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PalTalk - A Multimedia Chat Experience

© Michelle Struik

Some of my readers may remember in the past I shared with you the technology of Firetalk, an Internet telephony software. Firetalk was an excellent program that allowed users to converse over the Internet much like they would with a regular telephone minus the huge long distance bills. Unfortunately during the dot com fall out which occurred earlier this year Firetalk was a victim of the Wall Street meltdown of technology companies and went into the big gigabyte computer in the sky.

Fortunately for those of us who fell in love with FireTalk another company realized the potential of this software and decided it was worth saving from the junkpile. PalTalk bought the rights and coding of the original FireTalk software and have actually added some additional features that make this software outstanding.

PalTalk is a full-featured Internet telephony software program that allows you to “voice” chat with your friends and family online. Additional features allow you to use your web cam for live video conferencing, send voice emails, and participate in-group voice/video chat rooms. They have also reduced the amount of resources your computer requires to operate this software, therefore opening the door to many users with older systems that were not able to participate in this type of software previously.

System Requirements are as follows:

Windows 95/98/NT4/2000/ME Pentium 120 MHz with 16 MB Ram Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher Full Duplex sound card.

Of course you will also require a microphone (if you find you enjoy the software invest in a headset microphone for comfort). A web cam would be fun but not compulsory, you do not need a web cam to view others who may have a web cam.

PalTalk is basically a freeware program. However be prepared to see banners which is how this company finances this service. If banners are not your cup of tea you can subscribe to PalTalk Plus and get banner less service for $9.95 for a six-month period.

PalTalk is a small program and is very user friendly to set up. Once you have the software installed it has an online tutorial when you first log on helping you to set your computer and microphone painlessly. PalTalk is also firewall friendly and can operate behind a firewall therefore not compromising your computer’s security.

You can find several health related groups on PalTalk, most of them are listed under the Health Related/Parenting Listings. However browse around you might like to participate in some of the other Chat Rooms available just to socialize. You just might find yourself up some night with nothing to do and those Australians play one mean game of Trivia Pursuit!

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