Trillian, an instant messenger created by Cerulean Studios, owes its name to the leading lady of the popular "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" book series. Like Imici, it works with the four major IMs to let you talk to all of your friends from one relatively simple interface (see it up close).

Trillian's installation took longer than Imici's, though not by much. You have to enter the information for each of the major IMs at the outset. As soon as we finished our installation, however, we were extremely pleased with our unified chatting experience. The program imported all of our contacts from AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger without a hitch. We still had to rebuild our ICQ contacts, but that is to be expected since those contact lists stay on PCs rather than ICQ servers. In addition to IMs, Trillian also supports connectivity to IRC servers, which offer another popular form of chatting with a network of users from around the world. We also liked the fact that we didn't need to download and install the individual IMs in order for Trillian to work. You truly can have one application from which to chat.

Trillian's interface is cool without being cluttered. You can access all of the individual IM functions at the bottom of the Trillian interface via icons that all mimic the IM's original look -- for example, a Y with an apostrophe for Yahoo! and AIM's familiar yellow man icon.

The chat windows that popped up when we talked to our friends from different IM networks were all functional and easy to use. Unlike with Imici, we were able to chat with our MSN Messenger contacts without any problems. There were no disconnections after each message or separate windows every time we sent an IM.

Right-clicking on a chat window will reveal options that are slightly customized for the particular IM you are using. For instance, if you're talking to a contact on MSN Messenger, you have an option to block a user from sending messages to you. An AIM window, on the other hand, brings up options to "warn" users, limiting their messaging activities with you. IM fans may have noticed the ads that have started popping up on their favorite IM clients. Trillian has no ads, at least for now, which gives users another reason to switch.

The latest version of Trillian that TechTV Labs tested does not transmit to the AIM servers any additions or deletions that you make to your AIM buddy list. This means that if you add a new AIM buddy, you will not be able to access that buddy on another PC because Trillian only keeps them on the PC currently in use. In addition, it also loses most of the portal integration built into the IMs, particularly Yahoo! and MSN, though there is still a menu option to check your email on these websites. Voracious file swappers should note that there is no file transfer option on any of the IMs.

We would also like to warn users that Trillian exposes the IP addresses of ICQ users, and so far, we have not found a way to turn this off. An IP address is the unique number assigned to your computer by your Internet service provider to allow you to connect to the Internet. ICQ also shows your IP address, but this function is turned off by default. Though IP addresses are easily obtained, this flaw in Trillian adds a slightly higher security risk, not to mention opening you up for spam.

Summary: Trillian is the best universal instant messenger we have tested so far. The setup was relatively painless, though more involved than Imici. Still, we give it very high marks for working the way a universal instant messenger should: simple and functional. We highly recommend Trillian if you don't mind losing some file transfer and portal integration features.

Pros: Simple installation; easy access to individual IM functions; works well with MSN Messenger; no ads.

Cons: Doesn't currently update AIM changes; exposes IP addresses of ICQ users.

Company: Cerulean Studios
Price: Free
Available: Now
Category: Instant messaging software
Platform: Windows