| Exert More Parental Control over AOL AIM
I am the lucky father who just happens to have the best little 13 year-old daughter on the planet. Several months ago, when I installed AOL's Instant Messenger on her computer, I instructed her, in my best fatherly voice, not to adjust the preferences.
So imagine my surprise when I discovered the settings had been changed to allow her to receive instant messages from anyone! I'm sure someone else's child snuck into my house and altered the preferences (not my lovely daughter!), but still, how do I prevent this from happening in the future!
ResExcellence teamed up with "the being known as Phydaux" to add a few modifications to AIM that make it a little more difficult to circumvent Daddy's wishes.
 Download these prepared resources from ResExcellence.
Open the file in ResEdit, then open the PPob resources. Select both ID 1000 and 1503, and copy them to the clipboard.
 Open a copy of AOL Instant Messenger in ResEdit. Paste in from the Clipboard the ResExcellence resources. (You can do this as soon as the file is open, there is no need to open the PPob resources.)
When the dialog appears asking you about duplicate ID numbers, select Yes to replace the old ones.
 When you're done, save your work and quit ResEdit. Launch the new AIM and notice the changes.
On the Sign On window, the PopUp menu that let's you create a new user is gone.
 Under Preferences, the Control Buttons that determine who you can receive messages from are gone.
While this will keep a kid from changing the settings, it also means that you have to make sure the settings are correct before you commit to this edited version of the program.
After I confirmed the preferences with the original application, I password stuffed it and deleted the original.
Now there is no easy way for my lovely daughter to even claim an accidental altering of the settings. (Not that she would ever do such a thing!).
Before you start emailing me about all the holes in this little security setup, believe me that I am aware of its in adequacies, but it's the best I can do.
I suggest that all concerned parents email the AIM development team and request password protection for the Preferences.
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