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AIM

For safety reasons, make sure that you do not have any information in your profile.

To do this,

Click on MY AIM at the top left of your AOL Instant Messenger.
Click on Edit Profile.
Make sure that you DO NOT have "allow people to search for me" checked.
Also make sure that your profile is blank.

To chat with someone, you can just double click on their name, or click on the IM button once you have their name highlighted. To add a buddy or delete someone, simply click on the setup button. Your buddy list will open. Highlight the group you want to add a buddy on, then click on "add buddy". You can now type someone's name in the area it shows. Then click the enter key. If someone bothers you while you are on AOL Instant Messenger - you can choose the block feature. It will look to the other person that you are not online. You cannot chat with them either.

When you are chatting through your AOL, you can choose preferences after clicking on Setup Here is where you can customize your Instant Messaging. After clicking on Preferences, click on Privacy. You can put AOL nicknames that you only want to contact you. If you only want to chat with people on your buddy list, click on the second sentence "Allow only people on my buddy list, etc."

Or you can choose the 3rd sentence, and allow only the people that you list on the right. You can block just one or a few people, by choosing the fourth sentence "Block only the people I list on the right". When you are on AOL Instant Messenger, your preference button is all the way in the right hand corner. It says "Prefs". Here you can change your Font under Buddy List. Under Privacy you can choose the same options that were described above. Under file sharing, make sure that under the "File Access" section, you have "don't allow" checked under "users on my buddy list" and also under "users not on my buddy list"