Tips for Success with Windows Messenger

You'll get better quality with greater bandwidth.

Cable or DSL connections are ideal, but you can actually get decent results with a dial-up connection. At a bare minimum, you'll need a 28,800 bps modem that's connected at 28,800 bps.

Make sure your router supports UPnP.

To make voice or video calls or share applications over the Internet, the router and firewall that protect your computer from the Internet must support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)—the industry standard that makes it possible for computers to detect devices on a network and work with one another. Without UPnP support, you can make video and voice calls only over your local area network. See the Getting Started section for more details.

Get hardware that works with Windows XP.

Take advantage of this handy list of the Web cameras, microphones, and headsets built for the Windows XP operating system from MSN.

Fine tune your audio and video settings.

Windows Messenger technological improvements have vastly improved audio and video quality. Be sure to run the Audio and Video Tuning Wizard before you get started to adjust camera settings and microphone and speaker volumes. To run the Wizard from the Windows Messenger window:

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