Unbecoming Levity :: Taking AIM

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Taking AIM

by Abacquer on Wed 05 Oct 2005 07:16 PM EDT | Permanent Link | Cosmos

I've been an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) user for a long time, and I'm basically happy with the service, but every time a new upgrade comes out AIM annoys me. First of all every time I start it, it pesters me that there is a new upgrade, and if I ever actually install the upgrade, I end up regretting it. After awhile I came to be of the opinion that you upgraded AIM if you wanted more ads...

The last time I upgraded my AIM I suddenly found that now my buddy list had the ability to download animated ads that made noise while playing. Suddenly having my buddy list open became an annoyance instead of a convenience. I hunted for a way to silence the ads, but there was no setting to silence them, so now I simply have to keep my buddy list closed. Which is annoying, but then I don't want my computer chugging because my buddy list is trying to download a movie trailer that AIM wants me to see. Fuck that. This is MY computer, I'LL decide what it is going to download.

Another annoying thing that has happened in the last few upgrades is that upgraded versions of AIM always display some new annoying window full of advertising on startup that I don't want to see. So each time I upgrade I have to go digging around in the settings and turn the annoyance off. Funny, when my AIM upgrades it manages to remember all my OTHER settings, just not the one that says "don't show me your annoying ads". This is deliberate of course, they want me to see the ads, so they conveniently forget that setting when upgrading.

A couple weeks ago I fired up AIM and saw the message I have learned to dread (as displayed in the upper right corner of this article.) Eventually I got tired of seeing the message and I figured I would upgrade... maybe there are new security features or something.

Immediately after upgrading, my AIM began launching Internet Explorer whenever I signed on, and throwing the "AIM Today" page in my face. Damn I hate that. So I went digging through the settings and found the checkbox which I was supposed to uncheck to get rid of the annoying AIM Today window.

As you can see, I immediately unchecked the box which had "somehow" magically rechecked itself during upgrade. It was not long after that that I learned one of AIM's amazing new features is to ignore this setting altogether. So now I get the annoying AIM Today window that I have asked not to see every time I start AIM, or reboot my computer.

Apparently if you don't want to see this window you either need to muck with your registry, or delete certain AIM components. Robert Accettura's Fun With Wordage blog offers an article Removing AIM Today which details both methods (the second is in the comments.)

So I hacked my AIM by removing the components needed to display AIM Today, and that seems to have killed the window. Nothing like upgrading your software so you can then enjoy figuring out how to hack it to make it work like it used to!

Yeah, yeah, I know, I shouldn't complain, after all AIM is a free service, and if I wanted something better I should be ponying up cash instead of complaining about a freebie. Sue me. I'm a whiner, and I'm going to bitch.

Either way, if you haven't upgraded to the latest version of AIM, my advice is don't. There's no compelling reason to do so, and plenty of reasons not to. So tonight, when my other computer displayed the old upgrade message, I immediately clicked on "Do Not Upgrade." In response I got a little dialog with a frowny face and a sad message to the effect that AIM wouldn't pester me any more about this release.

I know there are a lot of other messaging clients out there (like Trillian, MSN Messenger, GAIM, Yahoo Messenger, and so forth) but I've never tried them. Which messaging client do you use? Can you recommend one to try, ones to stay away from?

Posted to:

Comments

Re: Taking AIM

by JPB on Wed 05 Oct 2005 07:28 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I use Gaim now because it supports a number of protocols (like Jabber, which is what the new Google Talk uses.)

But I don't actually love Gaim. I don't always feel confident in it. I can't explain it. But there are also some feature problems, like the inability to change the size of the font that displays the messages. I want to be able to do this without affecting the people I'm talking to.

I may go back to Trillian. But, so far, I haven't found a killer IM client on Windows. The ones on Mac were better, actually.

Re: Taking AIM

by plracing on Wed 05 Oct 2005 09:48 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I use iChat AV that comes with my Mac, and I like it. I use a headset for audio chat (that works sweet), and I'm not a hardcore user, but I think it works just fine.

Tom

Re: Taking AIM

by J. Sandstormer on Wed 05 Oct 2005 10:39 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I hate real-time chat, which I realize puts me at a social disadvantage sometimes. However, I have enough trouble juggling the features of the other clients I use, so I'm glad not to have to deal with AIM too. (Specifically, I would LOVE to have a way to prevent Flash animations from playing... I used to use a proxy server called Proxomitron, which has a flash animation killer, but somehow that particular setting keeps magically getting reversed.)

Re: Taking AIM

by Pat on Wed 05 Oct 2005 11:18 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I've been using Trillian for a few years now. It's been good for me.

Re: Taking AIM

by briwei on Thu 06 Oct 2005 10:38 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

I've been using GAIM and agree with James. I do like its free encryption plugin, but other than that, it's main benefit is its versatility. It's rough around the edges, but it gets the job done.

Re: Taking AIM

by Mike on Thu 06 Oct 2005 11:22 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Gaim may not have all of AIM's bells and whistles but it is worth it for the absence of advertisements and bloat. Or you could always try AIM Express which is less annoying.

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