Trillian Astra is an instant messaging application with a twist: it allows you to use multiple accounts for various IM services. In other words, it has the power to gather all your friends from several messengers in a single interface.

This software imports all the contacts of your selected instant messaging platform (Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Skype), but it can also directly access social networks (Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, LinkedIn).

In addition, Trillian has borrowed most of the important features from other messengers that you like so much, and added new ones. You can open a new window and chat, or send a quick message to a friend who has just signed in.

Friends can be sorted in the list in various ways: alphabetically, by conversation history size, etc. There are several actions that can be performed during a conversation: you can insert a screen capture (by clicking and dragging the mouse), flag text as important (i.e. yellow text with red highlights), or change font to code style (which is especially useful if you're trying to explain a programming language to someone).

There are tons of emoticons you can play with (smiley faces, objects and symbols), and some of them are compatible with both Yahoo and MSN Messenger. The chat history is better organized than in typical instant messengers, because here you can actually select a date from the calendar to access a conversation, as well as view any images exchanged between you and your friends. What’s more, the chat history can be synced between your computer and your smart phone, so it’s at your disposal everywhere you go.

In conclusion, Trillian Astra is worth your while if you need an IM application that can deal with multiple accounts at a time. The streamlined interface, together with the intuitive feel you get when you get acquainted with it makes it a reliable choice.