xbox live

[red_devil]

i have a few questions regarding xbox live as i have never used it before and i have not used it yet on my 360.

Anyway i would like to know what is a Gamertag i have only played my 360 a few times since purchasing it a couple of weeks ago and havent really had much time to play it. i was reading on wikipedia about the Gamertag and it said a Gamertag is is the universal name for a players username on Microsoft's Xbox Live. as i dont really have any intentions to play online do i need to make a Gamertag?. there was also something on another forum about a Gamertag getting corrupted from a Trojan Horse has anyone ever experienced this?. i was also reading about Gamescore and that when someones Gamertag gets corrupted u can lose all your scores and stuff does that mean that if i was playing say pro evo 2008 (not on live) and i had season's saved to my hard drive it would affect them?.if i want to use xbox live just for dashboard updates and patches for games etc do i have to use an email address when signing up for live? also how does windows live messenger work on the 360? can i talk to anyone on my contact list or can i only talk to people who have a 360 and are signed into live? what is the thing were friends on WLM can view your friends list ? does this mean that they can see my contact list and add people from it?. and last but not least how safe is live to use can people hack ur account?.

Thanks For Any Replys ........... Red Devil

[tinkertiler]

Your gamertag is what you are known as on live. Like if you are called paul on the street then you could be called paul on live unless its been taken that is! The purpose of the gamertag is to enable you to play on live thats it basicly. If you register your gamertag on LIVE nad you have a problem on your console or your hard drive goes down then you can recover your gamertag with your gamerscore so you dont loose it. The trojan thing is BS and your details are as safe as they can be on the net and LIVE is great to play on. As long as you dont tell anyone what your account details are ect then you will be safe.