About The Only Thing America Online Does Right!
Written: Jul 20 '00 (Updated Nov 21 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A wealth of great features
Cons: Occasionally freezes. Kinda nitpicky huh?
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| awoolcott's Full Review: AOL Instant Messenger |
Internet mega-giant America Online has seemingly tons of problems. Despite having seemingly every Internet user on their ISP, no one seems to like them! I wouldn't know from experience, because I am lucky enough to never have had AOL as my ISP. But I do have experience with AOL Instant Messenger, and it's the BEST Instant Messenger around!
The best part about AOL Instant Messenger is the simple fact that you do NOT have to have an account with AOL. As a matter of fact, you can integrate some other accounts with other companies and use it. There is a Juno version of AOL IM, a Lycos version of it, a Netscape version (and a button is placed right on a toolbar on the Netscape Communicator browser, for immediate access).
The sign up process is very easy. Just pick a user name and a password (I'm doing this from memory. If I miss anything let me know!). The difficult part is picking a user name. With so many people using AOL and AOL IM, the amount of user names is scarce sometimes. My own experience was indication enough. I wanted awoolcott as my user name, but someone had it! So I had to settle on awoolcott218 (geez..that's not a referral code is it?). After that you'll get a confirmation email to send back, completing the registration process.
Note though, you DO NOT get an AOL.com webmail address. You don't get access to AOL.com features like myAOL.com (edit 10/21 - You DO get a myAOL.com start page now - I just don't use it). You get the Instant Messenger and a user name. That's it. In some ways that's good because who needs another email account anyway? But then again, everyone seems to have an AOL email address. Kinda feel left out.
Downloading isn't too bad. It's a longer process than MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, but there is a ton more features than those two, so that explains it. It's about a half hour or so if memory serves me correctly (MSN takes like 5 minutes, can't remember Yahoo). Finish it, install it, and you're on your way!
So, What Kind Of Features Do You Get With This Thing?
Plenty. There is so much packed into this little program it's a miracle. There's hardly anything that you can't do here!
Buddy lists - You get a great Buddy list. It's by default sorted into four groups - buddies, family, co-workers, and offline. That way, you can seperate your contacts by importance. You can also create your own unique folders. I personally created a folder just for Epinions friends, so I can keep track of them.
The ticker - This thing allows you to check out news and the like. You can customize it to refresh at certain times, and the speed it shows news. Great for those who want news updates while chatting.
Buddy wizard - This allows you to check for user names from their email address. So if you are looking for an individual, just type in their email address and you can find out what their AIM screename is, if they have one. Very convenient (unless you are going to harass them!).
File transfer - I haven't personally done this, but you can share files over AIM. Just click on "people" from the top bar and find a file on your PC to pass over to your friend's PC. It gives you two warnings though - it's possible for your "buddy" to determine your IP address (not cool), and the possibility of passing on a virus, or getting one (definitely not cool). It's a great idea for business people using AIM for a meeting, so they can pass along files and the like.
Mail - You can even set it up as a POP3 mailbox to read email. Just do it like you would Outlook Express and it will do it. You can determine what you want checked (you can have multiple email accounts checked) and how often you want it checked. Again, great for those who want to chat and not worry about email, because it gets it for you.
There is also a bunch of more indepth features, like connecting to your buddies computer directly for talking and picture trading. It gives you a strong warning about trusting your "buddy" so you better watch it!
The Actual Chatting
This is the meat and potatoes (or mouse and keyboard, your choice) of AIM. The chat process is probably the best of all the IM's out there. Yahoo has delays sometimes, MSN has delays quite a bit, but I have never had a problem with delayed messages with AIM. It's instant, like they say it is. There is a lot of cool features within the chatting process!
Passing on links - If you're at a webpage that you want someone to read, just click on the link button. It will automatically put that page on the link box. Just click okay and then send. It's now a true to life hyperlink for your buddy to click on. Pretty easy!
Different fonts - Hate that boring default font? Well, you can change it. You can change font type, size of it, as well as color! Of course you can also add bold, italics, and underlines too. It's your way of creating a unique font for you to identify yourself with.
Buddy info - Buddy info you can edit to bring out a bit of your personality. I noticed that straight-out AOL member's profiles are not visible, but a non-AOL member using AIM can edit their profile, for whatever they want, be it news, shout-outs, whatever. It's your profile, do what you want with it.
Block - Someone being a pain in the shorts? Just block them. It's good for those who are sick and tired of some of the irritating forces on the Internet.
Warn - Should have mentioned this one first. This way, if someone is getting out of line, warn them. Once they fill that 100 percent warn limit, they are booted off the IM. Talk about nasty!
I've already mentioned the direct connection with buddies, so I won't bother boring you worse than I already have. Safe to say that AIM gives you quite the customizable experience.
So, I've heaped praise on AIM all this time. Any flaws? Of course. My biggest problem is occasional PC overload. Most of the time, I have more than one conversation going. If I get to 4 or 5, sometimes the IM goes bad and freezes, forcing me to reboot. Maybe it's because of the amount of RAM in my PC, but I don't know. I have noticed since I rid my PC of all my paybars, it seems to work fine.
Also, it occasionally gives me a hard time logging in. It will get to step three and poop out. Maybe I'm logging on during high-traffic time. It happens rarely, so that's barely a flaw.
Yeah, I'm coming up with flaws just to make it complete. Truly, this is a 5 star IM if there ever was one. If you don't have AOL IM now, go get it! It's the easiest way to keep up with all your Epinions buddies. Too bad AOL's internet service isn't this good!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
awoolcott
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 in Games |
 - Top 200 |
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Location: Arizona
Reviews written: 411
Trusted by: 400 members
About Me:
2009 was a pretty good year for games, but next year, wow.
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