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AIM is still alive! (AIM Phoenix) (UPDATED 12/19/19 FOR WINDOWS 10 ISSUES)
Category: Resources
***Updated Dec 19 2019 to fix the dead TinyPic screenshots (RIP TinyPic  ) and address issues when trying to run it on Windows 10.***
Yo, if you don't know what AIM Phoenix is, it's a private AIM server. Works with the original AIM software, you just have to configure it to connect to the private server rather than AOL's dead ones.Check it out, make an account and drop your screen names! I wanna make a FriendProject chatroom! Mine's XxTrashDemonxX.
Here's how to connect to the Phoenix server!
1. Make an account on the AIM Phoenix website.
2. Go to the AIM Phoenix Downloads page and download/install a version of AIM.
I personally prefer 5.9 because I've had no issues with it across every OS I've tried (XP, 7 and 10 so far). However, the website says that 5.1 works best with the server. 5.1 seems to cause Windows 10 computers to lock up and crash, though, and 5.9 hasn't done that for me yet, even on Windows 10.
So yeah try out different versions and see which one works out best for ya. But I prefer 5.9 for maximum 2000s nostalgia plus Windows 10 seems to like it.
3. After install/download is finished, open AIM. 4. At the login screen, click "Setup."
5. Go to the "Sign On/Off" category if it's not already selected and click "Connection"
5. Change the Host to iwarg.ddns.net and the Port to 5190 (if it's not already that).
5. Press "OK", and then "OK" again on the Setup screen.
6. Log into your account and you're ready to go! :)
**Windows 10 issues!**
As you may see in the older comments on this post, running AIM on Windows 10 might cause it to freeze up, lock up, and/or crash. In my original version of this post, I told everyone to download version 5.1 of the AIM client, and that particular version seems to cause these things. The issue seems to come from trying to run old software on a new version of Windows.
Running it in compatibility mode *might* fix the issue, but I can't say for certain. The Phoenix site also has an AIM Tamer program that may or may not help, but it didn't help for me.
So instead, I'd just recommend getting 5.9. My screenshots were taken on a Windows 10 PC with 5.9 and everything worked smoothly. One of my friends said 5.0 works on Windows 10 too but you'll just have to take my word for it. You can mess around with various versions if you want to see which work and which don't. But I can guarantee that any crashing/freezing/locking up is NOT caused by viruses or malware. These are official AIM clients that are exactly as AOL offered them back in the day.
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