Pulver.Communicator provides configuration options designed to enhance your use of the application.  At this early stage the look-n-feel choices offered are directed more towards functionality and less towards personalization.  Future iterations of pulver.Communicator, however, will feature a host of personalization options, including skin selection and font manipulation.

Hiding/Showing Offline Buddies
     Communicator Help main menu «

By default, pulver.Communicator displays all of the contacts that have been configured to your Buddy List.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Toggle the View|Hide Offline Buddies command.

          

Once the command is invoked the pulver.Communicator main window will only display members of your Buddy List who are on-line (regardless of their on-line status).

Note:  Once invoked, View|Hide Offline Buddies will change to read View|Show Offline Buddies.  A simple re-toggling of the command will return offline contacts to the pulver.Communicator Buddy List.

Hiding/Showing Groups
     Communicator Help main menu «

By default, pulver.Communicator displays your contacts in the group to which they have been assigned by the user.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Toggle the View|Hide Groups command.

Note:  Once invoked, View|Hide Groups will change to read View|Show Groups.  A simple re-toggling of the command will return the Group designations to the pulver.Communicator Buddy List.

          

Once the command is invoked the pulver.Communicator main window will display your Buddy List without Group breakouts.

Grouping/UnGrouping Meta Buddies
     Communicator Help main menu «

These days people are registering with each of the Instant Messaging services for the purpose of maximum availability, which often results in Buddy Lists bloated with numerous contact points for each actual Buddy. 

pulver.Communicator has addressed this problem with the introduction of the meta buddies concept, which allows for the grouping together of multiple Buddy List entries with no resulting limitation in functionality.

Buddies who undergo a meta buddies grouping remain reachable, with the right-hand meta buddies icons continuing to serve as the individual contact points for their respective registered IM services.

1. Highlight each of the Buddy List contacts that are to be grouped as a Meta Buddy.  This is accomplished by pressing down and holding the Ctrl key until each selection has been made.

2. Invoke the Group Meta Buddy right-click menu command.

The selected Buddy List entries will now display as a single Buddy.  The pulver.Communicator Meta Buddy icon will display to the left fo the Buddy's name, with the icons for their registered IM services displaying to the right.

To send an IM to your buddy via either one of their registered IM services, simply double-click the icon for that service to open an IM window.

Note:  When grouping buddies present in different Buddy List Groups, the Meta Buddy will display in the Group in which the Group Meta Buddy right-click command is initiated.

3. To ungroup a Meta Buddy, simply highlight it and invoke the Ungroup Meta Buddy right-click menu command. The components that comprise the Meta Buddy will revert back to individual Buddy List entries.

Calibrating Audio
     Communicator Help main menu «

Different PCs contain different audio hardware, and as such it may be necessary to adjust your equipment to get the maximum benefit from pulver.Communicator.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Toggle the Tools|Audio Tuning Wizard... command.

The Audio Tuning Wizard will start.

3. Close all other programs that show video or that play or record sound, confirm that your system speakers and microphone are plugged in and turned on, and click Next> to move to the next screen. 

4. If you have a web cam connected to your PC, select the camera you plan to use and click Next>. 

If you do not have a webcam connected, skip to step 6.

5. Adjust your camera to your taste using the tools provided in the next screen and click Next>.

6. Arrange your speakers and microphone as directed by the next screen (place microphone 3-5 inches from your mouth, and point it away from the speakers) and click Next>.

7. At the next screen, select the microphone and speakers you want to tune and click Next>.

8. Use the tools on the following screen to test your speakers, and to set their volume.

1. Click the Click to Test Speakers button.  A repeating noise should begin, moving between all connected speakers.  Also, the Click to Test Speakers button will change to read Stop.
2. Adjust the volume of the speakers to your preferred volume using the Speaker Volume slide control.
3. Click the Stop button to turn off the testing noise.

9. Click Next>.  The Wizard will now display tools for testing your microphone.

1. Read the offered text.  If the color indicator goes into the yellow area -- the mid-point of the indicator -- then the microphone is properly adjusted.
2. If the color indicator does not reach the yellow area, adjust the Microphone Volume control and continue testing until it does.

10. Click Next>.   The Audio Tuning Wizard will announce its completion. 

11. Click Finish to close the Wizard.

Setting Your Nickname
     Communicator Help main menu «

Pulver.Communicator allows you to configure a nickname to your account.  Once set, your nickname is how the application will present you to your SIP-based contacts.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Invoke the File|Account Settings... command, or click on the Account Settings button on the pulver.Communicator Toolbar.

The Account Settings dialog will display.

3. Click the Nickname link in the left-hand pane of the dialog to gain access to that information section.  The bottom right-hand content section of the dialog will change to reflect the Nickname section.

4. Enter your preferred IM moniker into the Nickname field and click the Set button.

Once the nickname has been properly set a Nickname updated successfully message will display below the Set button. 

5. Click OK to close the Account Settings dialog.

Setting/Removing Your Buddy Image
     Communicator Help main menu «

Pulver.Communicator allows you to configure any graphic file (.bmp, .jpg, or .gif format) of 200K or less to serve as your Buddy Image.  This image will be displayed to your contacts who request it via the Buddy Properties dialog (refer to Managing Your Buddy List: Displaying Buddy Images).  These Buddy Images can be easily changed, or removed entirely.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Invoke the File|Account Settings... command, or click on the Account Settings button on the pulver.Communicator Toolbar.

The Account Settings dialog will display.

3. Click the Image link in the left-hand pane of the dialog to gain access to that information section.  The bottom right-hand content section of the dialog will change to reflect the Image section.

4. To set a new image or to change an the image already set, click the Upload New Image button.  An Open dialog will display.

5. Navigate to the location of the graphic file you want to use as your Buddy Image and click Open.  The image will display in the field above the Upload New Image button.

6. Click OK to close the Account Settings dialog.

Configuring Sounds
     Communicator Help main menu «

At initial login, pulver.Communicator is set by default to provide sound notification when:

• A buddy comes online
• A buddy goes offline
• An instant message is received

The .wav sound files provided for these events at installation ― which are located in the C:\Program Files\Free World Dialup\pulver.Communicator\\Multimedia\ directory ― can be easily reset by the user.  In fact, any .wav file residing on your hard drive can serve as a sound notification for the pulver.Communicator sound-enabled events.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Invoke the Tools|Options... command.

The Options dialog will display.

3. Click the Buddylist Notifications tab to reveal the options therein.

4. Determine the event whose sound notification you wish to change and click the Browse button associated with it.  An Open dialog will display.

5. Navigate to the hard drive location of the .wav sound file you want to use as the sound notification for the selected event, and click Open.  The displayed directory structure will change to indicate the location of the selected .wav sound file.

6. Click the green Play button for the selected event to test the change.

7. Click Apply to finalize any changes made to your notifications.  If you wish to finalize your changes and exit the pulver.Communicator Options dialog as well, click OK.

Disabling Sounds
     Communicator Help main menu «

By default, Pulver.Communicator's sound notifications are enabled at initial login.  Should you prefer to run the application in silence, though, these sound notifications can be easily disabled at anytime.

1. Login to pulver.Communicator.

2. Invoke the Tools|Options... command.

The Options dialog will display.

3. Click the Buddylist Notifications tab to reveal the options therein.

4. Untick the Enable sound notifications checkbox to disable all sound alerts.

-- or --

In the Notify me when section, untick the checkbox for the specific sound notification(s) you wish to disable.