To instant message you download and install one of the instant messaging programs, register and then start messaging your friends and making new ones.

Instant messaging is somewhere between sending an e-mail to someone and having a live phone conversation with them - it is more immediate and fun than e-mail while remaining cheaper than long distance phone calls.

For example, you could see when a relative in India gets up in the morning and turns on their computer, and ask them how they are today!

What you need

You might feel that, having taken a while to learn how to use the internet, and maybe set up a computer at home with e-mail and a web browser, the last thing you need is another thing to learn about!

It's true that instant messaging is best left until after you are familiar with the basics of computer and internet use, like e-mail and the web.

But it really doesn't take a lot more expertise to get going, and in the process you may learn other useful new skills like how to play online games that will open doors to a host of other possibilities.

The minimum you will need is a computer and internet connection.

Instant messaging works best with 'always on' connections, and that is why a lot of people use it from their workplace, but it works fine too using ordinary home dial-up connections.

Now you need to get hold of some instant messaging software.

Choosing which software

There are actually over 20 different kinds of instant messaging software you can use, most of them free or 'adware' - meaning you are exposed to advertisements as the price you pay to use the software!