so... how the hell do i do it? i see indications in my preferences and monitor screen that it's a feature but can see no way actually sending a message to someone. i'm on osx but doubt that makes a difference. simon.

For a few versions Chat was accidentally disabled after they recoded the entire program. So if you have a version of LW more than say a couple of months old & newer than a year old then it might not be able to Chat.

For chat, best & easiest to chat with people who also have chat enabled. You can see this by setting up your windows in LW to show this. I will give you a link which explains how to do this. How to Direct Connect, Browse & Chat

But keep in mind, many people leave LW running overnight or whilst they are at school/work so they don't receive the chat messages until they have gone stale. They time out after a period of time. Also not everybody wants to chat. Also technical problems due to either you or them not having free upload & download slots &/or bandwidth can prevent Chat succeeding.

well, i downloaded limewire about a week ago. is chat only enabled with pro? i have not bought it yet. command clicking on the column bar does nothing maybe these options are also not available. my chat is enabled in preferences, there is no chat button anywhere in monitor or search/download windows. and chur for the fast reply before, i was fully surprised aw.

Control-click the person in search results or download or upload windows & choose Chat. If the option to chat with them is not selectable it means the other person does not have chat option enabled. As the notes I gave suggest, it's best to choose a column which shows those with chat enabled. If they do have it enabled then a little smiley face will show.
BTW I did not say Command-click, I said Control-click. That's the key2 keys to the left of Command key & is next to the Option key. It has Control written on top of the key. http://www.gnutellaforums.com/110142-post2.html

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absolutely mint. i am a dumbass, thanks for your patience

except. nothing happens when i select "chat with host" no pop up screens, nothing. i've double checked my preferences. i've tried quite a few times making sure they have a smiley in the chat column.

hmm ... admittedly I am using the LW Beta but I just opened LW & in first search was able to open chat from search results. Worked with several after a couple of searches. You need to keep your finger on the Control button when you select chat. Which OSX version are you using?

awesome still doesn't work from my uploads window tho. osx 10 4 8