Portable multi-platform IM client

Platform : Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista

Type: freeware

Manufacturer: Portable Apps

Size: 13.6MB

Rating: 4

Verdict: Take this cross-platform instant messenger on the road

System Requirements:

Multi-platform instant messaging program. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, and Zephyr.

Pidgin can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AIM, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.

Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away, spell checking, tabbed conversations, and more.

This is the Windows download. You can download other versions for other platforms, from the Pidgin website.

Note that this is the portable version of Pidgin IM.