I am getting my first mac next week, and I have to simple questions that I think I may already know the answer to. First, does mail have to be running to alert you if you have a new message (I am sure it does)? Second, does ichat have to be running in order to accept a video chat or text chat? Will one still be alerted when someone wants to chat even if ichat is not running on your computer? Will you get a message telling you someone wishes to chat then have ichat automatically open? Or do both people have to have ichat running in order to attempt to communicate.
— matt
Yes, Mail needs to be running in order for it to look for new Mail and sound an alert. iChat needs to be running to sound alerts as well.
This shouldn't be a problem. Just have Mail and iChat running at all times if you use them that much. I don't use iChat much, but I always have Mail, Safari and several other applications running at all times.