The Problem

It has happened to almost all experienced and non-experienced users alike when they lose their connection with the ICQ server. Some people's solution is to simply add more servers, thinking that the more servers they add, the better chance they will get of being connected. While partially true, the solution that some people have used causes more problems. People with connection problems visit "ICQ server" sites and add a list of servers, most of which don't work. This causes everything from worse connections to potential security risks.

The Causes

1. ICQ Server lists are not verified by their webmasters. Most of them are copied from other sites., and as a result many of these lists (after having been copied so many times) contain typos
2. The IP addresses of the entire ICQ Network have changed since June 1998. All pages created before that (and most after) have old IP addresses that don't work.  ICQ servers are now on the AOL network, whose IP addresses all start with 205.188. All other IP addresses are not ICQ servers.
3. One server is all that is needed to connect to ICQ, and ICQ traffic is shared among all servers. The IP addresses for the ICQ servers change constantly.
4. ICQ servers do not accept pings, so users believe they cannot reach the ICQ servers when they try to ping them.
5. Users exeriencing "Cannot Establish DIRECT Connection" errors, offline message problems, or who are already connected to ICQ believe adding ICQ servers will help improve their connection.
6. ICQ logs into the server by first sending the user's UIN and password. Whatever server it is sending this to (whether an ICQ server or not) would then know this information. This can cause a potential security problem if you connect to another person's computer.

ICQ Connections Explained

Like any server on the internet, connecting to an ICQ server requires that your program find an IP address. This is done using a series of nameservers which assign IP addresses to domain names (i.e. icq.mirabilis.com = 205.188.252.24). This allows the program to then contact the server and login. The process is as follows:

The above process is done in a matter of milliseconds. The ICQ nameserver knows what servers are down, their IP addresses, what servers are busy and what servers are available. This information is passed to your ISPs nameserver within hours of any changes As such, this is the most reliable server list available.

Password security risk

After deleteing ALL ICQ severs for your ICQ Sever list add the new verified ICQ severs, and CHANG YOUR PASSWORD.

How to add ICQ Servers

1. Click on the main ICQ button
2. 
   
3. Select Preferences
4. 
   
5. From the tab menu - select Servers
6. 
   
7. Click the Add button
8. 
   
9. Enter the Server name and Port number
10. 
    
11. Click the OK button.
12. Repeat steps 4 to 6 for each server
13. Once finshed - press the OK button to close the Preferences screen

New verified ICQ Severs (8/23/99) Please remove all of your ICQ severs and add the new ones.

These are old ICQ severs, and have been removed for the ICQ network.

Thanks for takeing the time to sign the book.

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