ICQ has a feature that allows you to force a website to open on a remote chatter's Web browser-- a great feature for co-browsing with a friend or conducting a Web meeting. Can't get everybody together for a PowerPoint presentation? Publish it on the Web and then conduct an online conference.

To browse and chat with friends online, all parties involved must initially set the following parameters:

1. From the ICQ Menu, select Preferences, and then choose the Events tab.
2. In Select Event To Configure, select Web Page Address (URL). Make sure the Show URL Response Dialog radio button is selected and Auto Open URL in Browser is checked.
3. When the chat is initialized, under the Layout menu, make sure both Always on Top and IRC Style are checked.
4. If you're going to be showing a PowerPoint presentation, all parties involved will have to download a free Web plug-in like PointPlus.

Chatting and browsing can crowd your screen real estate. You'll want to size the two windows according to your liking.

For more details: http://www.mirabilis.com/co-browsing.html

Using NetMeeting and ICQ Together

Everyone loves NetMeeting. Why wouldn't you? It's a free program that lets you make free phone calls and netcam calls over the Internet. Sounds great, right? Yeah, until you try to initiate one of those calls. Uggh! Nightmare!

... Make sure you're online at exactly 3 P.M. so we can talk... What's your IP address?... I've got dynamic IP... It changes every time I log on... I don't know how to find my IP address... Wait, I'll email you mine... Did you get it?...

Don't be fooled by the program's name. Sure "talking" via NetMeeting is easy, but "meeting" is not. Luckily, ICQ excels at "meetings" by making the initial point-to-point connections between friends even when they have ever-changing dynamic IP addresses. Once that connection is made, you can use any Internet telephony, Net game, or online chat program that supports direct IP connections.

If you have NetMeeting already installed, you probably already have a NetMeeting icon on your ICQ menu. When I tested ICQ's default settings for NetMeeting, I ran into a lot of problems. Culling information from both ICQ's site and the Buddy List and RVP (Rendevous Protocol) page, I found a much better solution. Make sure all parties have both NetMeeting and ICQ installed and try the following setup:

1. Open ICQ.
2. Click the ICQ Menu button
3. Select Preferences
4. Choose the Internet Telephony/Games/Chat tab
5. Press button New External.
6. Fill out the following for the three fields:

External Application Name: NetMeeting Plus (or whatever, but make sure it's different from the other NetMeeting name)

External Application Executable: C:\Windows\rundll32.exe (enter in complete with directory path)

Command Line: msconf.dll,CallToProtocolHandler %i

To Launch a NetMeeting Call:

1. In the ICQ Window click the recipient's name
2. Select Internet Telephony/Games/Chat
3. Choose NetMeeting Plus; A Send Phone/Video/Data request dialog appears.
4. Enter reason for request
5. Click the Send button

To reduce error messages, it's helpful to have NetMeeting already loaded when placing the ICQ connection. If the receiving caller doesn't have NetMeeting loaded, send them an instant message to load NetMeeting and then try again.

Good luck!

Download ICQ