BOTs are virtual MSN Messenger contacts that automatically respond to the questions posed in the chat conversation like robots. An example of how they are used for the purpose of rendering utilities, was seen when we talked about the virtual policewoman who gives information on passports and renewals.
A bot is an automatic responder, which becomes a virtual contact on the messenger, which responds in the chat according to how it was programmed by its creator.
Basically, the program behind the bot recognizes certain keywords in the interlocutor's questions or phrases and answers in a more or less coherent way, with a phrase preconfigured by the person who programmed it.
As we had tried to see, the virtual policewoman programmed by Microsoft for the Italian Police, only answers questions on passports and residence permits, giving directions and answering questions only on this topic.
On Msn Messenger, there are actually several other virtual contacts, some developed to be useful to users while others created by prank programmers, for pure playful spirit.
In reality then, but only in moments of extreme boredom, it is also a fun pastime, establishing a conversation with one of these bots, even serious ones, seeing how they respond to more or less serious solicitations or to insults and bad words.
To add them to Messenger just do as when adding a normal contact, then entering the email address of the robot friend.
The best Messenger Bots are :
1) Alice performs various information functions and helps to make numerical calculations, explain the meaning of words, give weather forecasts and other encyclopedic things and you can also play with them.
It is not really a contact that chat, basically having Alice in the contacts is like consulting a book.
Alice speaks English and her contact is
2) Doretta is a much more human Italian contact who also talks about trivial things but which basically serves to help the user to search the internet.
In Italy it has become very popular especially among the younger ones who can have fun seeing what it is able to answer to the innumerable questions that can be asked.
Doretta can be added to contacts by adding the email address
3) Spleak is English and is perhaps the best bot that fits, or at least the most varied.
A more evolved species of Doretta, always aimed at supporting web search but with an orientation towards gossip, she is a very conversational and fun friend who also lends herself to challenges to MSN Games games.
For us Italians, it can be very useful to learn English in common conversation phrases but above all, it becomes a very effective reminder, especially if you always stay connected to WLM.
To add Sleak you have to look for the email
4) Doriana is a reinterpretation of Doretta, in Italian, she becomes much more mischievous and speaks above all about sex.
It is not vulgar but responds to insults and it is a contact that makes a lot of irony about a certain type of decadent youth, the one who goes badly in school and who thinks only of trivial things.
Personally I find it useful only to make a smile for 5 minutes or to make jokes to a friend who ignores its existence who will be amazed by the responses of the slightly blossomed robot.
Contact:
5) Dottor Bot is an Italian virtual contact that can be useful to students of middle and high school, to solve mathematical calculations also of equations.
Msn contact:
6) Encarta is a rather well-made bot that incorporates the entire database of the famous encyclopedia from Microsoft with topics of all kinds, even if, unfortunately, it is in English.
Contact:
7) Secretary is always created by Microsoft, in English but that can be used with utility by everyone because it works as a portable secretary to consult wherever there is a connection to Windows Live Messenger.
In addition to providing information on weather, news, currencies, calculator, agenda and e-mail, it can also store its e-mail contacts and commitments as if it were an agenda to consult.
Very useful if you use messenger from Pocket PC or PDA.
Contact:
8) Talk to Frank is in English, and was created by Microsoft and works to answer drug questions.
Further down I quote the virtual contact Robin which is in Spanish and is much more conversational and realistic than this which remains more of a kind of call center via messenger, a little impersonal.
Contact:
9) Wilma is the official Microsoft bot to discover Messenger functions; in Italian there is Mastro Messenger .
Contacts: and
10) Inside Messenger talks about a lot of things, in English, as if he were an informed friend, able to give support on the internet and its main services.
Contact:
11) SmarterChild is an English contact who talks about all topics and with whom you can chat on a wide range, experimenting where his intelligence stops.
Really well done, one of the most complete bots, it becomes nice especially when you insult it.
Contact:
Another translation contact is:
13) Robin is a bot in Spanish and it is a pity that it is not in Italian because it answers questions from young people on topics such as drugs and sex, in a serious and responsible way.
Contact for those who chew Spanish:
14) Vicito news is also available for Google Talk and AIM and allows the reception of personalized news directly on the MSN Messenger chat window.
You just need to write "news" add (= keyword of the news that interests us, for example: add football) and "news" to stop the service. Contact
15) Search bot is used to search on Google, Twitter and Yahoo and Bing by writing to the virtual contact, for example, "g navigaweb" to get the first search result with Google for the word navigaweb as an answer.
The other letters are t for Twitter, y for Yahoo and b for Bing.
The contact address is
If you know others, please report them, I conclude the article by saying that these bots are active 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
The conversations are recorded but always anonymously, that is, without memorizing the name of those who converse with the bot and in any case only for statistical purposes, so if there is someone who wants to vent aggression and vulgarity with a robot, he can do it freely.
I never thought I would write an article about this, but it was fun to experience these Windows Live Messenger features!
