msn reviews

The good: Easy to install and use; packed with features; 24/7 toll-free phone support; blocks pop-up ads; personal firewall and desktop virus scanner included.

The bad: Has performance problems on older PCs; junk filters are only so-so.

The bottom line: MSN 9.0 is still the easiest dial-up ISP to use, and MSN Premium is a smart choice for broadband users who lack firewall, antivirus, and personal finance software.

With its latest release, Microsoft Network splits into three separate offerings. MSN 9.0 is a slightly upgraded version of its $22-a-month dial-up service; MSN Plus and MSN Premium are content add-ons designed to complement any broadband connection. The $6-a-month Plus gives you one e-mail in-box with 25MB of storage and basic MSN features such as a shared calendar, but not much else. The $10-a-month Premium adds another 10 e-mail accounts; virus-scanning and firewall software; and online versions of Microsoft’s Money, Encarta, and Picture-It photo editor. With its easy interface and smart parental controls, MSN 9.0 remains our choice for families who haven’t made the jump to broadband (though we still like EarthLink better for power users). We tested the Premium broadband service and found it to be a good deal if you don’t already have a firewall, antivirus, or personal finance program. Compared with rival AOL, MSN Premium presents better features in a cleaner interface–with fewer overlapping windows and simpler pull-down menus.

Setting up MSN Premium is simple enough: Just pop in the CD, and a wizard locates your existing settings and steps you through the process of installing 180MB worth of software. The whole process took about 20 minutes on our test machine, including a mandatory reboot.