Too big! Too much!
Written: Dec 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: many more features
Cons: messages from anyone and everyone
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| ginaav's Full Review: ICQ |
I like to talk to people online whether it be through email, IRC chat, or through instant messaging programs. I have tried several of these types of programs. I downloaded ICQ about 6 months ago shortly after the 2000 version came out. The download is approximately 6 MB.
ICQ is an instant messaging system with many advanced features that are not available on other programs of this nature. You can find people to talk to based on your interests, and you can even set your availability to chat by selecting a level such as free for chat, away, do not disturb, and a few others. If you don't know many people online, you will shortly after installing this program.
For me, installation did not go easy. I was new to the service, and it took forever for me to get registered as a user. I finally had to install an old version of the software I had on a CD to get myself registered. Once I got past that, I signed on and added a few people I knew on ICQ to my lists. What I like is with ICQ you can set it so that people have to authorize you to be on their lists and vice versa. This helps with privacy.
Privacy is a big issue I had with ICQ. If you did not set it in your preferences for only people on your lists to send you messages, then anyone on the ICQ service can bug you at anytime. And they do not care if you have your have away setting on. I had put in my interests I liked boxing, so for the two or three days I had that in my settings, I would get people that would say it says you like boxing... I took that off, and I turned my preferences to friends only.
I did like a few things about ICQ. It had so many features like the away feature, community like environment, messages could be sent to you while you were offline, and be there when you came online. However, there was more about this program that I didn't like. With its huge program size, it was a drain on my memory. It caused problems with my system on a daily basis. I also did not like getting messaged at all times of the day and night by complete strangers. I am all for meeting new people, but these messages would come at the worst times, and when I had my settings on do not disturb. This usually means I am busy writing. I know more than once I lost my train of thought, and had to give up for the time being. For those of you that like to talk to others, and are not bothered by getting bugged at anytime, I recommend this program.
To save my computer from the memory issues, I installed a program called MyCQ that allowed me to talk to my ICQ friends without running ICQ. This small program has most of the features of ICQ without the big download. I found it though softseek.com.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: ginaav
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Member: Regina Avalos
Location: Tempe, AZ
Reviews written: 122
Trusted by: 43 members
About Me: freelance writer, computer user, television watcher, books, music, animals, and places
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