AOL's new, free Triton replaces good old-fashioned AIM with a whole new look and feel. Current AIM users are invited to download the new program--but it's optional, so if you'd rather stick with AIM 5.9, you can ignore the Triton upgrade messages. I put a late beta version of Triton through its paces because the final version wasn't available at testing time.

During installation, I discovered that AOL has partnered with Plaxo (a Web-based address book service) and that I had to enter my contact information into the Plaxo template to complete my Triton setup. Though I didn't want anything to do with Plaxo, I couldn't find a way to bow out of the screens without canceling my Triton setup.

The Plaxo software remains tightly integrated with Triton, but AOL reports that the setup process changed in the final version of Triton. When you go through setup, says AOL, you have the choice of using just the Plaxo-powered universal AIM Address Book or opting for complete Plaxo registration. If you go ahead with the full registration, the service will set up your universal AIM address book, which centralizes and manages your contacts from AIM, Outlook, Hotmail, and so on. Alternatively, you can decide against activating the Plaxo service and yet still use Triton. If you don't want any trace of Plaxo software on your computer, simply stay with AIM 5.9. (AOL says, however, that its support for AIM 5.9 will cease at the end of 2006.)

Once I moved past the Plaxo annoyance and rid myself of the AIM Today/AOL.com welcome-screen baggage, overall I liked the makeover. In fact, I preferred the new look to AIM's earlier self. Triton's cleaner interface sports fewer icons, its menus are more streamlined, and you don't get hit with a large ad right when you start up the application. (That comes later.)

Triton handled text IMs gracefully--I liked the less-crowded IM window, with its text tools discreetly lined up at the bottom. One gripe: When you click your buddy's name to initiate an IM conversation, by default, a huge honkin' ad appears right at the top of the window. As messages fly back and forth, the ad moves out of sight. AOL lets you change the setting to have the ad appear in your buddy list window instead.

If you're in the middle of text messaging, it's easy to toggle between the tabs--Talk, Video, and Files--at the top of the IM window. I was raring to talk on this new Triton, but my editor and I could not get our PC-to-PC calls to work. AOL reported that this audio problem was related to a bug in the particular version we tested.

The video feature, on the other hand, worked well. Our images came across with good clarity--in particular, colored clothing stood out from gray and white backgrounds--and we experienced only a little distortion here and there. File transfer worked smoothly; when I whisked off a snapshot to my editor, Triton allowed us both to see a countdown with estimated remaining time until the file arrived.

Upshot: Unless you're a die-hard AIM 5.9 fan or extremely Plaxo-averse, grab the Triton upgrade.

Aoife M. McEvoy