How to Install Older Versions of Yahoo! Messenger

Screen Shot of OldApps.com for legacy Yahoo Messenger Downloads

As computer hardware continues to outpace Moore's law and exponentially increase capacities in both speed, bandwidth capability, and hard disk storage, the applications that consumers use on computers have also grown to rely on greater computing resources with each new version of software issued. As a result, there is a steadily increasing demand for download and use of legacy versions of favorite applications such as legacy versions of Microsoft Windows as well as older versions of the Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Although the legacy versions of Yahoo! Messenger do not have capabilities such as video chat, instant file sharing, and seamless integration with voice over IP (VOIP) technologies, they do offer significantly smaller physical memory footprints than the current version of Yahoo! messenger on the market.

Instructions

1. Find a code repository that hosts legacy versions of the Yahoo! Messenger until you find the version desired for installation. OldApps.com is one great example of such a repository for Yahoo! Messenger applications, hosting downloads back to Yahoo! IM version 3.0.

2. Verify the system requirements of the version of Yahoo! Messenger you are downloading to ensure comatibility before initiating your download on the OldApps website.

3. Download the desired version of Yahoo! Messenger.

4. Install the Yahoo! Messenger application and test it. If the file fails to run, the it is likely due to a running process on the computer interfering with the Yahoo IM installation. Open the process Task Manager (usually by hitting The Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys simultaneously) , select all active process by holding the shift key down while clicking on the process name, and select end process. After completing this step re-install the Yahoo Messenger Application.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you have a real need to install legacy Yahoo! IM software. Only the current version of the Instant Messenger is supported by Yahoo!

• Virus scan the download of the IM application in case it has become corrupted by the third party host.

Resources

• Old Apps Yahoo! Messenger repository
• YazakPro's Yahoo! Messenger repository