Free online chat help box using AIM

This is a hack thats simple and free for adding an online chat help sidebox to your site. (Or, you can embed it within a particular page).

!) Get a free AOL AIM instant messenger account. This will be your online chat support account, so name it appropriately, i.e. the name of your website. http://www.aim.com/

2. Use your account to create an AIM WIMZI chat box. You can customize the header to say "Online chat help" or whatever you like. http://wimzi.aim.com/

3. Download and install Kuroi's editable sidebox. Following the readme installation steps, go to the BLANK HEADER and delete the blank header text. (Don't delete the apostrophes on either side of the text). You don't need a header because you allready have a header on the WIMZI.
   http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_52&products_id=686

4. Under Admin > Config > Layout make a slight adjustment on the size of your sideboxes to accomomdate the WIMZI....adding about 15px to the default (for about 165 px total).

That's it. The WIMZI shows viewers your online status (i.e. you're logged into your chat) and gives them a means to contact you in real time.

Good luck. websitebob

Here is something you might want to know about AIM
There have been two worms propegating on the Skype network, and the Antivirus companies can only detect the payload once the worm is already within the network. (Not to mention that our infrastructure is absolutely not able to cope with the required bandwidth needed for skype communications).

If you wish to read up on this, please visit this site that contains the article: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2181764,00.asp?kc=EWKNLVPU091707STR1

business data is too important for our livelihoods to be disrupted by this threat. I know a few people have suggested that we use this software to make long distance calls to our overseas people easier, however this threat completely offsets the monies that we would save by providing a security breach.

Thanks for the reply.

I just want to follow up to make a couple of things clear, being a security minded webmaster, myself.

AIM WIMZI is an instant messaging gadget. I was not referring to AIM Phoneline or Skype; both being VOIP (voice over internet protocol).

Instant Messaging, like anything on the Internet that accepts text, can become vulnerable to malicious code. The key is to keep up-to-date with security patches and to pull apps that fail to keep up.

The text that passes through this IM widget is passed peer to peer... from the source's "My Computer" to the receiver's "My Computer"... through the Instant Messaging software/notification window. The widget does not pass text through Zen Cart's SQL tables. A worm passed through an IM should affect "My Computer," not the website.

The most current version of AIM, as of this writing, filters text for malicious code. The vulnerabilities you referred to involved Internet Explorer (surprise!) and an earlier version of AIM. So yes, if a webmaster fails to update their IM software on their personal computer, they make their personal computer and potentially anyone they communicate with vulnerable... of course, you would also make customers vulnerable by sending and receiving emails without keeping up-to-date on your security patches.

I am not advocating the use of AIM, nor am I underestimating the potential exploits. AIM is a product owned and managed by AOL, so you can choose to be comfortable with that oversight, pay to use a commercial product that performs the same function, or simply choose to not go live with your customers in this way.

Regards
websitebob

I would like to add the aim chat box to my site, I noticed the sidebar box is for 1.3.7, i have 1.3.8 will it work with this or is there another sidebox for 1.3.8?? thanks

dudemaaan:

I would like to add the aim chat box to my site, I noticed the sidebar box is for 1.3.7, i have 1.3.8 will it work with this or is there another sidebox for 1.3.8?? thanks

nevermind it works great with 1.3.8 also