What kind of alerts can you receive?

Alerts pop up in a small box near the Windows Messenger icon on your Windows taskbar. You can receive these kinds of alerts:

Sign-in alerts: When a contact signs in, an alert appears.
Click the alert to open the conversation window.
Instant message alerts: When you receive an instant message, you'll receive an alert.
Click the alert to open the message and carry on the conversation.
Microsoft Alerts: You can sign up for alerts from various third-party providers at the Microsoft Alerts (http://alerts.microsoft.com/) site. You can sign up for alerts and receive them if you are signed in to .NET Messenger Service. If you click the Alerts tab on the left side of the main window, you will be able to sign up for a variety of alerts.

Notes

To dismiss an alert before it automatically closes, right-click it.
When you run full-screen programs such as presentation programs or games, your status is automatically set to Busy and you won't receive alerts. To change this, clear the Block alerts check box on the Preferences tab of the Options dialog box.