Shoutbox

1- yes (the way i can see network conversations is a remote administration application, it has to be installed on both machines... im sure there is ways such as key loggers and what not that can work over a network) preventing it? don't really have much experience with that so wouldn't be able to give you any advice on that one.. sorry

2- goto options and select to not save them, also find the files and delete them (the folder path should be in the options)