Big old yelp for HELP over here, please please?

just got off the phone with Roz; she's cooking, I'm baking, am I going to be around on AIM in a cople of hours time?

Me: well, love to, darlin', but I'm not sure what it is.

roz: time to crack that prticular virginity.

So, query: what's AIM and how do I go about being there?

(Be gentle. I'm a virgin. Roz said so....)

Deb, AIM is AOL Instant Messenger, which is real-time talking online. Like what I'm doing at work right now AIFG.

You don't need to be an AOL customer, but you do need to get yourself a (free) AIM account and a piece of software. You can sign up at [link] and get their software (there are better clients out there, but you might as well go simple at first).

Once you're signed in, you can build a list of your friends (I'm sure we'll all mob you with our IDs once you're ready) and type away at them.

That's about as simple as I can make it, but to make up for any confusion I'm glad to answer any questions as you get set up.

AIM is AOL Instant Messaging , which is a way to chat real time online. It's free and you don't have to belong to AOL but you do have to download the program.

You'll have to think of a screen name, most combinations are already taken so you may end up with something weird (I'm AliWench...don't ask).

Go here: [link] to download and then follow the directions.

That didn't hurt at all. Nice people!

On my way.

Crumbs, Deb - prepare to lose hours. I hardly ever dare turn it on, because it's so very, very tempting to just sit and chat in real time nonstop. (I think I talked for nine hours the first time I used it. Which is why I don't use it often. Um.)

In other words - you'll like this.

I waste lots of time on IM. Of course, it's the best way to talk to folks who live in the UK, what with the cost of phone calls and all.

Fuckety, damn and blast.

Why did I not make a note of which of the directories the bloody software was being downloaded into?

(banging head against computer)

How do I search our three hard drives, half a freakin' terrabyte or somesuch computer for the AOL Messenger software? (not a Mac; netscape)

Why did I not make a note of which of the directories the bloody software was being downloaded into?

giggles

That's exactly the same thing I did. It'll be okay. It may take a while, and you may feel like an eejit, but if I could (eventually - er, let's skim over the length of time it took me) figure it out, you'll be fine.

Click the download again, look to see where it wants to put the files, then cancel the download?

Deborah, most of the time I've noticed the downloads automatically go into the folder on the C drive called "My Downloads".

You might find it nested deep in the Windows directories.