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Posted 11 months ago at 12:28 am. 0 comments
Aim 6.5 Nearing Completion
AOL has released Aim 6.5.4.15, this newest version doesn’t add anything major in terms of features, which means Aim 6.5 is very very close to being Gold Master. The most notable new feature is new skins, now there are 20 skins to choose from for both light and dark themes. You can now stream music with Aim Tunes, and other UI edits and enhancements. The Buddy info now displays buddy updates on the side in its own little box. To the left you will see the regular buddy info. Sometimes the buddy updates do not load so the buddy info is displayed in full width. Aim has added the newest annoyance, Text Ads!, but when you think about it, Text Ads aren’t as annoying as music ads. So lets hope AOL decides to remove that large ad box at the top and give us back the buddy list we so desire!
AIM Security Hole
I’ve been asked on the situation of the “AIM Virus” that the major news companies have been reporting. I’ll cover this briefly. According to AOL’s statements, if you have Aim 6.5.4.16, you should be immune to any attacks that rise up. However Aim 6.1, 6.2, Pro, and Aim Lite are still affected. AOL has silently patched these versions for the majority of attacks, however according to the security research findings, these versions are still vulnerable to attacks. It seems AOL wanted to avoid releasing a new version AIM that patches this and just monitor IM streams for suspicious activity. Right now they don’t have any reports if Aim 6.5.4.16 is vulnerable right now. AOL at the time said that the next AIM beta version will patch this hole. Now that Aim 6.5.4.16 has been released, it should be safe to use.
Skins in My Aim?
Well lets thank the developers for not changing the UI so drastically, this time my work converting skins to was less stressful. About 2 new IDs were added and they actually help make dark themes look better. Even though there are 20 skins to choose from, why not have 4 more colors just for fun. As promised, new skins will be on the way, Windows Vista Aero Basic Themes are coming up. Oh and one more thing, 4 more colors just for fun means FOUR MORE COLORS! Now all 4 colors are included in the download, so you can switch between any of them as much as you like. If you need skins, just click the Aim Skins category on the left. As always, check the FAQ for help on what version your supposed to be using.
Posted 11 months, 1 week ago at 11:49 pm. 0 comments
Yes, you read right, this is far more than just displaying music in your profile. Some people have asked if there was a way to be able to listen to what your buddy has on their computer, and now you can! The "sharing" of music, lies within its iTunes-like interface. Users can stream but not download any song you have listed. It allows people to listen to any track you have within your music folders, and play them instantly. You can also download a playlist to play it within your own MP3 player as a streamed file. Mind you, this is not the actual downloading of the song, think of it as a personal radio station shared only to your friends.
Whats really amazing about all of this, is how fast it is to search through your songs. You can type a few letters and it will instantly display within each category. If you want only RAP music, you can type in Rap, and it lists up all the songs within that genre that is rap. You don’t have to always listen to your friends music, you can use it as an organizer for your own music to find songs quicker than your own Mp3 Player. Maybe AOL should have released this at TechCrunch40!
Download the Aim Tunes Plugin.
Posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:09 am. 26 comments
A recent update to Mcafee triggered a software glitch in Aim 6.1 through Aim 6.5. Around Monday, AIM 6 users have been reported freezing and disappearing windows. All graphical smileys show up with a red X sifgnifying a missing image. This symptoms occur when all IM sounds suddenly change to the&Windows default beep or a “ding” sound. The advertisements will then show up blank and everything goes completely haywire. One common thread reported by users whom experienced this problem is that they all have McAfee software installed. You can read two threads about it here and here. This affects all versions of AIM 6.x.
How to Fix this Problem
McAfee SiteAdvisor is the root of this problem. Follow the instructions.
Uninstall Site Advisor
- Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove
- Select Mcafee Site Advisor, OR Mcafee (Remove) OR Mcafee Security Center.
- Checkmark or Continue the Uninstallation of McAfee Site Advisor.
If Site Advisor became bundled with your purchase of McAfee Security Center, please visit here if you want to reinstall it.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 5:48 pm. 0 comments
Starting up AOL Helix, you can see the remnants of AOL’s clumsy past. Traces of their previous client, ”Open Ride” still lurk about. Things have changed however now that all the annoyances of Open Ride is gone. The “dynasizer” is no more, a feature which displayed 4 windows at the same time. The sluggishness of Open Ride’s long loading times are gone. Now we are left with a plain simple desktop. Similar to AOL 9.0, each window, whether it be aim, or e-mail, or a website, is completely draggable and can be maximized to full screen. Unlike 9.0, the welcome screen can now be closed without showing its annoying channel surfing sidebar. So it seems AOL has listened to its members and created something familiar yet different, although its still far from being totally original. The user interface reminds of the old days of MSN Explorer, except without its tabbed sidebar approach.
AppMap is AOL Helix answer to tabs, AppMap works similar to the way “Quick Tabs” work in Internet Explorer 7. Each Window, Webpage, and IM, is scattered across the screen. You can pick and choose which ever App you want to switch to. If you minimize any window, they are dropped to the bottom of the screen and shown as small thumbnails. This is far far more useful than AOL 9.0’s minimized window guessing game.
AOL Helix still has a few negatives going for it. One major disappointment is its large RAM requirements being 512MB, which is standard for most new computers bought today, but leaves the rest of AOL’s population out. The User Interface is pretty bland, and for some odd reason they are still using the same unimaginative blue gradients they used before in Open Ride. Hovering over a menu item displays a grey text on a blue background which is very hard to read. There is no Full Screen Mode, and by full screen we mean we should not be able to see the main toolbar at all. The IM window is not dockable, which for the most part could be the greatest addition to it. But the biggest annoyance is it uses that same aolsoftware.exe icon that cannot be closed. C’mon Its 2007 AOL! You can’t have Icons in the taskbar that don’t have a close button. You have to play this silly game of CTRL+ALT+DELETE just to stop all AOL processes from running.
Currently the beta doesn’t have access to AOL’s internal keywords. So chatroom access is unavailable unless you go through Userplane and their deceptive banner ads that secretly installs downloader trojans. Yes, Userplane, looks like you’ll have to go through ALL your Ad clients and figure out who’s been dropping trojans inside.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 6:17 pm. 0 comments
Sources say AOL will be releasing its new client tomorrow, a sort of, "Aol 10.0" mixed with, "Open Ride 2" if you will. Will this new client be as spectacular as myAOL, or will it run slow and sluggish like Open Ride did and gets thrown into the trash. Only time will tell! A full review of this product if it even does exist will be up whenever it comes out.
Sources were right.. Read about AOL Helix.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 1:10 am. 0 comments
Aim 6.5 has been released today and has now added the much anticipated Proxy Settings. Dr. Statistics says, this setting alone can do away with more than 60% of the connection issues people have. Now you can connect behind your company’s firewall and bask in the AIM glory. Well if you are using Aim at work I’d suggest using Aim lite instead of Aim 6.0, but anyways its still nice to have though. You can edit your proxy settings in Aim 6 by clicking Edit > Settings > Connections > Connect Using Proxy.
Aim 6.5, also changed the UI a bit by adding a new status bar to the top and moving advertisements to the bottom of the window. Aim takes a bite out of Facebook by adding Status Updates. These status updates allow you to type your own personal entry below your screen name, similar to GTalk, and Yahoo Messenger. Other new features include, text messaging a buddy using their cellphone number, and Aim Tips that show up right inside the IM window.
As promised, I will be making new skins each time AIM updates, so pimp out your aim with Aim Skins.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 2:40 pm. 9 comments
So your one of the few people who can’t download AIM because your at school, or work, or you just don’t know how to. You can still edit your buddy info without downloading anything. Here’s how to do it.
How to Edit Buddy Info [Meebo Method]
–Sign in your AIM Screen name at Meebo.com
–Click on Your Screen Name at the left
–Click Set Profile
–Type Your Profile.
How to Edit Buddy Info with [Aim 6.0 6.1 6.2]
–Click Edit
–Click My Buddy Info
–Type your Buddy Info
–Save!
How to Edit Buddy Info with [Aim 5.9]
–Click My Aim
–Click Edit Profile
–Type your Profile
–Save!
How to Edit Buddy Info on a Mac
–Download iChat
–Download iProfile [*Note: Doesn't work with OSX Tiger]
–Download Adium
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 2:55 pm. 3 comments
So LIEK on Friday, Aim Wimzi came all up into MeeboMe’s face and said
"AND WHAT! "
MeeboMe wuz like,
"SO WHAT! I STILL GOT BETTER CHATROOMS AND BETTER AIM THAN YOU!"
Thus starts the new chapter of AOL’s magical journey to steal everyone else’s ideas. Maybe they thought of it first but took too long to deploy… Or maybe they…. nevermind.
A big blow to Meebo’s MeeboMe service was quietly released on Friday, allowing users to place an Aim Widget on their site. AimWimzi is actually derived from Aim Whimsicals. In the beginning, Aim Whimsicals let users sign onto your website using their own AIM screen name. You could give them their own full buddy list, or let them IM you directly. It wasn’t really practical, only because most people would still just use Aim 5.9. In the meantime MeeboMe’s service let anyone place a widget on their website, allowing people to IM directly to you. The only drawback to MeeboMe was that you had to login to Meebo.com. Since Meebo doesn’t have an offline client, it didn’t make much sense to use it either. You’d have to go to the website just to sign on, and leave it open until your finished. So it was a good opportunity for AOL to strike back at this weak point to create AimWimzi. Very practical in that all you have to do is sign onto Aim from anywhere, and your instantly logged in from the widget. You can change and customize the widget on the fly without needing to repost the code. However, you’ll have to manually edit the size if your going to change it.
Aim Wimzi works by creating a random screen name for the visitors of your site. Only they can IM you first. Your buddy list will show a new category with the title of the widget, and automatically updates (although slowly) whenever a visitor has the widget enabled. You can remain anonymous by typing a customized Display Name. You don’t have to worry about random people IMing your real screen name every minute like they do to me.
Aim Wimzi does have a bug where if you access it too many times, it will display a message saying your Appkey is missing. If you do see this message, don’t worry, its only happening to you, not your other visitors.
What will AOL copy next? You know AOL there is one place you don’t have dominance over, WAP. Yes thats right WAP! We need an AIM Wap Client for anyone with a cellphone, not just T-moblie customers. Lets get rid of txt message AIM and move it all onto the Web. Make a lovely FREE BREW application for Verizon customers and we’ll have a deal! You can even put ads in it too.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:37 pm. 0 comments
After a long wait, AOL finally took the wraps off its AIM Webmail product. Now Aim is integrated into the webmail site. Meaning you no longer need Aim Express anymore. Aim Express hardly ever works and has brought numerous amounts of complaints to this site as well as AOL’s message boards. So for all you people who say Aim Express doesn’t work, please try beta.webmail.aol.com instead.
How to use Aim in AOL’s Webmail
Sign in at!
beta.webmail.com
AIM looks pretty plain so far. There is support for tabbed IMs and buddyicons on the side. However, friendly names, changing icons, and viewing buddy info is missing in this release. I believe atleast buddy info should be there, its just going to be a link to a buddy info pageThey are expected to be added in the upcomming Beta Builds.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 10:26 pm. 44 comments
Some people might not like the screen name colors in Aim 6, and may want it to be red and blue, or blue and green. Here’s a quick guide on how to change the colors of your screen name and to change the colors of other people’s screen name.
To change Your Screen Name colors in Aim 6
Navigate to the directory below. Depending on your Version of Aim. If you can’t find it, upgrade to the latest version of aim at aim.com
If you have Aim 6.8 Your Directory is:
C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\
imApp\ver6_8_10_1\content\im\default.css
- Open the File in Notepad
- Scroll down to .localname
- Next You will have to Find an HTML Color Value to input.
- Visit Colors, and select a color.
- Notice the 6 digit code combination at the top.
- This Code is what you will type under local name.
.localName {
font:12px Arial;
color:#D73306;
}
- Highlight over the Color Code. In this example it is #D73306
- Type the Color Code from the Website that you chose.
- Put a ‘#’ before the code and make sure there is a ‘;’ after your code
.localName {
font:12px Arial;
color:#000000;
}
To Change the Screen Name Color of the person you IM.
In default.css find any .remote name
.remoteName0 {
font:12px Arial;
color:#0F0595;
}
- Change the color by inserting a color value just like you did above.
Other .remoteName deal with the color of screen names in chatrooms. You can change any of these screen name colors the same way you did before. These colors will be given to people at random so do not expect to see much changes unless you drastically changed them all.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 12:55 pm. 72 comments
Is AOL Going to Suspend Your Screen Name If Its Not Active?
If your on a Sidekick and your friends have told you that if you don’t send a certain message to 20 people your screen name would get suspended. Please click here!
What Does it Mean When Your Aim Account Is Suspended?
When your Aim Account is suspended, you will not be able to sign into AIM at all and will be blocked from receiving email. Unfortunately the chances of getting your account reinstated and turn back on is slim and for the most part, people never get it turned back on. Recently however, AOL has been sending out emails when your account gets suspended so that you are informed before attempting to sign on.
Can I Unsuspend My Account?
Unsuspending an account is very rare, and doesn’t happen very often, but its not impossible. Paid AOL screen names can restore service by calling AOL and someone will be able to inform you as to why your account was suspended.
Suggestions
One of my commenters, ikeism, gave a tip on how to reinstate your Aim account if it gets suspended for no reason. Aim accounts appear to get suspended for seemingly no reasons at all. Its suspected your account may be comprimised and used to send spam, although I believe someone with access is deliberately suspended accounts. ikeism suggested you call AOL at (800) 827-3338 and choose the option that you want to sign up for a AOL. When you get connected to customer support, tell them that your willing to pay to get your account back on. They will look into why it got suspended and then reactivate you. They gave another number 888-758-0297 that you can call if your screen names were to get suspended again.
If you find other legit ways of unsuspending screen names please comment below.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 7:58 pm. 6 comments
The most issues people have with AimExpress is the Popup Blocker message. Follow the workarounds in this post in order to fix this problem. After you have tried each and every workaround and it still doesn’t work please post a comment for additional assistance.
Below is a series of Workarounds for the following message:
You have successfully logged into Aim Express. However, we are unable to launch your Buddy List because you have Popup blocking enabled. Please disable the Popup blocker or add the *.aimexpress.aol.com and aimexpress.aol.com domain to the allowed white list.
Workaround #1
Start Internet Explorer
–Press ALT+T
–Click Internet Options
–Click Privacy
–Click Settings
Type the following addresses one by one
*.aim.com
*.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aim.com
aimexpress.aol.com
–Set Popup Blocker to Medium and your done
–Close the Browser and Restart Internet Explorer
Workaround #2
Head to aimexpress.aol.com and hold CTRL the entire time until the buddy list Pops Up.
Workaround #3
Open Mozilla Firefox 2.0
–Press ALT+T
–Click Options
–Click Content
–Click on Exceptions to the right of Block Popups
Type and Allow the following addresses one by one:
*.aim.com
*.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aol.com
*.aimexpress.aim.com
aimexpress.aol.com
Workaround #4
Sign in at beta.webmail.aol.com OR meebo.com OR ebuddy.com OR meetro.com
I personally recommend meebo.com, if you sign up it will also log conversations.
beta.webmail.aol.com has AIM on the right sidebar.
If you have tried all 3 Workarounds and don’t want to use sites like Meebo.com to sign onto Aim, read the extra information below.
1. Do you have Anti-Virus installed?
Check your Anti-Virus firewall to see if its blocking popups or websites. Disable your Anti-Virus all together and test if Aim Express loads up. If it works, then your Anti-Virus is blocking the Aim Express website and you will have to consult your owner’s manual on how to allow popups for certain sites. This also include anti-spyware and other applications that are made to protect your computer from spyware.
2. Do you have toolbars installed?
You might have the Google Toolbar installed and it may be blocking popups. Please be sure to disable the popup blocker in Google Toolbar and try again. If you have other toolbars in IE, press ALT+V and Click Toolbars. Check and make sure that these toolbars have their popup blocker disabled or you can also uninstall the toolbar. Every major toolbar for Internet Explorer including AOL, Google, and Yahoo, have a popup blocker.
3. Do you have Javascript Disabled?
Sometimes Aim Express will popup successfully but Aim Express will not load the buddy list. If you have disabled scripts or your under a user account with the least amount of privileges, Aim Express will fail to load the javascript neccessary to launch it. Make sure you disable any script blocking programs and extensions in your browser and try again.
Thanks For Reading!
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Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 4:47 pm. 38 comments
BumpXPink is a pink and black skin for Aim 6.8. It also includes 3 other color variations to choose from.
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 1:22 pm. 36 comments
BumpXGreen and black and green skin for Aim 6.8. This skin comes with 4 variations including the red, pink, and blue versions.
Continue Reading…
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 1:05 pm. 4 comments
Aim 6.2 Launched in Beta Testing today. Aim 6.2 is currently going to fill in the missing features many have requested over and over in the message boards. Buddy Notes or Buddy Comments from Aim 5.9 is back. It allows you to write a personal comments about anyone in particular. Hovering over a screen name will now show your buddy note in the Buddy Quickview. A new theme that was previously hidden called Black Chrome is now selectable in the color picker. Aim 6.2 will now have full installation in one file. It will no longer need to connect to the internet to install itself. The notifications window is now much smaller. Its about twice the height of the Windows Taskbar. Also you can now access the Settings area offline.
Features currently planned in Aim 6.2 Beta Series
–Proxy Support
–Skin Support
–SMS text Messaging
The shunning of Macs are over! AOL will be releasing new products for the MAC. Check out a New AIM for Mac here.
