Microsoft is currently less than a month away from celebrating the 10th anniversary of its instant messaging client. Initially labeled MSN Messenger, the IM app was transitioned under the Windows Live brand and is now Windows Live Messenger. Come July 22, 2009, Windows Live Messenger will be 10 years old, and the software giant has already started the countdown.

The Redmond-based company is inviting users to share their best Windows Live Messenger Stories, and even offering tips on how to get the best out of the instant messaging client. A small tutorial for building custom emoticons for Windows Live Messenger is an example of how Microsoft is building anticipation for the 10th birthday of the software.

“Did you know you can make your own emoticons from your own photos/images? This has been around for a little while and is a nice way to be creative and have some fun in Messenger,” revealed a member of the Messenger team. Microsoft released Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) to the web at the start of this year.

Via the ‘Show Menu’ button, you will need to navigate to ‘Tools’ and to ‘Emoticons.’ In the Emoticon window, select the Create option on the right hand side. The IM client will offer a dialog box allowing you to navigate to a certain file stored locally. A variety of files can be transformed into emoticons, with Windows Live Messenger offering support for the following formats: bmp, jpg, png, as well as animated images.

“Type the keys that you want to use to bring up the emoticon. In this case I’ve picked ‘woof’ because it’s a picture of my dog. Notes: You can pick any keys you’d like. Just make sure it’s not something you type too often or it will keep appearing in your sentences. When you are done hit OK. Now scroll down to see your ‘Custom emoticons.’ Your emoticon now shows up and you can,” the Messenger team representative added.


Windows Live Messenger 9.0 (2009) version 14.0.8064.0206 is available for download via this link.