View Feedback | Send this Article | Published 4/11/03

Graphic By: Jonelle Thackston

You're only allowed so much space in your IM profile, and if you're like me, you have plenty more to say. So that's where subprofiles come in. They allow you to write more information about yourself as well as set up quizzes to test your friends, a guestbook, links to favorite sites, a journal and other random goodies. You can set up your own at Subprofile.com (be wary of all the pop-up ads, though).

IMChaos.com offers a wide variety of IM enhancements such as quizzes, polls, as well as spy links which allow you to see who looks at your profile. Along similar lines, Awaybox.com offers random away message generators, fancy smiley icons, colored text and more.

Of all the IM add-ons available, Dead AIM has to be the coolest. Dead AIM is the spiritual successor to IM Plus, which allows one to "clone" screen names, that is, sign on under more than one name (useful when you really want to mess with someone's head), "tabbing" of IM conversations, as well as saving all conversations (useful when you want to save a particular convo for blackmail purposes). Download it here.

Happy chatting!

Shaun Corley is away from his computer.