Chat with all your online friends with Trillian

With so many online chat services available, it's almost inevitable that you will have friends on more than one. Trillian helps to keep the complication of this down by letting you use one program for many different services.

Installation is simple but you may want to deselect options to install the Ask toolbar in your web browser and make Ask the default search engine. Trillian works best with Adobe Flash installed and this is given as an option if it is not present on the computer.

When Trillian starts for the first time it gives the opportunity to log in with your Trillian Astra details or sign up for a new account. The Astra account means that the different accounts and friend lists are always available without having to set them up again on another computer. Helpful but it does mean trusting Trillian with your account details. That's not to say you can't trust them but be aware that your details will be stored off your computer.

Registration requires a username and email address. You can choose the former if it is not already in use. Enter a password and security question and Trillian is ready to go.

There are three options for the appearance of Trillian: the Cordonata skin, the original Cobalt skin and a minimal interface. A selection of common chat services then appears so you can select them to enter your details. This list includes Facebook and email as well as AIM, ICQ and Skype.

There is also the option to include some profile information but this can be left blank if you are concerned about privacy.

The Microsoft Live plug in is very good. As well as chat it connects to the Live email inbox so you get email updates as well.