How to Monitor Yahoo Chat
With the popularity of Internet communication among today's youth, it is a good idea to monitor your child's activity online, which includes conversations through Yahoo Instant Messenger chats and audio messages. Yahoo offers options that help you keep an eye on your son or daughter's online activity.
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Instructions
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Log Into Yahoo
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Visit Yahoo's home page and log into your account (see Resources below).
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Click on 'Messenger' and log into your Yahoo Instant Messenger account.
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View Archived Messages
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Select 'Contacts' from the Yahoo Messenger window and choose 'Message Archive.'
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Click on the 'Messages' folder to review archived messages sent from and received through Yahoo Messenger.
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Block a user from contacting your child by selecting 'Ignore' in the conversation window. If abuse persists, or if the user looks to be a child predator, report the user to Yahoo personnel. If the user has made threats or knows personal information about your child, it may be necessary to involve the police.
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Utilize Yahoo support by visiting Yahoo's Help page (see Resources below). You'll be able to read FAQs or search for any troubles you are having using Yahoo.
Adjust Yahoo Chat Settings
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Consider enabling archives on Yahoo Instant Messenger. This way, you can view archived conversations held on that computer any time.
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Click on 'Messenger' in the Yahoo Messenger window and select 'Preferences.'
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Select 'Archive.' Choose the 'Save all of my messages' option. You can choose to go ahead and view recent messages sent and received at this time, but don't exit the preferences window yet.
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Select 'Save my call history' from the same menu if voice exchange service is being used through Yahoo Messenger. Click 'Apply.' You will now be able to have a record of all communication taking place through this program.
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Tips & Warnings
Browse the Internet for additional ways to monitor Yahoo Chat and other activity on the Web. Many software programs are being sold and offered for free to help keep an eye on household computers.
Retrieve and record the username and password in a safe place for the Yahoo Messenger user you are monitoring.
Focus on instant messaging and emails when monitoring. Message boards like Yahoo Groups are ordinarily each assigned a monitor to oversee board activity and block anyone who is abusing other users.
Look out for adults posing as children to lure young people into dangerous situations when monitoring chat messages. Yahoo does a good job of monitoring its user-created chat rooms, but only you can see what personal conversations your child is having on the Web.
Be watchful as well about topics your children are discussing with friends. Young people with problems such as eating disorders, for example, often seek each other out online to discuss methods of hiding their problems and encourage one another to persist.
