How do I connect to MSN?

I just downloaded this program to replace my msn messenegr that started to annoy me, and on the login screen i have to enter

my username

password

server?

I don’'t know what to enter for the server, ive got it listed as

messenger.hotmail.com

i assume username is my email for msn right?

and password is my password, but what do i enter for server?

i assume when yo u say thing you mean the Spark Client ?

If so Spark isnt a replacement for MSN messenger, Spark is an XMPP client, so it need to talk to a jabber server.

MSN messenger will only work through this if you are running an openfire server and run a IM gateway plugin through it.

Cheers

Simon

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?