Beta 99a adds a few nice chat features, including a toolbar at the top of the chat screen that lets you send instant "emoticons," little symbols or phrases that tell your correspondent that his last remark induced laughter, tears or a desire to throw up. One of the things I like about ICQ chat is that it displays each character that you and your correspondent type in real time, which eliminates the waiting that other chat programs put you through. Unfortunately, the sound controls are hidden deep in the clutter of ICQ's preference menus. But most adults will want to turn them off or at least make them less obnoxious. I'm sure these sounds will amuse 12-year-olds, and ICQ has provided different sets of "sound schemes" for people who enjoy noisy computers. There's a lot of silly stuff, too, including annoying beeps, knocks, whistles and bells that accompany almost every action you take. If ICQ had included a simple calendar and scheduling module, it might have turned the program into a handy personal information manager - something its creators should consider. ICQ now lets you organize your contacts into groups (a long-standing feature of its major competitor, AOL's Instant Messenger), and the program now comes with a basic to-do list, a note pad, and alarm clock that will remind you of future events and activities. Likewise, it will check your normal e-mail service periodically, display the headers of new messages and launch your regular e-mail program so you can read them. If you want to send a standard text message that exceeds ICQ's 450-character limit, the new release will automatically turn it into regular e-mail. In the messaging arena, Beta 99a adds two new wrinkles - you can send instant, animated greeting cards or record your voice and transmit a voice-mail message.
ICQ CHAT DOWNLOAD
I expect this will be a popular feature once users figure out that it exists, but that isn't why people download ICQ. In practice, the search engine worked reasonably well and some of the links it returned were more up-to-date than the results from other powerful services such as AltaVista and Excite. It turns ICQ into a Web portal that can bring millions of eyeballs within reach of its advertisers. If you want to know why AOL paid so much money to get its hands on ICQ, this is one big reason. Type in any word or phrase, hit the Enter key, and your Web browser will pop up and launch a new, AOL-powered search engine that scours the Web for the terms you've entered. The biggest change to ICQ's compact command center is the appearance of a small search prompt. And that's exactly what happened, except that those kids sold out to AOL for $287 million. It looks as though it were created by a couple of really smart kids who just couldn't help showing off.
ICQ CHAT SOFTWARE
I almost wish AOL's software designers had gotten their hands on ICQ's code because ICQ is more cluttered with confusing options and goodies than ever - but that may be part of its charm. You'll find plenty of new bells and whistles in Beta 99a - some are pleasant time-wasters and some are useful. By default, ICQ lets others know that you're online, too, but you can make yourself invisible to others or tell ICQ to accept messages only from users you specify. ICQ's directory lets you search for registered users by name or e-mail address and the program will tell you whether they're online. By clicking on any user's name, you can send him an instant message that will pop up on his screen, request a chat session, transfer a file or send e-mail. Once you're logged on and ICQ is running, it displays a list of users you've selected. But you don't have to provide the information, and with the privacy issues that have been raised around the Internet in recent months, you may want to be careful about this. This has been a major part of ICQ's success - it gives users the opportunity to find others with similar interests. ICQ will also ask questions about your location, occupation and interests, which it uses as part of its extensive directory service.
ICQ CHAT INSTALL
When you install ICQ for the first time, you'll be asked to register with ICQ's chat server, using your e-mail address as an identifier.
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