or similar denotes ICQ CHAT PROGRAM

or similar denotes MSN CHAT PROGRAM

or similar denotes YAHOO! CHAT PROGRAM

or similar denotes AOL CHAT PROGRAM

click here to find out HOW TO VIEW CHATS IN ICQ
click here to find out how to VIEW CHAT LOGS IN YAHOO
click here to find out HOW TO VIEW CHATS IN MSN
click here to view CHAT / ABBREVIATION DICTIONARY
click here to view EMOTICONS REFERENCE
click here to find out about KEYSTROKE LOGGER / SOFTWARE

HOW TO VIEW CHATS IN MSN   back to top

Step 1

Open MSN

Log in

Go to Tools and then Options

Step 2

Click on the Message tab along the top

Check the box Automatically Keep a History

This will create a History is be kept going forward

if the box is not checked already.

To view history.

The rest of the steps may vary from computer to computer

Step 3

In Windows go into My Computer, then into the local disk C

Go into documents and settings

Step 4

Open the folder with the profile user name for the Windows log in

Step 5

Open My Documents folder

Step 6

Go into My Received files.

Step 7

There should be a folder here that is the log in name for MSN. Open this folder

Step 8

Open the folder that says history

Step 9

In this folder there should be many txt documents.

Each of these txt documents is a chat conversation between the two parties.

Open the desired chat log

VIEWING CHAT LOGS IN YAHOO   back to top

Step 1

Open Yahoo Messenger

Log in and go to Messenger & click Preferences

Step 2

Choose Archive

Choose Yes to both save all of my messages and to save all my call history. This will create a history going forward if YES is not selected.

Step 3

To check the archived chat logs, click View Archive for text chat or view Call History for all voiced chat from the Archive list you are viewing.

Step 4

You will now be in the message window, you can select a name of other chatters under messages, and then be able to see the conversation on the right with the time stamps.

HOW TO VIEW CHATS IN ICQ   back to top

Step one

Open ICQ and log in

Go to Preferences and Security

Step 2

Go into Saving Options to enable saving chat logs

Step 3

Go into My Computer and open the local Disk C.

If you are using WINDOWS XP, go into Documents and Settings

Step 4

Find the user name for the windows login and select it.

Stept 5

Open application data

Step 6

Open ICQ Lite folder

Step 7

Open Historydb

Step 8

There will be a folder here that is only numbers

Open this folder

Step 9

There will be more folders here with numbers. These numbers are the icq numbers of the people who your son or daughter has been talking to. Open the desired folder

Step 10

Open up the text document to see the actual chat logs

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SAYING?   back to top

Here are two web sites to visit as well as a short list of abbreviations and symbols used in chat.

chat.reichards.net

www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/chat.html

CHAT DICTIONARY
 
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFK Away From Keyboard
ASAP As Soon As Possible
BAS Big A** Smile
BBL Be Back Later
BBN Bye Bye Now
BBS Be Back Soon
BEG Big Evil Grin
BF Boyfriend
BIBO Beer In, Beer Out
BRB Be Right Back
BTW By The Way
BWL Bursting With Laughter
C&G  Chuckle and Grin
CICO Coffee In, Coffee Out
CID Crying In Disgrace
CNP... Continued (in my) Next Post
CP Chat Post(a chat message)
CRBT Crying Real Big Tears
CSG Chuckle Snicker Grin
CYA See You (Seeya)
CYAL8R See You Later (Seeyalata)
DLTBBB Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite
EG Evil Grin
EMSG Email Message
FC Fingers Crossed
FTBOMH  From The Bottom Of My Heart
FYI For Your Information
FWIW For What It's Worth
GAL Get A Life
GF Girlfriend
GFN Gone For Now
GMBA Giggling My Butt Off
GMTA  Great Minds Think Alike
GTSY Glad To See You
H&K Hug and Kiss
HABU Have A Better 'Un
HAGN Have A Good Night
HAGU Have A Good 'Un
HHIS Hanging Head in Shame
HUB  Head Up Butt
IAE In Any Event
IC I See
IGP I Gotta Pee
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IMCO In My Considered Opinion
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IOW In Other Words
IRL In Real Life
IWALU I Will Always Love You
JMO Just My Opinion
JTLYK Just To Let You Know
KIT Keep In Touch
KOC Kiss On Cheek
KOL Kiss On Lips
L8R Later
L8R G8R Later 'Gater
LHM Lord Help Me
LHO Laughing Head Off
LHU Lord Help Us
LMAO Laughing My A$$ Off
LMSO  Laughing My Socks Off
LOL Laugh Out Loud
LSHMBB Laughing So Hard My Belly is Bouncing
LSHMBH Laughing So Hard My Belly Hurts
LSHTTARDML Laughing So The Tears Are Running Down My Leg
LTNS Long Time No See
LTS Laughing To Self
LUWAMH Love You With All My Heart
LY Love Ya
MTF More To Follow
NRN No Reply Necessary
NADT Not A Darn Thing
OIC Oh, I See
OL Old Lady (significant other)
OM Old Man (significant other)
OTOH On The Other Hand
OTTOMH Off The Top of My Head
PDS Please Don't Shoot
PITA Pain In The A$$
PM  Private Message
PMFJI Pardon Me For Jumping In
PMP Peed My Pants
POAHF Put On A Happy Face
QSL Reply
QSO Conversation
QT Cutie
ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFLAPMP ROFL And Peeing My Pants
ROFLMAO ROFL My A** Off
ROFLMAOAY ROFLMAO At You
ROFLMAOWTIME ROFLMAO With Tears In My Eyes
ROFLUTS ROFL Unable to Speak
RTFM Read The F****** Manual!
SETE Smiling Ear To Ear
SHID Slaps Head In Disgust
SNERT Snot-Nosed Egotistical Rude Teenager
SO Significant Other
SOT Short Of Time
SOTMG Short Of Time Must Go
SWAK Sealed With A Kiss
SWAS Scientific Wild A** Guess
SWL Screaming with Laughter
SYS See You Soon
TA Thanks Again
TCOY Take Care Of Yourself
TILII Tell It Like It Is
TNT Till Next Time
TOY Thinking Of You
TTFN Ta Ta For Now
TTYL Talk To You Later
WAS Wild A** Guess
WB Welcome Back
WTH What/Who The Heck (or H**, or sub an 'F' for the 'H')
YBS You'll Be Sorry
YG Young Gentleman
YL Young Lady
YM Young Man
 

Emoticons and Things   back to top

 
Emoticons are symbols which indicate emotions. This section contains
emoticons and other symbols used by chatters, which are easily made with ordinary keyboard characters . 
 
:-| Ambivalent
o:-) Angelic
>:-( Angry
|-I Asleep
(::()::) Bandaide
:-{} Blowing a Kiss
\-o Bored
:-c Bummed Out
|C| Can of Coke
|P| Can of Pepsi
:( ) Can't Stop Talking
:*) Clowning
:' Crying
:'-)  Crying with Joy
:'-( Crying Sadly
:-9 Delicious, Yummy
:-> Devilish
;-> Devilish Wink
:P Disgusted (sticking out tongue)
:*) Drunk
:-6 Exhausted, Wiped Out
:( Frown
\~/ Full Glass
\_/ Glass (drink)
^5 High Five
(((((name)))) Hug (cyber hug)
(( )):** Hugs and Kisses
:-I Indifferent
:-# Lips are Sealed
:~/ Mixed Up
:-O Mouth Open (Surprised)
(_) Mug (coffee, beer)
@[_]~~ Mug of HOT Coffee or Tea
**** Popcorn
&&&& Pretzels
@--)--)(-- Rose
:-@  Screaming
:O Shocked
:) Smile
^ Thumbs Up
:-& Tongue Tied
:-\ Undecided
;) Wink
|-O Yawning
c[T] cup of tea
c[C]  cup of coffee 

KEY STROKE SOFTWARE   back to top

Keyloggers are programs that will monitor and record every keystroke that is done with the keyboard. These are good ways to not only monitor Instant messaging programs like ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo but also to view conversations over open chat rooms that normally do not record logs of conversations on the computer. All of these programs can be found by searching by their title on download.com

ChatChecker 3.1.25 Free to try; $49.99 to buy

Monitor and control your family's AOL, MSN, and Yahoo chat with ChatChecker. If your kids (or spouse) are spending too much time chatting via instant message, or you suspect they're engaged in dangerous conversations, ChatChecker is a simple way to find out and stop it. ChatChecker is invisible on the PCs it is monitoring. In fact, you never have to touch the PC you want to record. ChatChecker installs on YOUR PC and lets you remotely monitor, block, or record instant messaging on 2 other PC's in your home or small office. It cannot be uninstalled without the password you create, and it never affects the speed of the PC it is recording. Record or block all AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Trillian, and ICQ conversations. Discover inappropriate or sexual content Search messages by keyword and date. See live messages as they occur in real time. Blocks harmful viruses hidden in IM file transfers. Version 3.1.25 enhanced MSN monitoring; minor bug patches. Added export features and keyword alerts.

Ghost Keylogger 3.73 Free to try; $50.00 to buy

Ghost Keylogger is an invisible easy-to-use surveillance tool that records every keystroke to an encrypted log file. The log file can be sent secretly by e-mail to a specified receiver. Ghost Keylogger also monitors Internet activity by logging the addresses of visited home pages. It monitors time and title of the active application; even text in edit boxes and message boxes is captured. The keylogger runs invisibly on all operating systems, even in the NT/2000/XP process list.

Home Keylogger 1.7 (ALSO A DATA BACK UP) Free

Home Keylogger is a piece of spy software that intercepts all keyboard input and writes it to a log file. This free program can work in stealth mode and is next to impossible to detect. Only the person who knows a special key combination can control Home Keylogger. It presents the logged data in a neat way that is easy to read, but at the same time it fixes every event that has been done. Every keystroke is written to the log file with the title of the window that was active at that moment. The program's primary area of application is parental and spousal control. This security agent lets you monitor the sites your family members access (even if they clean the browser history and cache) and control their talks in online chat rooms. You can also control the use of e-mail and instant-messaging software. Another possible use of Home Keylogger is data backup.