Before getting online, you get a chance to adjust your installation so that you hear what it's like when you do log on, by listening to yourself on a simulated connection. The wizard is standalone, so you can re-run it any time you feel a need to tinker. A product that has to be seen to be believed is Microsoft's free Comic Chat for Internet Explorer. Comic Chat users don't have a running stream of text-based messages scrolling up the communications window. Instead, small cartoon characters pop up, speaking in comic strip balloons.
Users can easily get confused among the character images.
But you can toggle into a text mode, or move to a different chat room, if the cartoon activity gets too hectic. Give this one a try just for fun, because it is. NetMeeting Microsoft is also into this communications area with a more serious product, NetMeeting . In addition, Internet service providers can implement their own ULS server as part of their service offering. Working through Internet Explorer, NetMeeting offers whiteboarding-shared displays, joint surfing, file transfers, and other power options.