How 2...Access instant messaging programs at work without downloading anything

Etan Horowitz | Sentinel Staff Writer

February 2, 2008

Although many offices prevent employees from accessing programs such as AIM or Yahoo Messenger, sometimes you just need to access your buddy list to chat with friends or family. With meebo, you can chat with friends on all of the most popular messaging services even if you are at work or at a public computer. If you have multiple instant messaging accounts you can use meebo to sign into them all at once and display all of your buddies in one window.

1. Go to meebo.com

2. Fill in your user name and password for your instant-messenger account and click "Sign On." Your buddies will be displayed in a list window on the right side of the meebo Web page.

3. If you have accounts on multiple services, you can sign into all of them at the same time when you go to meebo.com or you can sign into additional accounts after you are already logged in. To do this, click the "Sign On" button on the bottom left corner of your buddy list window, fill out your account information and click "Sign On."

4. When you are logged in to multiple messaging accounts at the same time, all of your buddies will be displayed in the same list window. You'll see a logo next to each buddy name designating which service they are using, such as a little yellow man for AIM and a "Y" for Yahoo.

5. If you plan to use meebo often to access multiple messaging accounts at the same time, you may want to create a meebo ID so you only have to enter one user name and password each time you log in.