AOL Mail & AIM Gadget on Vista Sidebar

AOL Mail & AIM Gadget has been designed to sit on the Windows Vista sidebar. The mail portion provides you with live, up-to-the-minute e-mails that have been sent to your AOL Mail account. The AIM portion provides you with a running count of active IM (instant messaging) sessions. Both update automatically on the sidebar, which allows you to work on other programs and be notified of new e-mails or IM sessions.

Installing AOL Mail & AIM Gadget

Using AOL Mail & AIM for the First Time

Requirements

In order to use the AOL Mail & AIM Gadget, your computer will need to have AOL 9.0 (Vista-ready), or AOL Open Ride installed on it. Another option is if you have an AOL Webmail account, then you can install AIM on your computer in order to use the AOL Mail & AIM Gadget.

You will also need to have an AOL Webmail account and/or an AIM account. This will allow you to use the mail and IM functions of the gadget.

Viewing New Information from the Gadget

Mail links will have a yellow envelope in front of them, while IMs will have a yellow running man in front on the link. You can click on either the mail or AIM icon to open a "flyout." This will allow you to preview a message or IM. You can also respond from this mode by choosing "open my inbox" or "open IM".

Opening the Gadget

There are two ways to open the AOL Mail & AIM Gadget. The first option is to use the gadget when it's in the sidebar. Click on a mail or IM message to preview it. You will want to click on "open my inbox" or "open IM" at the bottom of the preview in order to see the entire message and/or respond.

The second option for opening the gadget is to drag it from the sidebar to the desktop (middle of the screen). This will allow you to use AOL Mail, AIM, and My Buddies. If you choose this second option, then you will see three tabs with the three subject areas.

The first tab will have your new (and only new) mail information. It will have the sender, subject, and time received. You can click on a mail link to get the message.

The second tab will have your AIM information. It will have a list of your new IM's with the sender, subject, and time received. You can click on the IM to view the message and respond to it.

The third tab will have "My Buddies" information. Recent updates will appear. You also have the option of having all buddies, not just buddies with new information, appear. Just go to the options screen and select "certain buddies". Then you can tell if a buddy is online because his or her icon will be colorful. If the buddy is gray, then the user is not online.