And if you have all of them on just one IM, the gods are smiling down on you.

But you'll most likely have them scattered on different IDs across two or three IMs and downloading, installing and logging into several messengers separately is what you'll have to deal with. Of course, your PC isn't too happy with all these different programmes jostling for space in your system tray.

The perfect answer - unified instant messengers like Jabber, Odigo and Trillian, which let you get it all together in a single interface and programme. Sounds like a happy ending? Well, not quite.

Considering that it's supposed to make life easier, it seems surprising that not too many users have warmed up to using unified IMs. Many download, install and try it out for a while, but go back to using two or three separate messengers.

Despite tremendous potential, why is it that unified messengers don't have staying power?

Lack of awareness

A large number of IM users simply don't know about unified IMs or haven't explored options beyond Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ or AOL - the big four that have a lot of marketing clout. Also, "most unified IMs are developed by small companies that lack the resources to push it hard," says Madhukar Reddy, a veteran IM user.

User Interface

The user interface of most unified IMs is unfamiliar to those accustomed to Yahoo! or MSN. Of course, this is true with any new software. But the simple and intuitive interface of familiar IMs make users want to switch back.

Tony Joseph, who works in customer service and spends a lot of time on IMs from work and home, feels that Odigo keyboard commands are not too user-friendly and he frequently resorts to using a mouse.

Also, ease in managing your contact list is extremely important. "But managing contacts in unified IMs is not the same as in the individual IM," says Veer Kothari. And sure enough, it can get complicated with unified IMs like Trillian that let you log on with more than one MSN and Yahoo! ID. This can make managing all your contacts from different IDs very confusing. He adds: "Once you set up more than one ID with several contacts, the Trillian user interface gets tedious."

Indiatimes Messenger scores points here with its ability to neatly arrange all your contacts in one window. But, it gets a thumbs-down for look and feel. They all appear to have their downsides. Imici, for example, doesn't pick up MSN nicknames of your buddies, so all you see are Passport addresses.

Says Veer: "Because a unified IM does the work of more than one IM, the interface might seem a bit complicated. As far as functionality goes unified IMs try to cross-reference features, sometimes things work for one service and not for another."

Bells and whistles

Many users are comfortable with particular features that certain IMs offer. They like ICQ's post-it notes and birthday reminders, as well as Yahoo!'s invisible mode. You won't find all this on a unified IM.

"Unified messengers have limited functionality," says Tony, "You begin to miss the message archiving and the SMS service that ICQ offers and the ability to be able to access your Hotmail Inbox with one click."

Madhukar agrees: "Unified IMs lack the bells and whistles like the cool IMvironments of Yahoo!, funky features of ICQ, Net2Phone features or voice chat of MSN."

Little things that matter much

It's sometimes the minute details that annoy users. As Tony found out, when he logged into Trillian the first time: "It downloaded each and every contact I've ever had on all my MSN IDs, including the ones I had blocked and deleted in the past. So I had to delete and block them all over again!"

Even simple things like having to do a 'Ctrl + Enter' on Odigo instead of just 'Enter' like on MSN or Yahoo!, matter. "When I log on to to a new machine with Odigo, I have to remember my registration number as compared to Yahoo! or MSN which are linked to email accounts," says Apurva Palnitkar, a Pune based software engineer who logs in to Odigo to make new friends but then gets them on to MSN and Yahoo! after a while.

Nikita Agarwal who downloaded Imici was also irked. "I had windows popping up all over my screen from unknown users, I never faced this before when I was using just MSN or Yahoo! separately. It got on my nerves!" After six weeks, Nikita went back to using messengers separately.

Don't junk them yet!

Hold on! We're not writing off unified IMs. They can let you do a lot of things that regular messengers can't, like logging into several MSN or Yahoo! IDs. Tony and Veer both like this feature of Trillian. "I find Trillian frustrating, but there's a lot of good stuff that makes up for it," says Veer, who reckons that he'll stick with it for a while.

He adds: "You can set alerts for each contact. Once that's done, it can even tell you when contacts go away and come back, not just when they go online or offline."

For those who wish to avoid downloading and installing a unified IM, there's a way out: Madhukar recommends Sprint as the perfect online messaging integrator. Just go to the Web site and log in to all your IMs without installing anything.

Unified IMs do compromise on some of the functions of traditional IMs but are lean. So, if you're looking at just simple messaging without the frills, these might be exactly what you need.

Trillian Lets you access Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, AOL and IRC. Pros: You can login with multiple MSN or Yahoo! IDs at one go. Cons: Complicated functions. Not-too-exciting skins and interface.

Odigo Lets you access Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ and AOL. Pros: Smooth installation. Good buddy search. Cons: Intermittent connection problems with Yahoo!.

Indiatimes messenger Lets you access Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ and AOL. Pros: Good contact list management. Has an interface similar to Yahoo!'s. Cons: Lacklustre emoticons.

Jabber Lets you access Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ and AOL. Pros: Works with multiple platforms. Allows customisation. Cons: Difficult to use. Doesn't connect easily to different IM gateways.

Imici Lets you access Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ and AOL. Pros: Simple uncluttered interface. Cons: Lacks many IM features like in the MSN interface you won't get an indication as to when a person's typing.