When you open iChat for the first time, you see the Welcome to iChat window (Figure 12-15, top). This is the first of several screens in the iChat setup sequence, during which you’re supposed to tell it which kinds of chat accounts you have and set up your camera, if any.

An account is a name and password. Fortunately, these accounts are free, and there are several ways to acquire one.

Figure 12-15. The iChat setup assistant gives you the chance to input your account names and passwords if you already have them. Sometimes (Mac.com, me.com, AIM), you get the chance to create an account on the spot. Otherwise, you’re expected to have a name and password (for Google Talk, Yahoo, or Jabber) already.

On the second setup screen, you’re offered a pop-up menu that lists the different kinds of accounts iChat offers: AIM, me.com, Mac.com, Jabber, or Yahoo.

If you already have one of these accounts, enter your name and password and click Continue. (If you’re an America Online member, your existing screen name and password work for AIM purposes.)

If you don’t have one, it’s easy enough to get one. If you’ve chosen me.com, Mac.com, or AIM, you can click Get an iChat Account to sign up for a free account on the spot. Jabber, Google Talk, and Yahoo accounts assume that you’ve signed up for an account on your own (at gmail.com or yahoo.com, for example).

You can also input account information later—the setup assistant isn’t your only opportunity. You can do it in either of two places:

Once you’ve set up your accounts, you can activate or deactivate them either in iChat→Preferences→Accounts or by using the iChat→Accounts submenu. You might want to deactivate an account when, for example, you don’t want to be bugged by the rabble on that particular service.