Yahoo! Messenger version 8 System Requirements

All I wanted to know was what the system requirements were for Yahoo! Messenger with Voice version 8... a simple question one would think... but nupe, it's about as easy as finding toothpaste in a snow storm. I don't know if it's me or not, it quite possibly could be, but even if it's just a "me" issue I'm know I'm not unique in such a way that no one else could possibly be suffering the same confusion so I set out a mission.... my goal...

to find just what the system requirements were for Yahoo! Messenger with Voice version 8

this was mostly because we've been hearing that many Windows 98 users are suffering greatly with this version and I wanted to know, and see for myself, after hearing much speculation, if Yahoo! Messenger v8 still supported Windows 98, or was it like with version 6 where they dropped support for Windows 95 and Windows NT users.

My first port of call was, as it should be, was Yahoo's own Messenger help center and with their recent revamp they are quite impressive. The version 8 help pages sit in their own category so it's easy to find at Yahoo! Messenger with Voice 8.0, but I couldn't locate the system requirements, I searched high and low for a summary of the minimum requirements but I never found it. My next step was to email (via Yahoo!'s contact forms), and ask what the requirements were, my mission started when v8 was still in beta, so the first form I filled out was a beta feedback form, linked from their own help pages, surely following that would give me some joy and clarification...

I kept my wording concise..."what are the full system requirements for installing and using version 8 please?" but alas, the response back was "The feature you have written us about is a feature of Yahoo! Messenger 8.0 Beta. While in the Beta testing period, this feature is unsupported, which means, unfortunately we cannot assist you with it at this time." umm... ok.

My next attempt was just the other day, I emailed again from a link provided by Yahoo!'s help pages, again I was concise in my approach "what are the fully system requirements for running version 8 please" their reply (in part) "Sorry for the confusion. You will still be able to run Messenger 5.6...." say what? (for the full length emails see my forum post Best of the Worst from Yahoo! Customer Care)

From there it was back to the drawing board, I moseyed back to Yahoo's Messenger Help Center and hummed a little, I sat slurping my coffee, randomly clicking on links, bookmarking pages, clicking some more and eventually, not a clue how, I stumbled upon their Tutorials section and there it was, tucked away under Introducing Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, Installing Messenger and Signing In was the system requirements for using Yahoo! Messenger v8... strange place to put it... but at least it's somewhere. So here they are...

the minimum System Requirements for using Yahoo Messenger with Voice version 8....
Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, or Windows XP
Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or later
Pentium II 233 Mhz or better (500MHz recommended)
Minimum 64 M B RAM for Windows 98 and ME
Minimum 128 M B RAM for Windows 2000 and XP
Minimum 30 Mb disk space needed to install
Additional features such as Calling, Webcam, and Yahoo! Music, require:
Windows Media Player - 7 or higher or higher
Webcam - Messenger compatible
A microphone, sound card, and speakers or a headset

so now we know that Yahoo! Messenger v8 and it's really cool new features supports Windows 98... the only feature that may be in question is premium Yahoo! Voice services which states the system requirements for phoneout as being Windows 2000 / ME / XP. Something they haven't mentioned above is that Macromedia Flash Player which is still required, it's an Avatar requirement, Yahoo! Games requires Java to be enabled...

so in summary...

Windows 98 is supported by Yahoo! Messenger with Voice version 8
happy IM'ing W98 :)

For settings, ports, protocols, preferences and software required check out our article Yahoo! Messenger v8 Settings, Ports, Prefs or if you'd like some detailed instructions and screenshots of what to expect when you install Yahoo! Messenger, including to two methods currently available check out our tutorial Yahoo! Messenger version 8 Installing.

If you don't meet the specs shown above, have a wander through the previous information listed below....

Yahoo! Messenger version 6
is still around, working your way from their Yahoo! Messenger v6 Help the version 6 System Requirements easy to find, you need to have:
Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
Microsoft Internet Explorer - 5.5 or higher
Macromedia Flash Player - 6.0 or higher
Windows Media Player - 7 or higher
Webcam - Messenger compatible
DSP Group TrueSpeechTM audio compression (CODEC)
56k or broadband Internet connection (LAUNCHcast)
A microphone, sound card, and speakers
for more information check out our articles for Yahoo! Messenger v6

Yahoo! Messenger Version 7
are a little harder as they aren't all in one place, which is perhaps why we created our own v7 System Requirements article which in summary states you need the following
Microsoft Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher, IE 5.5 or above to see the animated smileys and Scripting must be enabled
Macromedia Flash Player 6.0 or higher for general operation and for Avatars/Pictures, Audibles, IMV's, Games
Java for games
DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) Audio CODEC for voice
Windows Media Player version 7 or higher for WebCam and LAUNCHcast Radio
even though we've summed it up for you, you can staill access Yahoo! Messenger v7 information at Yahoo!'s help pages Messenger7, it just takes a bit to track the requirements down as it doesn't appear to be stored on one page like with v6
for more information check out our brief article for Yahoo! Messenger v7

Yahoo! Messenger Version 7.5
like the above is hard to locate, but based on the System Requirements for Voice Chat in v7.5 you'll need
Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
Pentium class processor
Internet Explorer (version 5.x or later)
At least 64MB RAM
A non-proxy connection to the Internet
A microphone, sound card, and speakers
DSP Group TrueSpeechTM audio compression (CODEC) software
and as we stated above for v7, if you want to use Avatars, IMV's, Games etc you'll also need
Macromedia Flash Player 6.0 or higher for general operation and for Avatars/Pictures, Audibles, IMV's, Games
Java for games
DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) Audio CODEC for voice
Windows Media Player version 7 or higher for WebCam and LAUNCHcast Radio
help and documentation for v7.5 is available at Yahoo!'s help pages under their category Messenger7.5
or check out our Yahoo! Messenger v7.5 section

Direct Download Location:
http://download.yahoo.com/dl/msgr75/us/ymsgr750_819_us.exe
more information available at WackyB.co.nz Yahoo v7.5