*Before you go further you need to be aware that Digsby by default uses some of your PC resources for research - not mentioned in Vista magazine by the way,(Go Here (http://blog.digsby.com/archives/693 for details) It can easily be switched off and Digsby is working on an opt in rather than an opt out set up - just goes to show, you should always read the small print. Oh. and ours is switched off on principle!*

We found Digsby from the official Vista magazine (intuitively titled "Windows Vista - The Official Magazine") Issue 27, page 54, in an article called "10 essential applications you should install today" by Neil Mohr. So were relatively confident of the authenticity of this application (but obviously cannot be held liable as we make no recommendations!). There are a few things to consider on installing. It comes with some third party software, you are creating an account at Digsby where you’re IM, email and social network account details are stored. This has its advantages, we set this up on a lap top and then on our main system. As soon as we logged in to the new install, all our account details downloaded. If you have lots of accounts, this will save a huge amount of time if you need to reinstall.

For a clean install this is what we did (this is how we did it on a Vista Home and a Vista Ultimate 64bit systems) –

Download the files from here http://www.digsby.com/ and then run the installer. Remember to read the terms and conditions and Privacy Policy on everything you accept (or decline!).

On the first screen (Digsby) we clicked "Accept".

On the second screen (Yahoo toolbar) we clicked "Decline" - choose "Accept" if you want Yahoo Toolbar - http://uk.toolbar.yahoo.com/.

On the third screen (SmartShopper) we clicked "Decline"- choose "Accept" if you want SmartShopper - http://www.smartshopper.com/.

On the fourth screen (PC Confidential) we clicked "Decline" - choose "Accept" if you want PC Confidential - http://www.pc-confidential.com/.

On the fifth screen (my.freeze.com and Yahoo search) we unchecked both options and clicked "Decline" - choose "Accept" if you want the my.freeze.com and Yahoo searches.

Please note we use none of the applications / functions listed above in steps two through five so cannot comment on them.

Click "Finish".

The installer will minimise but is installing Digsby on your system.

Once finished three things will happen (remember we did a minimum install so if you accepted any of the applications we declined, you may find this section is slightly different.

Event one - internet explorer will open at the Digsby Thank you screen.

Event two - the Digsby sign in screen will open

Event three - The Create your free Digsby account screen will open

In the create account screen, we chose and entered a username, live email address, created and verified our password. The last things to consider here is do you want to change your search engine and home page. We did not so unchecked the first option.

To disable the resource use (valid for current version of Digsby) follow thes esimple steps:

Open Digsby & go to the Tools Menu. Select Preferences.

On the form that opens select the Support Digsby menu item from the left hand side.

You will see a preference called Help Digsby Conduct Research with a button on the right hand side saying Disable.

Click the Disable button.

Click the Done button on bottom right of the form.

That should now be disabled.

We read the terms and conditions and the privacy policy and clicked Register which basically is it. We now have Digsby up and running on 2 systems and this web site. give us a shout. and let us know if you had different experiences.

One last thing, we have yet to have any compatability issues on either system but if you know different Contact Us