Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

Download Blowsearch Secured Messenger

Dealing with a ton of different instant messaging applications can be a hassle. No one wants to run AIM, Yahoo IM, MSN Messenger, and ICQ simultaneously because keeping track of all those windows quickly becomes an administrative nightmare. Increasingly, offering a secure communication path is also necessary because your job may not be comfortable with sending IM communications in the clear over the traditional services. Enter Blowsearch Messenger, which offers secure messaging and support for all the major IM clients too. At the free level of the application, 56-bit encryption is supported, which isn't enough to meet rigid security standards, but certainly keeps out anyone tracking packets in the clear. In it's free form, the app does include an ad bar similar to the ones found in all the major clients, but if you upgrade to the industrial strength security you also get rid of the advertisements. Yes, I realize Trillian also does unified IM, but this app uses fewer resources (at least in my test) and encryption is almost never a bad thing. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $0.00]