Q: How does the "I'm Away Message" feature work?
A: You can use the Away message feature to let others know that you are away from your desk or that you don't want to be disturbed. When users send you messages while you have this option set, your Away message is sent to them automatically, indicating your unavailability.

To turn this feature on (using the default message: "I'm away from my computer right now"), select the My AIM menu (People menu on Macintosh), click Away Message, and click Default Away Message. To add your own message, click New Message. The New Away Message window appears. Enter a label for your message, and type the message.

You can also hide incoming messages while you are away. This "answering machine" feature keeps track of all your messages and displays them after you click I'm Back. To get this feature, upgrade to the latest version of the AOL Instant Messenger (SM) service.

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Q: How do I stop AIM from sending automatic responses to other users? When I have not been active for a while and someone sends me an instant message, my computer automatically responds to the other person with an "auto-response" message, even though I have not set my Away option. (Windows only)
A: Go to the Away tab in Preferences, and uncheck Auto respond with message in the "When idle" section.

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Q: How do I backup my "Away Message" section?
A: The away messages for each screen name are stored in the Windows Registry. To back up the messages or copy them to a different computer, you need to export the appropriate registry "key" into a file. To restore the Away messages to the new machine, just double-click on the exported file on the new machine.

WARNING : You can cause Windows to stop functioning if you make a mistake in the Registry Editor program. If you need assistance, find someone who is familiar with the program to help you. AOL cannot be responsible for any damages you do to your computer.
To export the registry key, follow these steps:

1. Exit AIM
2. From the Start menu, launch "regedit" from the Run dialog box.
3. Browse to the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\America Online\AOL Instant Messenger (TM)\CurrentVersion\Users\YOUR_SCREEN_NAME\IAmGoneList
4. Left-click once on "IAmGoneList".
5. From the "Registry" pulldown menu, choose the "Export Registry File" menu item.
6. "The Export Registry File" dialog that appears, type the filename that you want to save the file as. Also, make sure that in "the Export range" section of the dialog, in "the Selected branch" option is chosen.
7. Click on Save to finish exporting the registry key.


You're done. Now on another machine, you can double-click on the .REG file that you saved, and the Away messages will be imported into your screen name on the other machine.