Okay all you chat-oholics, this is how you chat the ICQ way.
Why chat?
Why should you chat when you can send messages back and forth, you ask? Well, chatting is a bit quicker than messages. You don't have to Send it, and they don't have to click on your name and Receive the message either; it just shows up in the chat window. And if you have your layout in "Split" mode (as opposed to "IRC" mode) you can even see their message as they are typing it.
How do I start Chatting with someone?
- Click on the person's name in your contact list, it will bring up this sub-menu.
- Select the "ICQ Chat" option.
- The next thing you see will be this screen.
- Make sure you have selected the right person.
- You can enter a subject for the chat session to let the person know who you are or what you want to talk about.
- Press the "Chat" button.
- Your friend's ICQ program will bring up a chat request window and then they can decide whether or not they want to talk to you.
Can I only Chat with people on my contact list?
No, if you want to you can have ICQ select a random user for you to chat with. Here's how :
- Click on the status button at the bottom of the ICQ main window (it's the one that normally says, "Online").
- This menu will come up.
- In this menu, highlight "Random Chat"
- In the sub-menu, select "Find a Random User"
- This is what the Random Chat window looks like.
- Choose which group you would like to search.
- Press the "Find a Random Online Chat Partner" button.
- A name and the person's information will appear in the appropriate windows.
- Press the "Request Chat" button.
- That person's ICQ program will bring up a chat request window and then, they can decide whether or not they want to talk to you.
Yes, you can have a group of people all Chatting with each other, all of them see what everyone else is saying. And it's not even that difficult.
- Initiate a chat session with one person.
- Once that session is active, use the same procedure to initiate a chat session with another person. There's only one difference.
- The "Join Session" button will be active this time. Press that instead of the "Chat" button to initiate a chat with the next person.
- This is what a multi-person chat window looks like.
- I don't know if there is a limit to the number of people you can chat with at one time. I personally, have had a four-person chat session with no problems.