What Is Idle Time on AIM?
AIM (America OnLine Instant Messenger) is a popular instant-messaging program that, for some people, replaces email. "Idle Time" shows how long an AIM user has been away from his computer; in other words, the computer is on and logged into but no mouse or keyboard movements have been detected by the setting. You can control the Idle Time setting with an optional plug-in that allows you to set the duration of time before AIM reports you as being idle.
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History
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AIM was introduced to the public in 1997 and by 2001 had reached a subscriber base of 28 million users.
Features
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While AIM is mainly a text-based instant-messaging tool, a number of other features are now part of this service, including voice and video communications capability. Optional plug-ins provide additional features, ranging from calendars and calculators to short clips of TV shows, astrology reports and even relationship advice.
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Installation
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AIM can be installed by clicking "Download" on the program's website (see Resources). Once the program is installed, double-click the AIM icon to launch the program, create a screen name and password, log on and start loading up your AIM Buddy List.
Idle Time Plug-In
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The Idle Time plug-in, "Gus Verdun's RX-Plugin," is available as a free download (see Resources section for link). This plug-in also adds such features as remote control (which allows for remote IM control from another computer/location), Impulse (which shakes your message recipient's IM window to get her attention), and the ability to edit previously sent IM messages to fix mistakes.
Advantages
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Controlling the Idle Time display using the plug-in can be useful when you want to appear to be away from your computer while you continue working. This may be preferable to setting your IM client to "Away" status, because "Away" is a user-controlled setting, whereas Idle Time is understood to be a hard function and not adjustable by the user.
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