Personalize AIM Buddies

Joel Strauch

If you use AOL Instant Messenger, you can personalize your instant messaging by adding a Buddy Icon to your message windows. The icons, which you can customize for yourself as well as other for other buddies, appear in the lower right corner of message windows while you have a conversation with your partner.

To create an icon for yourself, click My AIM, Edit Options, Edit Preferences to bring up the Preferences dialog. Click the Buddy Icon tab, and then highlight My Buddy Icon in the left pane of the window. In the right pane, click any of the icon categories to browse the selections, and then click an icon when you find one you like. The icon you pick will appear in a box just beneath the left pane, labeled "Your Icon to send to buddies." If you want to give a buddy a custom icon to identify them, select his or her name in the left pane, then choose an icon as above.

You can also browse your PC and select any image file to be your Buddy Icon (as long as it's less than 7168 bytes in size--the maximum AIM will transmit) by clicking the Browse PC button under Your Icon to send to buddies. AOL also offers more icons to choose from: Click any Buddy Icon category, then click the More Icons link at the bottom to open your browser to the icon page. Browse the categories and select the icon you'd like to use. You can even use a simple image editor, like Microsoft Paint, to crop a digital photo of yourself to use as your icon.