After discussing the best-known Messenger Plus! features, the original author turned to options that were less obvious in the main configuration menus. The extension added more than coloured display names and tabbed conversations.
Event history
The event log recorded changes associated with contacts, such as signing in or out, changing a status and changing a display name. An optional event viewer could display a small notification when one of those changes occurred.
The feature concerned events visible to the client. It should not be read as a promise that the application could reveal every action taken by another person.
Automatic replies
An automatic message could respond when somebody wrote to the user. The source's example explained that the person had gone for coffee and would return shortly.
The article said the reply could be sent to all contacts or a chosen subset. Selecting recipients mattered because the same absence message might not be appropriate for every conversation.
Skins and custom sounds
Skins changed the messenger's appearance, giving users different colours and layouts. The source described obtaining them through the extension's website.
Custom sounds could be sent, received and retained for later conversations. Some were included with the application; others could arrive from contacts or be downloaded. These were features of the historical software, not links to currently verified packages.
Contacts on the desktop
Selected contacts could appear in small floating windows. The user could inspect a visible status, start a conversation or transfer a file without bringing up the main messenger window.
The original author found this useful when waiting for a particular person to connect. It was another way to make a frequent action available closer to the desktop.
Claims about resource use
The source attributed low resource use to the way the extension ran as a library. That explanation was not a measured performance comparison, so this edition does not treat it as a benchmark.
Read these features as a record of how people customised an older messaging client. For the introduction to the extension, return to what Messenger Plus! added.