• Download ICQ
• Add a user to your contact list
• Send a message
• Receive a message
• Reply to a message
• Chat with another user
• Transfer a file

 

Downloading ICQ
 

ICQ for Windows 95/NT4

ICQ for Windows 3.1x

Add a user to your contact list

Now that ICQ is up and running, you need to add/find users for your contact list in order to contact them.
You do this in two steps:

1)Search the ICQ database for the users you want to contact, described in the following section. The ICQ database is a collection of identifying information that users supply about themselves.

2)Add these users to your contact list.
 
ICQ automatically loads your contact list when you go online, and you can see the status of all the people on your contact list, that is whether they are online or off-line.

To search the ICQ Network for users:

1)Click the ICQ button on the bottom, left side of the ICQ window and select one of the 7 options in the Add/Find tab to find another ICQ user.
or
Click the Add/Find Users button on the ICQ window.

Send a message

After you have added a user to your contact list, you can send the user a short message.
Note: Messages are intended as short notes and are therefore limited to 450 characters. To send a longer message, refer to the Transferring a File option.

To send a message to another ICQ user:

1.    Click the desired user and select Message or choose Message tab in the Events menu.
 
2.    Type your message into the message area.

3.    Click Send to send the message. If you are online, the message is sent. If you are off-line, your message is saved in the outbox and sent when you connect to the ICQ server.

Receive a message

You can receive a message from another user. When a user sends you a message, a message icon will flash in your tray and near the contact list.

To receive a message from another user:

1.    Double-click the flashing icon in the tray area of your desktop or next to the sender or from the Events menu choose Receive. The Incoming Message dialog is displayed.

The dialog displays the name of the sender, the sender’s e-mail address, and ICQ #, and the date and time. The message appears in the Message area.

The following options are available:  
 

Reply to a message

You can respond to a message received from another user.

To respond to a message received from another user:

1.    In the Message dialog, click the Reply button. The Send Offline Message dialog is displayed.
 
2.    Type your message into the message area.
 
3.    Click Send to send the message. If you are online, the ICQ face animation will rotate until the message is sent. If you are off-line, your message is saved in the outbox and sent when you connect to the ICQ server.

Chat with another user

You and another user can chat. In order to begin a chat, both you and your chat partner must be online.

To chat with another user:

1.    Click the user in your contact list and select Chat. A Send Chat Request dialog is displayed.
 
2.    Enter the chat subject and click Chat. When the other user accepts your chat request, a chat dialog is displayed for both you and your chat partner.
 
3.    Now you can type text and it is displayed in the upper half of your chat dialog. Your text is almost immediately displayed in the lower section of your chat partner’s chat dialog. And vice versa, your chat partner types text which is displayed in the upper half of his or her chat dialog and in the lower half of your chat dialog.

Transfer a file

ICQ can also transfer a file to another user for you. A file can be transferred only when you are in Advanced mode and both the sender and the recipient are online.
Note: You can also compose a request to transfer a file when you are offline. This request will be saved in your outbox and will be sent when both you and the recipient are online.

To transfer a file:

1.    Click the user in your contact list and select File.
 
2.    Select the file(s) you want to send and click Open. A File Request dialog is displayed.

Note: You can select more than one file by pressing the Shift and Control keys while you select the additional files.

The dialog displays the file name or number of files, and file size. You can enter a description of the files in the Enter File(s) Description field.

3.    Click Send to send the file transfer request. After the recipient has accepted your request, the following dialog is displayed and the file transfer takes place. Closing this dialog before the recipient answers, or clicking Abort will cancel the file transfer.

The following options are available:
 

Speed:	Move the slider between 0 and Max to increase or decrease the speed of the file transfer
Abort:	Click the Abort button if you want to abort the file transfer.
Skip File:	If more than one file is being transferred and you do not wish to send a particular file, click the Skip File button