DELETE ADs on AIM buddy list?

[question]

Is there a way to delete the big advertisement box and the little advertisement box on my buddy list?

I have a mac and am using AIM 4.3

Thank You

[Jeff]

First off, AIM is free to users, but not to maintain. AOL has to pay for their servers, ongoing development, etc. Theoretically these costs are subsidized by advertising.

Secondly, modifying AIM to block the ads is a violation of your user agreement.

Thirdly, believe-it-or-not, AOL does provide an ad-free version of AIM. It's a Java version called AIM Express. It runs on Windows, Mac 8.5 and up, Linux, and any other operating system that supports JDK 1.1.

That said, you have a couple of ethical options. You can choose to ignore the ads, or you can use another instant messenger that doesn't use ads.

There are a lot of ad-free options on the Windows platform (Trillian, Imici, Jabber, even Sametime). On the Mac side, I'd recommend one of the Jabber clients (http://www.jabbercentral.org/clients/).

Jeff Hester
BigBlueBall.com

[Gandalf]

I ran across a hack to remove the ads, but i don't know if it works for the Mac version:

http://www.wtfiml33t.com/viewarticle.php?artid=54

Gandalf

=== Absolute power corrupts absolutely ===

[Fanatic]

quote:
I ran across a hack to remove the ads, but i don't know if it works for the Mac version:

http://www.wtfiml33t.com/viewarticle.php?artid=54

Gandalf

=== Absolute power corrupts absolutely ===

There's an even better step by step at http://www.govital.net/~soz/aim.htm

BTW, has anyone tried DeadAIM with AIM 4.8?

fanatic

[rustedtight]

Advert?
What advert? do AOL advertise on their chat app.?, damn, I've never seen them.
Prolly I should kill 'Ad-aware' and see what all the fuss is about.
Naww, on second thoughts, I dont want to see those adverts.
And hell, If I'm breaching my agreement with AOL I'm sure they are smart enough to notice and tell me about it like they do if I log into their servers from a different location than they expected.

[Fanatic]

quote:
Advert?
What advert? do AOL advertise on their chat app.?, damn, I've never seen them.
Prolly I should kill 'Ad-aware' and see what all the fuss is about.
Naww, on second thoughts, I dont want to see those adverts.
And hell, If I'm breaching my agreement with AOL I'm sure they are smart enough to notice and tell me about it like they do if I log into their servers from a different location than they expected.

hey rustedtight, WTH is ad-aware? sounds like i need it! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

[rustedtight]

Ad-aware is an advertisement blocking application.
Find it at http://www.lavasoftusa.com

enjoy the peace and freedom from adverts.

[Tony]

Fire is a popular messenger for Mac OS X. It supports to AIM, ICQ, Yahoo , IRC, MSN and Jabber IM.

http://www.epicware.com/fire.html


Online Status Indicator

[Jeff]

Awesome Tony. I haven't used a Mac since 1984, so I'm not up-to-speed on the options for Mac users.

I did take a look at their site and the screenshots look pretty cool. If Fire does everything it claims to do, it looks like a powerful little package.

As an aside, if there are any Mac users out there who would like to help out here at BBB, the door is open! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Jeff Hester
BigBlueBall.com

[jd3nn1s]

DeadAIM 3 got released yesterday.

http://www.jdennis.net/

It has logging, cloning, tabbed IMs and other cool stuff.

Works with all versions of AIM 4.8 - 5.1