AOL Instant Messenger Configuration

From MetroPipe WIKI

Configuring and Using AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is a very popular chat system, available from AOL's website. Note that the Trillian chat client also supports the AIM protocol (in addition to MSN, ICQ, IRC, and Yahoo! protocols).

To configure the AOL Instant Messenger client to communicate via the Tunneler, follow these instructions:

Configuring AOL Instant Messenger's proxy settings

1. Open Aol to the Sign on screen. This may require signing into AIM and then signing out again, if you have automatic signon activated.

1. Click the 'Setup' button at the bottom of the Sign On window.
2. In the Settings window that appears, make sure 'Sign On/Off' is selected in the left menu, then click the 'Connection' button near the bottom right of the window.

1. In the Connection Preferences window, check the 'Connect using proxy' box.
2. In the Proxy Server area, enter localhost into the Host box and 8080 into the Port box.
3. Select HTTPS from the Protocol list.
4. Leave the Authentication area blank (the Tunneler application handles all proxy authentication for you).

1. Click OK in the Connection Preferences window, and again in the Preferences Window.
2. Sign on and use AOL Instant Messenger as you normally would.

Note: If you receive connection errors, or your connection attempts time out, try switching the proxy Protocol to SOCKS 5 or HTTP. We've had the most success with HTTPS, but some of our customers have experienced good results with SOCKS and plain HTTP.

Switching AOL Instant Messenger back to a Direct Internet connection

If you wish to switch your MSN Mesenger client from using the Tunneler proxy to using a Direct Internet connection, follow these steps:

1. View the Sign On... dialogue box. This may require signing into AIM and then signing out again, if you have automatic signon activated.
2. Click the 'Setup' button at the bottom of the Sign On window.
3. In the Settings window that appears, make sure 'Sign On/Off' is selected in the left menu, then click the 'Connection' button near the bottom right of the window.
4. In the Connection Preferences window, uncheck the 'Connect using proxy' box.
5. Click the OK button in the Connection window and in the Setup window to save your changes.

You should now be able connect directly to the Internet instead of through the Tunneler proxy. Note that this means your Yahoo! Messenger chat messages will not have Tunneler protection.