ICQ is an instant messaging program that allows you to chat with other people the Internet or share files with them. In addition to Skype, Windows Live Messenger and AIM, ICQ is one of the most popular and widely used chat programs in the world.

ICQ stands for "I seek you". It was developed by Mirabilis in 1996 and bought only two years later by AOL. In 2010, ICQ was again sold to the Russian company Mail.ru Group. ICQ spread quickly because there were no comparable programs in 1996 and anyone who wanted to chat with friends via ICQ had to install the program.

Meanwhile, ICQ is available for many operating systems and languages. The browser-based ICQ2Go enables using ICQ in any browser with Java and Flash without having the ICQ software installed. Therefore, it is especially suited for Internet cafes or computers on which you can or may not install software. ICQ2Go is accessible through the ICQ home page icq.com.

Newer versions also allow Video telephony, connections to Facebook and Twitter, sending SMS and other extras like animated smilies, games or little animations.

Alternatives

Though ICQ officially prohibits the use of other clients to connect to the ICQ network, there are many other programs like Miranda or Trillian, which allow it anyway. The advantage of these programs lies in the fact that these programs are not overloaded with annoying advertising and they also support other protocols like AIM, MSN, Windows Live or Yahoo. So, you can use only one program to chat with all of your friends from different networks.

Write a comment

You can leave an anonymous comment. If you want to write something under your name, please log in or register.

Report software

Report this software, if it is faulty, if it violates the law or if there are any other noticeable problems or complaints. Briefly describe the issue.

Rate Software

You can rate this software positive or negative.