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   AOL Instant Messenger™ (AIM) is an Internet chat service. With it, you can converse with another AIM user(s) via the Internet. To use this service, you must first download its software, install it on your computer, and register for a screen name and password. To review how to set up AIM on your computer, please revisit Setting Up AOL Instant Messenger.

Starting AOL Instant Messenger™

To start AIM, click the AIM menu AIM Menu Icon (upper-right corner of your screen), then click Sign On.... You should see a Sign On window as seen below.
 
Sign On Window<--Sign On Window
 
Type in your Screen Name and Password that you've registered earlier in the respective fields. Click the Sign On button to sign on to the AIM chat service. If you've done everything correctly up to this point, you should be able to see a Buddy List window and a News Ticker.
 
Buddy ListNews Ticker

What is a Buddy List?

AIM's Buddy List allows you to see which of your friends are online when you are and allows you to easily create and manage your list of online friends. When you sign on, a Buddy List window appears. On the next page, Buddy List, you'll learn more about its features and how to manage this useful list.
 

What is a News Ticker?

With AIM's News Ticker, you can get up-to-the-minute news at your fingertips. It displays the top-five news headlines for News, Business, Entertainment, and Sports categories. You can choose only the news categories that interest you. If you don't want to display any news, you can turn off the ticker by clicking on the upper-left corner of the ticker window. One of the neatest features of the News Tickers is that if you click on a particular headline, your browser will launch and display the news story in greater detail! How convenient! To learn more about how to customize the News Ticker, please visit Customizing Your AOL Instant Messenger.

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