Digsby is a multi-protocol, e-mail-alerting, social-network-alerting, time-saving, piece of free software. I'll slow that down a bit. 

• Multi-protocol: It works across all services: AOL, MSN, Yahoo, IRC, etc. You can set it up to work for just about all communication.

• E-mail-alerting: When you get an e-mail, it tells you so.

• Social-network-alerting: When something happens on your social network, it tells you so.

• Time-saving: Compose e-mail, IM your friend, send files, view profiles, all in Digsby.

• It's awesome: End of discussion.

So, now that you know what it is, look at this:    This little guy is the reason Digsby caught my eye. Look at him!   I'm going to add some major structure to this one, particularly because it's so big. It'll go in this order: Buddy List, Menu, IM Window, Alerts. Ok?

Buddy List

I'm going to start out with that fact that, although it's packed with features, it's easy to use and even easier on the eyes. They use a tabbed interface, with slide-out windows when you hover over spots. My Digsby window is smaller than my AIM one, and it does a lot more. In the Buddy List, you can manage e-mail, transfer files, IM, and text message. These all come up at once when you hover over a contact, or by IM-ing them and clicking the buttons there. Splitting it up more, in the E-mail you can compose, delete, mark spam, etc. just like an actual e-mail client, except it's Digsby. There are two things that I dislike about the e-mail: one, you can't open up the entire e-mail in the window, but you can preview title, subject, and a bit of text, but you can't open the whole thing; two, it puts an icon in your system tray for each e-mail account. The second is useful, because it gives you check, compose, and inbox options by right-clicking, but I think they're annoying. Opening your inbox brings you to the Web site, Webmail.aol.com, for example. File transfer, IM, and text messaging all work the same: when you click one, a window comes up, and you decide what to do. Simple, and I like it.

Menu

I'm going to spend just a bit on the menu. It's at the top of your Buddy List, and it gives you some things that you can't get other places in Digsby. First off, everything that you can do with them menu takes you to the same, multi-tab window. You can access it through Tools >> Preferences. There, you can edit your layout/colors, fix your settings, manage the program… you get it. To the right is the preferences window.

IM Window

It's just like any other IM Window, but it's from Digsby, so it's better. At the top you have Info and Call, along with all of the other options I listed for the Buddy List. The IM Window is tabbed, too. Click on something, and it puts that in the same window. Info is the user profile, given in the IM window, and Call allows you to use an audio/video call through Digsby.com. Fonts, etc, are completely custom, it records all of your history…you get the idea.

Alerts

This is a nice little bit they put into Digsby. Whenever anything new happens, and when you sign in for the first time of the day, you get an alert in the form of a rounded, black box in the bottom left corner. If it's an IM, you can reply there.  The original text sent is shown, as well as a few lines of conversation. When you're done, it disappears. If it's e-mail, you can use the previous/next arrows to view the previews. I'm not sure about the social networks since I don't use them, but I bet it works the same: it shows you whats happening, and it links to it, too.   I mentioned being able to respond to your IM alerts…that's awesome. I always find it annoying to pull up a big, clunky IM window to respond to people, especially since it can take away from whatever you're doing, and my old computer takes a bit to load the previously-minimized chat.

Lastly…

Digsby is amazing. It's completely replaced my e-mail and chat clients, because you can do everything in it. It's small, so it doesn't slow down my computer. You can even have a chat widget for your Web site, except it's an embedded source code, so it won't work on Wordpress.

Overall…

I definitely recommend this one. Download it at Digsby.com.Best: Puts everything in one, small, easy-to-use window.Worst: A few minor annoyances… system tray icons, etc.