This chapter describes the program that ships with Windows XP, but updated versions of Windows Messenger should be similar.

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM, available from http://aim.aol.com) has long been the king of instant messaging programs, and other popular instant messaging programs include ICQ (http://www.icq.com) and Yahoo Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com). Unfortunately, these instant messaging systems don't all talk to each other: as of late 2001, people on one system couldn't send and receive messages from the others. However, you can easily run more than one instant message program at the same time.

Signing In to Windows Messenger with Your .NET Passport

If you haven't used Windows Messenger before, you need to establish a Microsoft .NET Passport--an ID used for Microsoft Web sites and services. (Microsoft uses Windows Messenger as one way to get lots of people to sign up for a Microsoft .NET Passport, which will enable them to sell their .NET e-commerce services more effectively.) The .NET Passport Wizard windows pops up the first time you run Windows Messenger and steps you through the process of telling it about your existing Microsoft Passport or creating a new one:

You get a Microsoft .NET Passport by creating a Hotmail account (Microsoft's Web-based e-mail service, at http://www.hotmail.com) or by telling it about another e-mail address. When creating a new Microsoft .NET Passport, you provide a password as well as a secret question and answer that you can use if you forget your password. You must also provide your location (country and state or province). The .NET Passport system doesn't let you log onto Windows Messenger until you have received its confirmation message (this ensures that the e-mail address that you typed is really yours).

If you use Outlook 2002, use the same address for your .NET Passport that use you with Outlook, because the programs are integrated. Also, be sure to use an address that you check often, because Windows Messenger users may send you e-mail if you aren't online when they try to send you an instant message.

If you have trouble creating a .NET Passport without creating a Hotmail account, go to MSN.com, click Passport Sign In in the top right corner, then click the Get One Here link underneath the Sign In button. (Because Web site designs change constantly, these links may move.) You can also go to http://www.passport.com/memberservices.asp to get help with a .NET Passport.

When you have created a .NET Passport for yourself, you can sign in:

You can select the Sign Me In Automatically check box to avoid having to sign in each time you use the program.

Once you have a Microsoft .NET Passport, you see the Windows Messenger window, shown in Figure 25-1. The window lists your contacts--those who are online and those who are not. Of course, if you've never used Windows Messenger, you don't have any contacts listed (yet).

Figure 25-1: The Windows Messenger window

The Windows Messenger window includes an entry showing how many new e-mail messages are in your Hotmail account, if you have one. If you don't have any new messages, you see a Go To My E-mail Mailbox link. To read your Hotmail messages, click the E-mail Message (or xx New E-mail Messages) link: Your browser starts and displays the Hotmail Web site. There's no way to configure Windows Messenger to display how many messages are in mailboxes other than your Hotmail mailbox (Microsoft owns Hotmail, and they are using Windows to promote it).

Telling Windows Messenger about Your Contacts

Before you can begin to chat, you have to have someone to chat with. The easiest way is to ask your friends if they use Windows Messenger and, if so, what their e-mail address is (at least, the e-mail address they use for messaging--some people use a different address to avoid getting messages at the regular e-mail address). Once you know a person's e-mail address, add it to your contacts by following these steps:

1. Open Windows Messenger.
2. Click Add on the toolbar. You see the Add A Contact dialog box, shown here:

3. Choose By E-mail Address Or Sign-In Name and click Next.
4. Enter the person's e-mail address and click Next.
5. Windows Messenger adds the person to your contact list if that person has a Microsoft .NET Passport. In case the person does not have a. NET Passport, you can send them an e-mail message telling them how to get up and running with Windows Messenger.

If you think someone has a.NET Passport but you don't know the person's e-mail address, choose Search For A Contact from the Add A Contact dialog box. Enter the information you know about the person and click Next. You see a list of people who meet your search criteria-select one and click Next. If the person has a .NET Passport, Windows Messenger adds the person to your contacts.

When Someone Else Adds You as a Contact

When someone adds your e-mail address as a contact, the Windows Messenger system notifies you with a message like this:

If you don't know the person (or are acquainted and don't want further contact), you can prevent him or her from knowing when you are online or from contacting you via Windows Messenger. On the other hand, if the message is from a friend or coworker, you can add the person to your own contact list.

Starting a Windows Messenger Conversation

To exchange typed messages with a contact who is online, double-click his or her name in the Windows Messenger window. A Conversation window appears like the one in Figure 25-2.

Figure 25-2: The Instant Message window

To converse, type in the box at the bottom of the window and click Send or press ENTER. When another person is typing a response, you see a message to that effect on the status line (the bottom line) of the Conversation window. If you have a sound card, microphone, and speakers, and the person you're chatting with does also, click Start Talking to speak with them.

When someone starts a conversation with you, a little box pops up from the notification area (right end) of the Windows taskbar, like this:

Click the box to switch to a Conversation with the person. After a few seconds, this box disappears.

You can invite other contacts to join in the chat by clicking Invite and choosing To Join This Conversation from the menu that appears. Up to five people (including you) can participate in a conversation. You can block the person you are talking to from contacting you by clicking Block. (If you want to unblock someone, right-click the person's name in your contact list and select Unblock.)

Holding Voice Conversations

Once you have opened a Conversation window with someone, you can switch to a voice chat, assuming that you and the other person have microphones and speakers attached to your computers. The first time you click Start Talking in the Conversation window, Windows runs the Audio And Video Tuning Wizard to check your microphone and speakers. Follow its instructions.

When you click Start Talking in the Conversation window (or click a contact name in the Windows Messenger window and click Call), Windows Messenger sends an invitation to the other person to have a voice conversation. The Start Talking link is replaced by these settings, which you can use to adjust your volume, mute your microphone, and end the voice conversation:

Video Conferencing

If your computer has a video camera, you can use it to transmit a picture to the person with whom you are having a conversation. Click the Start Camera link in the Conversation window to start receiving video images from the other person. The video image appears in the upper right part of the Conversation window. Click Stop Camera to stop receiving video data.

Sending Files to Others in a Conversation

To send a file to someone with whom you are having a conversation, click Send A File in the Conversation window. Otherwise, right-click the name of the contact in the Windows Messenger window and choose Send A File. Select the file and click Open. The contact has to accept the file for the transfer to occur.

When you receive a file, Windows usually stores it in the My Received Files subfolder of your My Documents folder. If you use Internet Connection Sharing you may only be able to receive files--you may not be able to send them.

Sharing a Whiteboard

You can share a whiteboard--a drawing window on which everyone in the conversation can draw--as part of a Windows Messenger conversation. Choose Invite | To Start Whiteboard. The other people in the conversation receive an invitation to start using Whiteboard. If they click Accept, you (and they) see a Sharing Session window, like this:

The Sharing Sessions window shows the shared items that Windows Messenger supports: Application Sharing (described in the next section) and Whiteboard.

Then you see a Whiteboard window, as shown in Figure 25-3. The whiteboard works similarly to Microsoft Paint. To see what a tool does, hover your mouse pointer over it. When you are finished with the drawing, close the Whiteboard window (choose File | Save As first if you want to save your joint work).

Figure 25-3: When you share a whiteboard with Windows Messenger, everyone in the conversation can draw on it.

Sharing Control of a Program

If you would like to show the other people in a conversation how a program works, or wordsmith a document as a group, you can use Windows Messenger's Application Sharing feature. You can let the other people take control of the program and give commands, even if they don't have the program installed on their computers.

Showing a Program on Everyone's Screen

In the Conversation window, choose Invite | To Start Application Sharing. Windows Messenger sends the other people in the conversation an invitation to share an application with you. If they click Accept, the Sharing Session window appears (pictured in the previous section), and then you see the Sharing window shown in Figure 25-4.

Figure 25-4: Which application program do you want to share with the other people in your Windows Messenger conversation?

In the Sharing window, choose the program that you want to allow the other people in the conversation to share. For example, to edit a document as a group, choose to share a word processing program that is open with the document loaded. If you want to show the other people a presentation or some Web pages, choose a presentation program or your Web browser. Then click Share.

Once you have selected a program to share, the program window appears on the screens of the other people in the Windows Messenger conversation. Bring the window to the front (that is, click in it to make it active) so that other windows don't obscure it on the other people's screens. The other people can see what you do, but can't give commands themselves.

Here are a few pointers when sharing a program:

• Before you start to share an application, be sure to agree on a screen resolution for everyone to use. Using the same resolution as the rest of the people in the conversation prevents the screen from jumping around as the cursor and mouse pointer move in the shared application.
• Others in the conversation can see only as much of the program's window as you can see on your screen; when you click another window that overlaps the window that is editing the file, the obscured part of the window disappears on everyone else's screen, too.
• Unless you and everyone else in the conversation have fast Internet connections (faster than dial-up), displaying windows with a shared program can take a long time-a minute or two. Everyone in the conversation needs to wait for the shared window to appear, or everyone's screens will get hopelessly confusing. This feature works best for users connected by a high-speed LAN.

Enabling Others to Control the Program

If you want other people to be able to control the application (giving commands and controlling the mouse), switch back to the Sharing window and click the Allow Control button. When someone else double-clicks in the window that displays your program, you see a Request Control window, indicating who wants to control the application. Click Accept or Reject to give or deny control to that person. The other person controls the mouse and keyboard for that application until you press a key. When you are finished sharing control of the application, switch back to the Sharing window and click the Prevent Control button. When you are done sharing the application, close the Sharing window (and the application, if you like).

While you are sharing control, you can select the Automatically Accept Request For Control check box in the Sharing window to skip having to accept requests for control. Alternatively, to temporarily disable control-sharing, select the Do Not Disturb With Requests For Control Right Now check box.

Firewalls can prevent you from sharing applications with Windows Messenger.

Here are some tips about sharing control of a program:

• If you share Windows Explorer, all Explorer windows are shared with the other callers, including windows that you open after clicking the Share button.
• If you are going to edit a file collaboratively, make a backup copy of the file first, just in case. When you have finished editing the file collaboratively, only the person who originally shared the file can save or print the file. If other callers want copies of the finished file, the owner of the file can send the file to the other callers.
• Each person in the call does not need to have the program that the call is sharing; mouse clicks and keystrokes are transmitted to the program owner's computer.

Other Things You Can Do with Windows Messenger

You can use Windows Messenger in a few other ways, too:

• Block someone from calling you Right-click a contact and choose Block.
• Changing the way your name appears to others Click your own name in the list of contacts and choose Personal Settings.
• Changing other configuration settings Choose Tools | Options from the Windows Messenger menu bar. The Options dialog box that appears contains settings that control what information other people can see about you and how the program runs.
• Preventing Windows Messenger from running when Windows starts up Choose Tools | Options from the Windows Messenger menu bar, click the Preferences tab, and deselect the Run This Program When Windows Starts check box.
• Playing games Some new Internet-based games are designed to work with Windows Messenger, and can send invitations to other Windows Messenger users to join a game.
• Getting help with your computer If you choose Invite | To Start Remote Assistance in the Conversation window, Windows runs the Remote Assistance program, described in "Allowing a Friend to Control Your Computer" in Chapter 4

Although you have to jump through hoops to do it, it is possible to remove Windows Messenger. To uninstall Messenger, open up C:\Windows\Inf\Sysoc.inf in Notepad (it's a hidden system file, but you can open it by typing "notepad c:\windows\inf\sysoc.inf" in the Run dialog box). Search for the line msmsgs= and remove the word "hide". Now you'll see Messenger when you run Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.