We'll talk about what is ICQ, or as they say “among the people” ICQ, since its pronunciation sounds like “I-C-Q”. She is also an internet pager.

ICQ is one of the largest networks through which millions of people can exchange instant messages on the Internet. ICQ stands for I seek You, which means "I'm looking for you" in English. AT given time ICQ belongs to the Russian investment fund Mail.ru Group.

Now that you've already understood what is aska, let's look at all the possible points.

ICQ is a centralized instant messaging service that runs on the OSCAR protocol. The service user is rewritten using the client program, which includes an Internet connection. The program connects via the Internet to a server through which it searches and communicates with other users. Messaging can be with the participation of both the server itself and without it. As in other large network systems, which serve a large number of client requests, given server not the only one and some are server clusters.
The first version of ICQ 0.5 was released in November 1996 and became one of the very first Internet chats.

ICQ was developed by four young programmers from Tel Aviv, Israel: Sefi Vigiser, Arik Vardi, Yair Goldfinger and Amnon Amir. They created their own company and called it Mirabilis (from Latin it translates as wonderful, amazing).

The service is commercial, but you can use it for free. Operates the ICQ Inc. service. At the time of creation, the service belonged to its creator, that is, Mirabilis. After some time (1998), it was sold to the American company AOL, after which in April 2010 it was taken over by the Russian investment fund Digital Sky Technologies (DST). After the reorganization of DST (September, 2010), ICQ joined Mail.Ru Group. In addition to ensuring the server's performance, ICQ Inc. develops various client programs and maintains an additional website.

Since its inception, ICQ has released many clients and has undergone many changes. In December 2011, the total monthly audience of ICQ was calculated. In Russia - 15.7 million, and around the world 27 million. Most sites of organizations, enterprises, and companies use their UIN numbers as a connection. ICQ is also used as a fast technical support.

Account

In order to use ICQ, you need to start account, i.e. account. it is possible, both with the help of the client program, and on the official website. Instead of a client identifier, the service uses the so-called UIN, which stands for Universal Identification Number, which translates from English as, Universal an identification number. UIN is a number that consists of 5-9 Arabic numerals and is unique for each account. This number is created during registration in the system, after which you can log in using the UIN and password. In the latest version for mobile phones that support J2ME, they made it possible to enter by number mobile phone, which automatically becomes the UIN for the new account.

Autumn 2011. ICQ has been updated and an important change has been made: from now on, it supports multiple connections when using only one account.

For each account, the system stores the following data:

Nickname (login) - the name that is displayed in the system, i.e. fictional alias. The difference from UIN is that it can be changed to a new one, and which can be non-unique, that is, different accounts can have the same nickname;

E-mail - an email address with which you can restore access to your account in case of a password loss, and can also be used to log in instead of a hard-to-remember number;

Information accessible to all, which is entered by the user himself. It may include your first name, last name, what you are interested in, accommodation, knowledge of languages, your text description, etc.;

One avatar, which can be in BMP formats, JPEG or GIF;

The list of your contacts is a list of UIN numbers of other users (buddies) with whom you can quickly contact and see their presence status in the contacts window. This list is compiled by the user himself;

presence status;

There is also an additional informational status that the user enters.

The history of correspondence on the servers will not be saved. It is available through the program interface and can be viewed locally only through the program installed on the user's device.

Calling up the history of messages with the interlocutor and adding him to the list of your contacts can be done only by knowing his number. To search for other UINs, an internal search function is built into the client interface, with which you can get a list of users, according to the information entered in the search: match by name, email address, UIN number, gender, age, country and status of presence.

You cannot remove your UIN from the system. This was possible until 2002.

Presence status

Each account has a presence status indicating whether the user is online and ready to respond to messages at that moment. The user's status is also shown in the chat window and in the contact list. The main status of the user is the green flower icon , which serves as an indicator of his presence near the device and whether he is ready to respond to messages. There are a number of basic statuses.

When a user is not in the system, that is, not authorized, he automatically receives the status "Offline", that is, offline, in the form of a red flower.

There are also other intermediate statuses.

Status "Away" - indicates that the user has not been active for 5 minutes (did not control the mouse and did not press the keys on the keyboard). The status becomes automatically or manually. This gives a signal that the user was away from the computer. Has an icon

Status "Busy" - informs that the user has switched to the status "Away" and since that time he continued to be in an inactive state. As well as the “Away” status, this status can be set both automatically and manually. The status signals that the user for a long time was absent from the device. Has an icon

You can also disable the automatic transition to these statuses "Away" and "Busy" in the program settings.

Previously, there were also the statuses "Free to talk" and "Do not disturb". Since ICQ4 they have been removed, but you can see them with other users who use ICQ versions 2003b and below, as well as with most alternative programs. With the release of the 6th version of ICQ, they returned the ability to set the "Busy" status, but removed the "Free to talk" status. Also in the 6th version, the statuses "Do Not Disturb" and "Busy" are perceived in the same way, that is, only "Busy".

In addition to these statuses, the user can set a special mode for the account, the invisible mode - "Invisible". Icon - In this mode, other users will see the presence status as "offline", and only users whose accounts have been added to the user's visibility list can notify about its activity and see its real status.

There are also extended statuses. There are many more of them than the main statuses.

These statuses show what you are currently doing and where you are. Examples. I want to communicate - At work - I write - I play - On the Internet At home And others.

Additional informational status

With the advent of ICQ 5, a small addition was made to the ICQ protocol, which allowed users to have two statuses at the same time - main and additional. Users were able to write in the "What's new?" their text statuses. At the same time, this status is displayed in the contact list and in the chat window.

List of contacts

After successfully connecting to your account, the client program downloads the user's contact list from the server. Contacts in the list can be divided into groups and names (their number can be changed by the user).

When adding a contact, authorization is required, that is, to give the opportunity to see his presence status and you can send files. For such contacts, an authorization request is made. After that, a request comes to the user who wants to add an account in the form of a system message. The authorization request can be answered with yes or no, if desired, you can add a text message to your solution.

The maximum allowed to add 1000 contacts.

Private Lists

In order to provide themselves with the necessary level of confidentiality, ICQ included several lists that perform the necessary functions. The lists are managed by the user himself, who can enter the necessary accounts without their notification.

There are 3 lists in total:

Ignored list - no messages are received from those who are on this list, they are not shown the presence status, except for "Offline". When a contact is added to this list, the user's UIN is automatically removed from the contact list; when removed from this list, it is automatically added. If the contact is not authorized, then you will have to make a request again.

Seeing list - whoever is on this list will always see your real status, even if you turn on stealth mode.

Blind List - whoever is on this list will always be shown as Offline.

Also in these lists is limited maximum amount contacts.

Message exchange

You can conduct personal correspondence with each of the contacts. If you do not disable the option, the interlocutor will receive information that I am entering a message. The number of characters in a message is also limited.

If, at the time of writing the message, the interlocutor is offline, the message will be saved by the service and will be delivered as soon as he connects to the network

ICQ has a built-in ability to format sent messages, that is, choose a font, font size, change the font color, you can enable the function of writing in italics, bold and underlined, write text from left to right and vice versa from right to left. Also insert emoticons and special Zlango icons and messages into messages.

Sending files

Also, the ability to transfer files is built into ICQ, which works using Peer-to-peer technology, that is, the transfer is carried out when two computers are connected without the participation of a server. Files can only be transferred when the recipient's presence status is "Online". This method transfers can be dangerous because the sender knows the recipient's IP address (and vice versa) and can send a file containing viruses. With the advent of ICQ 5, we introduced the ability to send files through the server itself. This is needed if ICQ client determined that the P2P connection could not be established.

Compatibility

ICQ is limited by compatibility with a similar AIM service. AIM users have the option to add ICQ users to their contact list, and vice versa.

Autumn, 2011. Compatibility with the equally popular instant messaging service Mail.Ru Agent was included in ICQ.

Since its inception, ICQ founders have been developing and presenting to users free program client. It is currently available in two versions of ICQ Lite and ICQ 7M. The program contains banner ads. Look source client cannot.

The ICQ program was founded by Mirabilis. It was given the name ICQ, and all other office clients (except Compad) were named the same.

The name of official clients always began with "ICQ" (with the exception of the failed Compad project). Late clients included additional features: send SMS, video call, IP-telephony, multi-chat, games and more

In addition, localized clients have been created, their support is provided by local IT companies. These clients in most cases differ from the base name, where the name of the corresponding company is entered. The company presents topical for strange banner ads, which will allow you to associate service accounts with your services (for example, mail).

Terms of Use

The ICQ conversation is not personal, i.e. confidential, even if there are two active interlocutors. As stated in the terms of use of the service - for all transmitted information with the participation of the service, the rights are transferred to AOL Inc., in this list and the rights to publish and distribute at its discretion. To use the service means to accept these terms.

If you have accepted the rules, then you, as a user, transfer ICQ Inc. their copyrights to information that is published using the ICQ service.

You agree that by submitting any document, file, or information within ICQ Services, you grant copyright and proprietary rights to the information added. In the future, you agree that ICQ Inc. the right to use this information in any form and for any purpose is given, while not being limited to the publication and distribution of this material.

Misuse

ICQ is also used to send advertisements and spam. By registering a new account, the user receives a UIN number, which is a random number from a certain range (previously the numbers were received in ascending order). This greatly facilitates the work of compiling a list of numbers of existing spam addresses and reduces it to the usual enumeration of a certain range. For most clients, plugins have been created that block messages from bots, i.e. robots. Plugins that ask questions that require a meaningful answer. This is designed to prevent automatically sent messages from reaching the interlocutor.

We came up with several methods of stealing short and beautiful (easy to remember) UIN numbers by some crackers who guess the password. Another method is hijacking by a Trojan virus while pursuing the goal of future resale of the number or extortion of money from the previous owner of the UIN. Once (1996-1997) they started accounts with six-digit numbers, but now you can register only eight or nine-digit ICQ numbers. Currently, six-digit and other numbers can be purchased in online stores, with prices ranging from 5 to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on which number.

A bit of history

1996 Four high school students from Israel (Tel Aviv), namely, Amnon Amir, Yair Goldfinger, Sefi Vigiser and Arik Vardi created an Internet pager and called it ICQ. Then they created their own company Mirabilis

The client program was distributed, unlike similar ones, for free.

The number of users increased very quickly. Mirabilis offered IM not only to private users, but also to corporate clients.
1988 The company was bought by the American corporation AOL for approximately $407 million and was included in the Time Warner division - ICQ, Incorporated.

Microsoft tried to poach ICQ users.

At first I tried to create an IM protocol that would be more attractive than ICQ

I tried to buy the company, but the answer came back negative.

Made attempts to make the protocols compatible (this would enable ICQ users to correspond with ICQ users). Windows Messenger). But it was not possible to do this, since the owner of ICQ each time indicated other protocols.

As a result, Microsoft decided to abandon its idea.

April 2010 DST Investment Fund (co-owner Alisher Usmanov) entered into an agreement with AOL to acquire the ICQ internet pager. As a result, this transaction cost about 187.5 million US dollars.

September 2010 Digital Sky Technologies reorganized and ICQ became part of Mail.Ru Group.

Burglary attacks

August 16 (2010). Attackers, using a bot that can communicate, began to send out a document containing a virus, the purpose of which is to change the password from the UIN number and send the same virus throughout the contact list.

Work failures

There have been cases where the media have reported failures in server performance. As a result, the service became unavailable for a while.

The logo and symbol of ICQ is a flower.

ICQ and its logo is one of the famous, popular and recognizable brands. The logo is a stylized drawing of a chamomile flower with a yellow disk in the middle and eight petals. Seven petals are green and one is red.

This picture is used both in the logo of the service and in the program itself for the visual process of connecting the client to the server, as well as the presence status icon.

In Russia, any ICQ client is given the slang name ICQ. The name is a common noun, and, of course, they are written with a small letter. Depending on the context, this word means, for example, the same account - "", or UIN - "six-digit Asya".

Currently, on July 29, 12, ICQ is banned in China, but users have the opportunity to use the Chinese equivalent - QQ

prospects

According to the data provided by Mail.ru Group, the monthly audience of ICQ around the world from December (2009) to December (2010) decreased by 35% (17.6 million people) and amounted to 33.5 million people. In Russia, by December 2010, the audience amounted to 16.4 million people (decreased by 9% over the year). Mail.ru Group believes that such a sharp drop is due to the intensification of the fight against spam bots, but other representatives of the IT industry do not agree with this. This is also due to the fact that more and more Internet audiences prefer to use social networks as communication.

Communication on the Internet has long been in demand. These actions are carried out using special programs. The first utility that pleasantly surprised users around the world was ICQ. This service provides virtual communication. The program equally well copes with all the functions assigned to it.


ICQ is a program that allows users to correspond and call up. These functions are carried out by connecting to the Internet. The application is ideal for communicating with a large number of users at the same time. The software allows you to create chats.

The utility is used to communicate with relatives, you can also negotiate. The service is designed for high-quality communication in the network. ICQ is distributed absolutely free of charge. The application is undemanding to system resources.

Communication with ICQ

The utility provides protection for conversations, controls privacy. The service works in real time. The ICQ application does not use third-party servers during operation. After registering in the program, users can add new friends. If necessary, some of them can be moved to the black list. It is very convenient that users can send any files. Spam and bot security guaranteed.

The concept of number and account in ICQ

Users of the program are assigned an individual number. For everyone it is unique. If this secret information is communicated to other users or lost, then recovery is an impossible procedure. So it is impossible to be inattentive to the password.

Users need to come up with the most complex password options when registering with ICQ. It must have at least 6 characters. It is especially important to create complex passwords if multiple users are using the device. In this case, it is better not to use the automatic data storage function.

If unfamiliar numbers are found in the contact list without the knowledge of the user, then it is worth deleting them. Also, you can not open those links sent by unknown users. It could be viruses or any malware. software. It is best to avoid using your personal number on other people's computers.

Now consider the concept of an account. All users have
own accounts in which the following data is recorded:
name;
user status; email;
main photo; some information about the user of the program;
available contacts.

Extensive service functionality

Users can exchange text messages. This is done through an internet connection. So it's very easy to exchange text messages and other files in a chat.
Users need to enter text and then send it to a friend. Among the advantages of ICQ-chat: indicators of message transfer speed, significant traffic savings. In correspondence, you can use any emoticons.

Another feature of this program is the implementation of the possibility of correspondence using the social network VKontakte. For this, it has been developed special application, thanks to which users will be able to send messages to ICQ. So it's enough to install the software, enter the login and password from ICQ into it, and then chat with friends from VKontakte.

It is also important to note that this program is updated in automatic mode. Users don't need to find updates because when they exit new version a notification will appear on the screen immediately. Therefore, the user can accept or reject the offer.

Nowadays, it is very rare to meet people who have never experienced the experience of communicating on the Internet. Especially rare are Internet users who have no idea what ICQ is. For about 15 years, people around the world have been communicating using ICQ.

ICQ program

What is ICQ? ICQ is a kind of virtual communication. It is suitable for both ordinary communication between friends and acquaintances, and for business negotiations. Communication in ICQ is carried out using text messages in a special program.

In 1996, Mirabilis created a program designed to communicate on the net. The program got its name "ICQ". The name of the program is translated as "I seek you" - "I'm looking for you." Internet users got the opportunity to communicate face-to-face in real time, while maintaining the privacy of conversations.

The ICQ program does not use third party servers. The program allows you to see the moment when a user appears online and exits the network. Also, the user of the program has the ability to search for other users by their ICQ numbers. In case of conflict with any ICQ user, you can blacklist him. The ICQ program is endowed with security level settings that provide protection against spam and various bots. In addition, ICQ has a file transfer function.

ICQ number (ICQ UIN)

What is an ICQ number? Each user of the program has his own individual number, which is password protected. In no case should you treat your password irresponsibly. If the password is lost or ICQ is hacked, it will be impossible to recover it. It is better to choose when registering in ICQ complex password, which will be at least six characters long. If other people use your computer besides you, then it is not recommended to use the automatic password saving function.

Particular attention should be paid to unfamiliar numbers that appeared in the contact list without your permission. And in no case do not open links that come from outside numbers. It is possible that this link will be malicious. Try to avoid using your number on other people's computers. Now it is clear what ICQ UIN is.

ICQ account

What is an ICQ account? Each ICQ user has his own account. The account consists of data:

  • Nickname - username.
  • Address Email.
  • Avatar - photo of the owner.
  • Brief information about the user, which indicates the place of residence, age, etc.
  • List of contacts.
  • Status about whether the user is online.

ICQ chat

What is ICQ chat? ICQ Chat is the exchange of text messages using the ICQ network. Sending chat messages is very easy. One has only to type the text of the message and the "send" key. The main advantage of ICQ chat is its speed, traffic savings and features such as emoticons and free registration.

ICQ in contact

What is ICQ in contact? Social network"VKontakte" (vk.com) has an application with which any registered user can communicate in ICQ. All it takes is to install this application to your page and enter your name and password from ICQ in it.

This application is convenient for those who, for some reason, sit on a computer where the ICQ program is not installed. It happens that some do not have access to ICQ on a mobile phone.

Features of ICQ

ICQ has many clients that support its operation. QIP and Miranda are among the most popular clients. When using ICQ, it is recommended to use latest version this program. Currently, it is possible to install ICQ clients on mobile phones.

The ICQ program is used by great amount of people. With the help of small messages in ICQ, you can congratulate each other on the holiday, gossip or discuss work matters.

Follow the safety rules, be in the center of events and enjoy communication using the ICQ program!

If you need to create an ICQ number, but you don’t know how to do it correctly, then after reading this article, you will have three ways to choose from (one of which is on this moment is inactive, but may become available in the near future) that can be used to perform this simple procedure.

First, a small disclaimer - if you are offered to pay for registration in ICQ, you can safely turn around and leave. You can get an ICQ number completely free of charge, so everyone who tries to make money on this is ordinary scammers.

There are only three main places on the network where you can quickly register.

You can easily create a new ICQ number on the official website www.icq.com.

Another place where you can get an ICQ number is

If you have a downloaded ICQ client, then you can register directly in it, this option is also available to users.

And now let's go directly to the procedure itself for each of the voiced options.

The first on the list is registration on the official website. No special difficulties are expected here, but make sure that you have images displayed, otherwise nothing will work.

Having entered the site at icq.com/register, you will immediately be taken to the registration page, several fields will appear in front of you, those marked with an asterisk are required.

1. Nickname, filled in with a nickname or nickname. It will be shown to everyone who adds you to their contact list.

2. First/Last Name - a field in which you must enter the First Name and Last Name. You can enter real data or fictitious ones, no one will check them.

3. Email - your existing address, all information related to your new account will be sent to it. And also from it you will need to confirm that the new ICQ number was created by you.

4. Gender, an optional field, if you want to indicate your gender - specify. If you don't want it, leave it blank.

5. Age - the age of the registrant. Here you can give free rein to the imagination, or specify the dry ones as you like. Again, no one will check.

6. Password - Password. I advise you to come up with a password more difficult than “12345678” or “qwerty” that has set your teeth on edge. Options like "fqcbr.123" will be much more reliable.

7. Secret question/answer. Select a question and provide an answer. If for some reason you lose your password, use secret questions and the answers can be restored.

8. Now you need to enter the number displayed in the picture - this measure was introduced to exclude registration in automatic mode without the presence of a person.

Now that all the fields are filled in, carefully check each one, then click the Submit button. In case of any errors, go back and fix them, but if you saw your new number (UIN) on the next page, it means that you entered everything correctly, the registration ended successfully, with which we congratulate you.

The second way - registration on the rambler.ru website - will allow you to get an ICQ number a little easier than on the official website. Everything here is in Russian, there are tips for not very experienced users but there are inconveniences. So, for example, email can only be used from the mailer of the same name. But, having registered in Rambler, you can simultaneously register an ICQ number. Just follow the instructions on the registration page, and you should not have any problems filling out the form directly.

And so we got to the last - the third method of registration. Registration via ICQ client. Unfortunately, at the moment this method is disabled for reasons that are not entirely clear. So it is not possible to get an ICQ number by registering from a client. But there is hope that soon these restrictions will be lifted and, as before, it will be possible to receive an ICQ number by downloading the client program of this popular messenger to your computer.

The question of how to find out your ICQ number can arise in at least two cases. Firstly, when you have just signed up for an instant messaging program and you are not familiar with its interface, but you already need to share your number with friends in order to start chatting with them. Secondly, the task of finding out your ICQ number arises for users who have long been registered in it, who for some reason did not use the program for a long time and managed to forget their number. We are going to tell you about the ways to solve the problem in both cases.


How to find out the ICQ number of a registered user
In order to find out your ICQ number after completing registration in open program, which you must first log in using your email address and password, press the "Menu" button. In the list that appears, select "My Profile".


After redirecting to the official ICQ website, your browser page will open in front of you. personal account With general information, among which you can just find the desired number, as well as enter additional data and make the necessary settings.


How to find out a forgotten ICQ number
To recover a forgotten ICQ number, you need to use the account of a friend who is also registered in this instant messaging system. Using his account and trying to remember as much information as possible that you specified during registration, try to search for ICQ users, only in this case you need to find yourself. The more data you provided during registration and you can provide now (last name, first name, nickname, e-mail address, date of birth, mobile phone number), the more likely you are to quickly find your ICQ number.

After the ICQ number is determined, you will probably need to recover the password (since you forgot the number). This should be a lot easier, provided you have access to email address specified during registration.

You will receive a letter with instructions on how to reset your password after this procedure is launched from the official website.

In order not to forget your ICQ number in the future, enter it in your contact details on forums, blogs and various services on the Internet where you are registered. Just note that if the contact details are publicly available, then in the ICQ number it is better to replace some of the numbers with letters or words in order to protect yourself from programs that collect numbers on the network and subsequently send unwanted messages to them.