Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
The HOSTS edit advised above is definitely the most effective method of blocking AIM use on a network. Other methods, such as port blocking, are generally ineffective because AIM’s connection wizard will resourcefully (or as some administrators might argue, annoyingly) attempt to use over 100 different ports to connect, making it very adaptable to firewalls with relaxed settings.
I’ve noticed too that the Warn feature hasn’t worked for a couple of versions, but I pretty much share the sentiments of “who cares”, in this case. It never really proved to be all that effective of a deterrent for anything because if you have a problem with an AIM user, you can simply block them and that’s the end of that. Other than that, I’ve got to say that I do miss the Warn feature because “Warning Wars” (a very simple and admittedly sad game to play with a friend where you see who can survive the most warnings and still manage to send out IMs) are no more. Anyway, good riddance to an impotent feature!
This is one of the most annoying things AIM has ever done, coming close to the annoyingness of the “Send IM Greeting” button located between the Direct Connect and Emoticon buttons. The best way to alleviate this problem until and unless AIM releases a fix is to close your buddy list entirely when you aren’t using it.
AIM’s Direct Connect feature is often very fussy and choses to only work with certain buddies. For example, if 02 buddies are behind routers (which have hardware firewalls), the Direct Connect feature will often take some tinkering for any degree of usability. Make sure that you’ve upgraded to the latest version of AIM (and, preferably, ensure that the buddy you want to connect with has done the same).
I’ve found that the AIM chats are hardly even worth visiting anymore because they’ve been overrun by pornography and other advertising bots. It’s nearly impossible to hold a steady conversation in their chats, and the ratio of bots to humans is staggering and clearly in favor of the bots.
