Welcome to the first part of our Yahoo!^® Messenger tutorial, in this part we will tell you a bit about messenger and guide you through the process of installation with the aid of text and screenshots.

About Messenger
Yahoo!^® Messenger is an instant messenger program which is great for keeping in touch with friends and family, it allows you to send instant messages, view your friend's web cams and it features voice conferencing.

In order to use messenger both you and the person you want to talk to need to have a Yahoo!^® ID and have messenger installed, if you already have a Yahoo!^® email address then you have a Yahoo!^® ID (the part before the @ symbol).

If you don't have a Yahoo!^® ID you can get one from the Yahoo!^® website.

In part one:	Other related pages:
Getting Messenger & installing. Start Messenger & Login. Continue to Part 2. Back to course menu.	Yahoo Messenger download page. (these pages open in a new window)

If you have any trouble with any of the terms see our computer dictionary.

Getting Messenger & starting installation

First you need to get the messenger program, you can get it from the Yahoo!^® website by clicking here (this link will open in a new window to allow you to view this page).

Next click on the link to download messenger (similar to fig 1.1) and follow the on screen instructions to download messenger.

You will be asked where you want to save the file on your PC, select a location and make a note of it (they suggest the desktop).

Find the setup file and double click on it, (an icon similar to that in fig 1.2).

	After double clicking the install icon you will be presented with the installation dialogue box. It will welcome you to the installation, now simply click the Next button.
	Now read the terms carefully and if you accept then click the I Accept button.
	You will now be asked which directory (folder) you wish to install to, if you have no preference then simply click the Next button.
	Now you are ready to install, click the Next button.

In fig 1.3 you can see the file copying process.

When the installation has finished copying files it will update your system configuration, then it will tell you that the installation is complete, simply click the Finished button and the messenger program will open allowing you to sign in.

Start Messenger & Login

If you have just installed messenger then it should have automatically opened.

If not double click on the small icon (see fig 1.4) in your taskbar (near the clock) to open the program.

The first time you run messenger (or if you don't use auto login) you will be presented with the Login dialogue box as seen in fig 1.5.

If you don't already have a Yahoo!^® ID (email address) then click on the Get a Yahoo! ID button and follow the on-screen instructions.

The Login box is fairly self explanatory, enter your ID (we have used helpwithpcs_com in our example) and your password in the boxes provided.

then are 3 options:

Remember my ID and Password
This option will save you the trouble of entering your ID and password each time you use messenger.
Automatically Login
This option will automatically login when yahoo messenger is started.
Login under invisible mode
This option allows you to login to messenger but appear to be offline to anyone.

When you have entered your information and selected any options you want simply click the login button and you will see the connecting to Yahoo!^® box as seen in fig 1.6.

You will now connect to the messenger server and you will see the main messenger screen (see next part of tutorial for getting started).