LANMessage Pro 4.0

LANMessage Pro is a very simple yet powerful tool for communicating with other people on your network. It provides a means of communication that is faster than e-mail and is easier than yelling down the hallway. On all networks traffic is a concern, but LANMessage Pro has that taken care of. LANMessage Pro uses the built in messenger service called net send.

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INTRODUCTION

LANMessage Pro is a very simple yet powerful tool for communicating with other people on your network. It provides a means of communication that is faster than e-mail and is easier than yelling down the hallway. On all networks traffic is a concern, but LANMessage Pro has that taken care of. LANMessage Pro uses the built in messenger service called net send. Net send does not require you to connect to a server like most instant messaging programs, so you free up valuable network bandwidth.

INSTALLATION

LANMessage Pro installed very quickly and easily. You simply open the zip file and extract the executable to a folder of your chioce. After your first time running the program it creates a start menu shortcut that points to the location that you installed the program to and it also creates shortcuts for uninstall, user manual, and the liscence information. The user manual is on-line and is very easy to understand and to the point.

CONFIGURATION

This program is very easy to configure, the default settings work great for the basic user who just wants to send messages to people on a network. When you look in the options menu you get some more options like run at windows startup, stay on top, system tray icon and minimize after sending. These are all great options that let you customise the program to run to your specific desires.

INTERFACE

The graphical interface of LANMessage Pro is very plain and to the point, other programs should take lessons on how to make a functional, yet simple means of operation. There are slim to no places for you to accidentally check something that you do not know what it does, which is great for a program that you want to share with everybody in the office or workplace. The option to change the color of both the text and backround lets you add a little personality to your message, like those of us who like white text on black backround, or lime green text on vivid pink.

FUNCTIONALITY

LANMessage Pro is a very functional program that is not cluttered with flashy pictures and obscure sounds. You have the option to send your messages to a network entry or compile your own list of private entries. The option of silent mode is ALWAYS a great feature for those who just do not want to be bothered. When you receive a message you have the option to reply to it manually, or choose a quick answer, which will append to what you're sending with a predefined message. If you don't want to receive mesages from a certain computer, no problem, you also have the option of ignoring the sender of the message so you'll never receive a message from them again.

You can also setup and manage groups in your private list, a private list is basically a list of the people you talk to regularly, so you don't have to scroll through the big public list. If you ever switch to another computer you can export/import the list to the new computer with ease.

If you send a lot of messages and have the same information on them somewhere every time, you'll be pleased that there is an option to add a header or signature to each message through the options, for instance, at the end of every message you can have it say "Best Regards, Your Name" automatically.

When you send a message you have the option of showing just the users on NT machines or showing all the users, and every message sent/received can be logged to a saveable log file.

And one more thing, this program just running on my computer is saving me a tonne of hassle. It catches all those really annoying msn advertisements and doesn't interrupt what I'm doing. Before I got about two dozen a day, and every time a window would pop up and really get on my nerves, now it just neatly states a message has been received, and I add them to my ignore list, and I haven't received one in three days!

CONCLUSION

All in all LANMessage Pro is a very powerful, functional, reliable tool for communicating within your network. Simple things are most times the best things.

PROS: a. Simple layout b. Very Functional CONS: a. The close program button at the top is actually just a second minimize button, you have to right click the tasbar icon to close the application