Anytime you send a file, connect to talk, or direct connect, you can get the other person's IP address. All you need is a program that will show you your current TCP/IP connections.
The reasoning behind this is that unless you do one of the above, all IMs that you send go to AOL, and then to whomever you're chatting with. When you send a file, DC, or talk, you're (usually) sending a
ton more data, which would strain the AIM servers. Instead, AIM connects so you can send data directly to another user. To do this, both AIM clients need to know the other person's IP address.
Most software firewalls will alert you when you start "serving" a connection like this. I'm not a big fan of those. Instead, my favorite is a little program called TCPview from
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/tcpview.shtml I like it because I can show either internet names, or IP addresses. It also puts a green highlight on the line of a new connection, and a red highlight on a closed connection. On Windows 2000/XP, it will also show you what program is using that connection.
I'll try to include a screen capture, but this is only my second post here.
