SUMMARY
When you install Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging client software on a computer that is running either Microsoft Windows 98 or earlier or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or earlier, you must install additional software or hardware to enable full Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging functionality for your organization.
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Exchange 2000 Instant Messaging Functionality
When you install Instant Messaging client software on computers that are running Windows 2000 software, you have complete Instant Messaging functionality. You do not have to install any additional software, because Windows 2000 includes the following functionality:
- Directory server searches, which allow users to search for other Instant Messaging users to add to their contact list.
- Domain Name System (DNS) server lookups, which make sure that the Instant Messaging addresses look similar to e-mail addresses, for example, someone@im.example.com.
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Instant Messaging Functionality Without Windows 2000
Computers that are running Windows 98 or earlier and computers that are running Windows NT 4.0 or earlier can have the same Instant Messaging functionality as computers that are running Windows 2000 if the system meets the requirements that are described in this article.
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Hardware Requirements
To run the Instant Messaging client on a computer that is not running Windows 2000, your computer must meet the following hardware and browser requirements:
- A Windows-based operating system such as Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0
- A personal computer with a 486DX/66 or later processor
- 2 megabytes (MB) or more of free space on the hard disk
- 8 MB or more of available RAM
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later
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Platform-Specific Components
After your system meets these hardware requirements, you may have to install certain platform-specific components before you can successfully install the Instant Messaging client software.
You can download the following environment-specific components that are required, depending on the version of Windows that you are using:
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DNS Lookups and Directory Searches
To run Instant Messaging client software on a computer that is not running Windows 2000, you must have Active Directory Service Interfaces 2.5. You can download these interfaces from the following Microsoft Windows 2000 Web site:
After you have downloaded these interfaces, the Instant Messaging client software can perform the following important functions:
- Directory server searches, which allow the user to search for other Instant Messaging users to add to their contact list.
- DNS server lookups, which make sure that the Instant Messaging addresses look similar to e-mail addresses, for example, someone@im.example.com.
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