Are you familiar with an multi protocol all in one instant messenger known as Digsby? About a month ago, it was under attack by an increased number of complaints of the bundleware in InstallIQ as well as the Idle CPU usage Grid Computing system that was activated without user consent.
As of Digsby 65 released earlier today, Digsby has listened and finally removed InstallIQ and used a regular installer instead. However, it does still offer Digsby Toolbar (also known as another version of Ask Toolbar). While most users still won’t want this, many software publishers have a toolbar (often Ask or Yahoo!) including Java, Trillian, Foxit Reader, and more and therefore, this is much more acceptable.
This new installer also asks if users want to enable the research module at the end of installation, as well as a new settings tab just for Research Module (settings including idle time and CPU usage percent).
The new Digsby installer only offers Ask Toolbar.
The Ask Toolbar offer will not show if it detects that you already have Ask Toolbar installed (any version) including those offered by other software including Foxit Reader. After the installation, there is now an option to enable or disable the CPU usage when idle and the search plugin and homepage change offers.
The major feature of this release is the improved Facebook Newsfeed. You can now Comment and Like on items in your news feed.
The new Digsby Facebook Newsfeed
Other new features of Build 65 include MySpace IM support. Learn about Build 65 on Digsby Blog. It also includes a new settings tab just for the Research Module. It is no longer buried inside Support Digsby.
The new settings tab for Research Module. This is optional.
Digsby supports the following Instant Messenger Services:
- Windows Live (MSN)
- Yahoo!
- AIM
- Google Talk
- Facebook Chat
- MySpace IM
- ICQ
- Jabber
It supports the following email services:
- Gmail (Google Mail)
- Yahoo! Mail
- Windows Live Hotmail
- AOL Mail
- POP3 Email
- IMAP Email
It supports the following social networking services:
- MySpace
You can also create Digsby widgets to place on a website or Facebook profile and chat with users visiting your site or profile live.
Digsby is also skinnable. The current default skin is Windows 7 however you can change it as well as download new ones from the Digsby Community Site Digsbies.
Unlike most multi-protocol messengers supporting Google Talk (including Trillian Astra and Pidgin), Digsby’s Google Talk/XMPP supports invisibility (therefore synchronizing with Google Talk within Gmail).
As of Build 60 (released a while ago), a new search function is available. To search your buddy list, just start typing and the status box becomes a search box. Under your buddies are links to web search results too.
Digsby has also been doing quite well with performance issues that were reported a while back. With multiple tabs open, Digsby usually manages to maintain RAM usage to under 50 MB.
This is a great update for Digsby, however, as we all know, trust is easy to lose and hard to gain. Many have already lost trust in Digsby, but will the new updates bring them back?
Digsby Build 65 Rating:
Performance: 4.5
Features: 5
Ease of Use: 4.5
Value for Money: 5
Appearance: 4
Overall Rating: 4.65
Update: The research module, Plura Processing, does not appear to provide a Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use states that “Other purposes may be used by Plura® without notice. For a list of current Plura® uses, contact Plura®” It doesn’t fully state what Plura will be used for. If you are going to use digsby, for security purposes, do not enable the research module.
Digsby currently supports Windows only. Mac and Linux support is coming soon.
What do you think of the new release? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
