windows live messenger

[Blondeshavemorefun]

i have a new lappy as old ones hard drive just went :(

i cant seem to down live messenger so i can chat to people

i can sign into hotmail/msn and read email etc and says im signed in but i dont seem to get an notification every time i get an email (which i like if on another site)

and cant seem to chat to people

what am i doing wrong?

do i need to uninstall msn and reinstall?

thank you