It's a very quick download that is absolutely free. You will find it on the main MSN site or by going to your favorite search engine and typing the name of the download in. It's a small download that sets up quickly. You'll need a valid email address in order to sign up for a free msn messenger account. Many people don't want to use their primary personal or business email account to do so.

If you're one of these people, you can sign up for a new, free email account from a multitude of sites. You may even get a free email account directly from MSN. Once you've established the email account that you wish to use to register your account, you're almost done!

Go to the page where the MSN download is and read through the documents that are provided for you. First you should make sure that you meet all system requirements to run the IM platform. Once you've checked and know that you do meet the requirements, you may want to familiarize yourself with the other programs that the download gives you the option to include as part of your download.

Figure out if you'd like to have any of these add on parts to your IM program and then click on the link that says Download. You will go through a series of pop up screens that will ask you questions, most of them yes or no questions. You'll need to make sure that you carefully read all of the pop ups because they will ask you about preferences and set up.

Once you've checked or unchecked the boxes to decide what parts you want to download, it will only take about a minute to load and install the program, depending on your high speed connection. Once the set up is complete, the program will automatically open.

Now is when the fun starts. Start adding your friends email addresses and once they've added you to their friends list, you can start chatting with them. Chat for hours, as much as you like, all for free with the msn messenger download for your computer. Have fun and get back in touch with friends you haven't talked to in years or friends you just met!