ICQ (I Seek You) is the first Instant Messaging program. It was invented by two Israeli Students in Tel Aviv and AOL currently owns ICQ.

Instant Messaging allows you to, as the name implies, instantly send a message to someone.

ICQ also has the ability to send messages to people who are not at their computer, so they can pick it up later. This is an important feature that other messengers lack.

As well, ICQ has a lot of privacy features, like selecting who can know when you are online or not is an attractive feature to advanced Instant Messaging users who have had the experience of adding too many users to their list.

ICQ has added recent features like the ability to send mobile phone SMS messages and comes in a number of languages.

The ICQ community of users have created many plugins, skin programs, and custom sounds for this program.

I still use ICQ to stay in touch with friends. These are the same friends that got ICQ back in 1998 when it was the only choice for a messenger. A lot of people are switching to the messengers that are preinstalled on their system, software suits or by their ISP. These users, I believe, are less experienced with IMing. I’m sticking with the best and original.

• Download ICQ (Latest Version)