There's a new version of the free Windows chat/social messaging client Digsby today. Probably the biggest change in this release is a dramatic reduction in memory use. Like a 75% reduction.

One of the biggest complaints early Digsby users had was that the application was a memory hog. And while it still certainly uses a bit more memory than some IM clients, that's to be expected since Digsby isn't just an IM client. The program also provides email notifications and updates from social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

The latest release also adds LinkedIn support. Once you register your LinkedIn account you'll be able to see the number of unattended alerts at a glance by looking at the icon in your system tray. You can also click on the icon to see the latest updates from your LinkedIn contacts.

There have also been some performance updates that should make the program more responsive. And each IM protocol will try several connection methods for getting around firewalls and proxy servers before giving up.

If you've been avoiding Digsby because of its high memory footprint, it might be time to give it another look. In my tests, I've found that it uses between 25MB and 40MB of memory. Now if only the Digsby team would hurry up and release Mac and Linux versions they've been promising.