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ICQ (I Seek You)
ICQ is regarded as the pioneer of Instant Messaging. It was
created by a small Israeli company, called Mirablis, in
1996, and was bought up by AOL in 1998. Its popularity has
remained high and a number of new features have added to the
ICQ experience.
Features
In addition to the usual IM functions of sending messages
and files in real-time, you can Leave A Message, check your
e-mail through ICQ, play games with ICQ buddies, or block
troublesome users. You can also use ICQ2Go! to send instant
messages from any computer with an Internet Explorer Web
browser.
The Contact List
At the heart of ICQ is the Contact List. This is your
lifeline to all of your IM pals. With a quick glance, you
can see who is online and who is available to chat. ICQ will
also alert you when a friend pops online.
Message Central
ICQ has numerous features that deal with sending and
receiving messages. If you're busy or just want to step away
from the computer for a few minutes, you can let people know
you're unavailable by setting your "Availability" mode.
There are 7 different availability modes: Available/Connect,
Free for Chat, Privacy, Away, N/A (Not Available), Occupied
and DND (Do Not Disturb). If someone sends you a message
while you're in one of the last 4 above modes, they will
receive an automatic message telling them that "You're away"
or "Occupied." You can customize the actual message for each
mode. I.E. "Be right back" or "I am currently unavailable,
please do not disturb me unless it's urgent."
If you don't want people to know that you are online, you
can select the Privacy mode. This mode effectively renders
you "invisible" to other users, because you are listed as
"Offline" in their contact list.
The Good and The Bad
ICQ's major selling point is the number of registered users
- more than 128 million to date and rising. The ICQ Anywhere
policy is also a welcome asset. You can talk with anyone
through phone, handheld, Web or e-mail. You can also use the
ICQ Phone to make telephone calls to ICQ pals, or do ICQ to
ICQ calls through your PC. This service has a monthly fee.
The drawback to all of these features is the drain on
computer resources and memory. Also, Spam has found its way
onto ICQ. Using the ICQ pager, Spam is sent out to a block
of users in the form of instant messages. ICQ 2001b had
problems letting people share files with others behind a
corporate firewall. But, the recent release of ICQ 2002a has
fixed the firewall problem and sports better Spam
protection.
Getting Started With ICQ
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Download the ICQ Client at http://www.icq.com.
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Sign
up for an ICQ Account - Be careful not to include private
information like your address or phone number.
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Connect to the ICQ Server - Open the ICQ client and input
your username and password.
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Your
Contact List pops up. Start adding ICQ buddies by clicking
on the "Add " button. Search for ICQ buddies by entering
their e-mail address, full name, nickname, or ICQ number.
Once you have found a user to add to your contact list,
click on their username and a request for authorization
will appear. Click on "Request" to send it. If the user
accepts, a request for your authorization will come back
to you. If you choose to accept, you will be added to
their contact list.
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Sending and Receiving IM's - To send an instant message
double-click on a user in your contact list. A message box
will appear. Enter your message in this box, and click on
"Send". You will know that you have a message when a
flashing yellow note replaces your ICQ icon in the
taskbar. To receive the message, just double-click on the
flashing yellow icon.
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To
log off ICQ, click the "Online" button and then click
"Offline".
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