Now that you've set up iChat AV, it's important to explore the preferences the application allows you to control. To see the preferences, go to the iChat menu in the menubar and click "Preferences." Under the General icon shown below, you will see general settings for iChat AV. Most are self explanatory. Of note though is if your computer goes to sleep, i.e. the sleep light on your computer pulsates, iChat AV and all applications will be suspended and logged out of internet activities. There are no safe hacks for this, but it's perfectly acceptable to leave your comptuer running all night by going under System Preferences > Energy Settings and customizing to your liking.
The next icon is the "Accounts" icon. It allows you to change account preferences. In the left sidebar, choose the screenname you want to customize by clicking it. Under the "Account Information" tab, you'll see a few options. The first of which is "Use this account." What this option does is automatically logs you into iChat AV (assuming you have your password set to save - check the box "Remember Password in Keychain" when logging into iChat AV). The second option is tied to the first in that when iChat AV opens, it will automatically open under this account and log you in. The third option, "Allow multiple logins for this account" was introduced in iChat AV 3.0.1. It's more of a security measure than anything else. Enabling/checking it allows the user to log into their screenname from mulitple locations, IP addresses, and even the same computer on a different AIM client. If any of the options in the preferences are greyed out, as in the picture below, you will need to log out of iChat AV to make that change before proceeding.
Your "Account Description" can be your name, your screenname, or the name of your favorite dessert - it doesn't really matter but it will be reflected in the sidebar at left. As long as you know what it is, great! The +/- buttoms below the sidebar allow you to add new accounts, such as Jabber accounts in the future. Finally, your password, screenname, and account type (AIM/.Mac/Jabber) will need to be entered as shown.
Now onto the "Security" tab. This tab is particularly important if you don't want to be bothered by random users on the internet. When you're connected to the AIM network through iChat AV, anyone can IM you whether they are your nextdoor neighbor or some random person in Antarctica (yes, it's a stretch...) as long as they know your screenname. "Allow all users" will allow anyone on the AIM network to contact you. Choose a setting that you'd like. The option "Block others from seeing that I am idle" means the following: after 10 minutes of inactivity on your computer, your computer will idle - sort of in the way a car that is being unattended idles. Buddies can still IM you but it basically just tells others that you're not at your computer right now. It's different from an away message, though. If this option is checked, it will always show your screenname as active, whether you're not at your computer or not (again, this is different than away messages).
The second option is to allow only those buddies you have in your buddy list. This will prevent random users from Instant Messaging (IM-ing) you, but will also prevent friends who are not on your buddy list from contacting you. The third option, "Allow specific People" allows only those people you want to talk to. This is different from "Allow people in my buddy list" because this is a second list, where you can specify who you'd like to be able to talk to.
"Block everyone" is somewhat pointless in that it blocks everyone. In a sense, there's no point to being online if you're going to block everyone. The last option is to "Block specific people." This option allows you to specify which screennames to block and won't allow that blocked user to be able to communicate with you with that screenname.
There is also the option of adding encryption to your IM session. This is available only to .Mac subscribers and will NOT work for AIM, free .Mac accounts, or any other accounts. To use it, check the checkbox and it will walk you through the process.
The "Server Settings" tab allows you to configure how you'll connect to the AIM server. Default is "Server: login.oscar.aol.com" Port: 5190." For individuals having issues with constant disconnects, failed chats, etc, try using a different port such as port 443. Any port, as long as your firewall/router are allowing it to pass through, will work. To change these settings, you will need to log out of iChat AV first. If you're using a proxy, which most people won't in a home environment, you can set it up here, as well. You'll need to get the proxy and username/password information from your system administrator, more than likely.
Now, onto more aesthetically pleasing preferences. The "Messages" icon in the toolbar at the top of the Preferences window is what's next to configure. You may change your balloon color and reformat incoming messages to a color, font, and size of your choice. The other two options in this section are "Confirm before sending files" and "Automatically save chat Transcripts." The former gives you the question when sending a file of "Are you sure you want to send a file to [user]? Yes/No." It's good for preventing accidental file transfers, but if you do a lot of file transfers, it'll probably be to your liking to turn it off. The latter saves all of your chats you've had with users for future reference. Chats are saved under ~/Documents/iChats (where the ~ is your username). See the image below for a screenshot of this panel.
Next up is how you want iChat AV to notify you (under "Alerts" in the toolbar) if a buddy comes online or other such actions. There are too many to list here and all are self-explanatory. Configure them to your liking.
Lastly, there's a video preview of your video input (assuming you have a camera attached and on). Most people will use the internal microphone on their Mac and can select both that and the output source from the drop down menu. Test it to see if the volume is ample - if it's not, go to System Preferences > Sound and change the volume input to higher or lower.
When a camera is attached to the computer, you can automatically have iChat AV open for you by checking the box that says "Automatically open iChat when camera is turned on." To be notified of a conference request (either video or audio), check the "Play repeated ring sound when invited to a conference".
