thanks for the reply, but I’‘m a bit confused by “openfire server” and “IM gateway”… here’‘s my issue: while ICQ works like a charm (after userID and password is entered, the icon changes to color and I see all contacts, without having ICQ installed on my company laptop), MSN doesn’‘t do anything… I am 100% sure I’‘m entering correct user ID (xxx@hotmail.com) and correct password, yet the MSN logo stays grey and I don’‘t see any of my cotnacts… when trying to enter userID without the domain (@hotmail.com) I get an error saying my “userID is invalid”… the only thing I can think of is that because none of my MSN account is signed on, it’‘s not showing them… but I don’‘t think that’'s the issue… is anyone having the same issue and/or knows how to resolve this?