Smileys are a cool way of making your emails and instant messages more fun. Most communication applications have some built-in, but they can be boring - after all, everyone's got them. Spice things up with SweetIM.

SweetIM lets you add smileys to your emails and instant messages, but you can't, unfortunately, use them on social networks. The smileys available seem to vary according to what you are using, but they integrate well into Windows Live Messenger, Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The SweetIM browser smileys are divided into various categories, such as Popular, Texicons and Love. Internet Explorer has even more available, including a link to extra games and animations. The browser versions have a search function and a SweetIM area where you can tweak various configuration options.

SweetIM offers even more when you use it with Windows Live Messenger. Extra categories are added to the standard interface, and they are very easy to use. If there are any bad points to SweetIM, it's that if you use them with an instant messaging app, the person you are talking to will also need to have the program installed to see the smileys, and there is no good explanation of what the program installs and where, so you'll just have to click around to see what's added.

SweetIM is a great way to bring extra emoticon fun to your IMing and emails.