What is the best  software log manager to download for AIM..buddy
activity to see when buddies sign off and on, away etc.....one that
causes least crashes..I used deadaim but it is no longer in existence.
 Have AIM 5.5, windows ME. want buddy activity (on and off line and
times) more than conversations.

Gaim has the ability to log sign on and off times. Click "tools,"
which is next to the "buddies" on the Gaim taskbar. Then select
"preferences". A tab on the left will have the following logging
options:

_ Enable System Log
_ Log when budies sign on/sign off
_ Log when buddies become idle/un-idle
_ Log when budies go away/come back
_ Log your own signons/idleness/awayness

You can find all the documentation, and the program at http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

Actually, you have multiple options.  Gaim works great, but it might
not be what you are looking for.

I have used DeadAIM, and I found that Trillian (www.trillian.cc) seems
to an excellent alternative to DeadAIM.  It is also free.

Trillian will log full conversations and the times at which everything was said.

Trillian has all standard AIM features as well as in-depth message
logging, tabbed message windows, transparency, alternative skins,
message notifications, video chat, mobile messaging, mail
notification, Secure IM (this is nice, because people can intercept
and read your IMs over the net), and much more.

It also has built in MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo clients.

It takes a bit to get used to it (you can find AIM-like skins), but it
is far superior to DeadAIM, Gaim, AIM, or any other clients I have
used.

I hope you like it.

aiMutation does what many other AIM addons do including logging. It
also disables adds. It does require an older version of AIM which is
available from their website also at http://www.aimutation.com/

I wrote a howto for converting deadaim logs to gaim logs

http://wiki.ehow.com/Convert-Deadaim-Logs-Into-Gaim-Logs