how to IM on lan without internet?

I would like to be able to send and recieve messages to the other computers on my home network without using Yahoo or AIM. Is there a software package available to accomplish that task?

 

A program I found and use occasionally is called InterChat3.

More information and a download link can be found here.

 

Or Google "winpopup" and see all the programs available that do LAN messaging better than the crappy built-in Windows thing (assuming you run Windows).

 

Thank you for the response! I tried the messanger pal trial and it seems very adequate. This is a great place to come for a visit. Big relief finding this site.
Thanks again.

 

netsend is built into windows ....

 

Where would I find this netsend? I searched the all files and folders and looked in Windows, no luck. Thanks for the reply

 

I do believe netsend is command prompt based so it won't provide anything like a messaging program. You should be able to find programs on this site for LAN Messaging, though I should check before saying that

 

hmm, i know there has to be programs to do this (i was told so once(noted below)) and whilst in college i was part of a team that wrote a c ++ gui style messenger (client and server oriented) programs for such a thing, i no longer have the code for the client or server though, when we turned the project in our programming professors claimed that there were "better" programs for this sort of thing, ours was way watered down and simple, ill see if any of my old team still has the apps. all you had to do was create the accounts through the server app on a dedicated computer then install the clients, login and send to anyone listed. message went to server that stored them and then if the person had the client running it checked the server for new messages, retrieved them and then alerted you that there was a new message from "user".

 

OK, use netmeeting!!! it comes with every version of windows. It works peer to peer perfect. There is no server to connect to, has video support, audio, whiteboard and remote desktop. I have used it in 98, ME, 2000 and XP on my network and still use it on our "Closed Network" in the Military for the last 7 years. if you do not know the other computers IP then the computer name will resolve. If you cannot find the shortcut for netmeeting then go to start, run and type "conf" or "conf.exe" without the quotes. go through the wizard and you are done!!