Chat rooms can be good venues to meet people and discuss topics of mutual interest. But what if you want to chat privately with friend, family member or a business colleague? Then Instant Messaging, or IM. is the way to go. Many IM services now offer audio and video capabilities, so if you have a microphone and a webcam,you can chat and see who youre talking to. The four most popular IM services are ICQ and AIM from AOL,Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger They all work similarly. First, you enrol in the service by creating a username-which is also your screen name- and a password. Next, you build what is known as a buddy list- a list of people that you want to communicate wit When any of the contacts on your list is online, you can start a private chat with that person.