• Introduction and Requirements
• Installing IMAware
• Options
• Scanning for Instant Messengers
• Removing Found Instant Messengers
• Additional Notes and More Help

Introduction and Requirements

IMAware is free software to scan your compute for instant messaging programs. With so many instant messaging programs available today it can be hard for parents and businesses to keep up with the newest ones. IMAware will scan your computer for various instant messaging programs and report its findings to you. IMAware is designed for parents and businesses.

IMAware requires administrator privileges to be installed and Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista. IMAware is free for personal and commercial use. If you use it and like it please let us know.

Installing IMAware

To install IMAware download it from our website at www.zemericks.com/downloads. When the download is complete, run the installation (imaware_setup.exe) and step through the installation. There is an alternate download which consists of just the IMAware program and no installation. Use this if you just want to quickly run IMAware once and not have to install it.

To uninstall IMAware select it in the Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features in Windows Vista) applet in the Control Panel and click Remove.

Notes

• The .NET Framework 2.0 is required to use IMAware. If you do not have the .NET Framework 2.0 on your computer you can download it during the IMAware installation or from Microsoft.

Options

To access IMAware's options, run IMAware and click the Options button. You will see the following options:

Scanning for Instant Messengers

To scan your computer for instant messaging programs, run IMAware. Click Next on the first page. On the second page, select the instant messengers you want to scan for. By default, all instant messengers are selected.

You can choose the instant messengers individually or you can choose them based on category. To choose based on category click the Filters button. On the Filters dialog that will be shown is a list of categories. Simply check a category to quickly select all instant messengers in that category. The categories are:

Performing the scan with Windows Desktop Search

IMAware provides the ability to perform the scan using Windows Desktop Search (WDS). Doing so will provide much faster results, but there are two things to keep in mind:

1. If you are not using Windows Vista, you must have downloaded and installed Windows Desktop Search.

2. If you are using Windows Vista or have downloaded and installed Windows Desktop Search, only the locations that you have selected to be indexed will be scanned for instant messengers.

3. You have selected executable files (.exe) to be indexed by Windows Desktop Search.

Using Windows Desktop Search to perform the scan has the following benefits:

• The scans will take much less time.

• If a network folder has been indexed by Windows Desktop Search then it will also be searched.

The Scan Results

After the scan is completed the results will be shown. For each instant messenger found, IMAware will show its version number, whether or not the instant messenger is currently running on the computer, and the location of the instant messenger. Right-clicking on a found instant messenger will allow you to run the instant messenger or open the folder containing the instant messenger.

The scan results can be saved to a file by clicking the Save button.

Removing Found Instant Messengers

The "Remove" feature of IMAware lets you quickly launch the instant messenger's uninstallation to remove the instant messaging program from your computer. To remove a found instant messenger, right-click on the instant messenger and click "Uninstall Instant Messenger" menu.

If an uninstaller is not available for an instant messenger you will be notified after clicking "Uninstall Instant Messenger." Reasons why IMAware may not be able to launch the instant messenger include:

• The instant messenger does not have an uninstaller. The instant messenger may not have an uninstaller because the instant messenger does not have to be installed to be used.

• IMAware could not locate the instant messenger's uninstaller.

If IMAware is unable to launch the instant messenger's uninstallation, refer to the instant messenger's help for instructions on how to uninstall it.

Additional Notes and More Help

Some instant messengers are web-based and these will not be detected by IMAware because they are not installed on your computer. An example is AIMExpress.

Fore more help please contact us.