Mike, My wife and I have been using MSN Messenger for a year now, with virtually no problems , just sometimes the connection is slow,,so we cut the video for one minute, then reconnect, this only happens at the beginning of the call. My wife has purchased a TABLET with pen, she writes in Chinese using the TABLET that is plugged directly into the USB connector on her computer. I am also using Google translate, I receive her message and write back to her in Chinese, this takes very little time, less then a minute. I also am running with 2 monitors simultaneously, the monitor on my laptop, and a second monitor that hooked up to the laptops extra VGA output, I drag the MSN Messenger window over to the second monitor, and us the laptop monitor for Google translate, and I do the same as you, once I write my message I simply copy and paste it into the Messenger window and hit enter , this really works well, perhaps this is an option you can look into. There are several advantages of doing this way, 1) it is simple to do, 2) We are in constant video mode, so we can see each other at all times while we write to each other. 3) I do not have to have 2 small windows opened on the same monitor, One Maximized window is open (Google translate) on the laptop, and put the second monitor I have one Maximized MSN Messenger window opened, with the video. 4) Since there is no Chinese keyboard, using the TABLET makes it so much easier for your lady to simply write in Chinese and hit "send", so much faster and very easy for her to do, almost no computer skills required on the ladies part. She will appreciate this and will be less of a hassle for her to learn. My wife also did not have any computer skills before, however using this method made it very easy for her and I to communicate, and she found it was less tiring and much less frustrating for her to do. She actually prefers writing using the TABLET then trying to figure out how to use an English keyboard. :icon_biggrin: My wife is just using her laptop screen with MSN Messenger, this is enough since she has no translation to do on her part, she writes and recieves everything in Chinese via the MSN messenger screen. This method can also be done using Yahoo or other similar programs.
note: to use 2 monitors at the same time, you must enable second monitor option in the parameters, for those of you that may not know how to do this here is a simple explanation on how to,,first my laptop is running Windows Vista, if you are still using Windows XP, it is very similar in the setup menu,
follow these steps,,,point the mouse anywhere in a BLANK area on the desktop, right click on the mouse, a little window will appear, at the very bottom of this small window you will see the word "Personalize", select this option, left click mouse) now another window has opened, at the very bottom of this new window you will see the word "Display settings", left click mouse on this option. Now another window has opened, this is where you do everything, you have several options here, make sure your second monitor is hooked up at this point, make sure the box marked "Extend the desktop onto this monitor" is checked. you will also see the number "1" and number "2" screens, you have the option of dragging them side by side or one on top and one on the bottom, line them up according to where you have your second monitor placed on your table, example: if you have your second monitor to the left of your main monitor (the first one) then drag the number "2" to the left side of number "1", this way when you move your mouse to the LEFT side in will automatically go onto the second monitor.
What I have done is installed my second monitor just above my laptop monitor (I just put something under the second LCD monitor to lift it higher then my laptop monitor), number "2" monitor is the top one, and number "1" monitor is my main laptop monitor, I find this the best way, because I can see my beautiful wife just above my laptop while we write to each other, works like a charm. I have attached a photo here to show you my set-up. Sorry the picture is dark. Like I said, perhaps this is an option worth looking into that you may find useful, hope this will help you or any of the other brothers here.
