So I'm trying to move my yahoo messenger logs to my new Macbook from a windows machine and I tried moving the file where the logs are located but os x won't open them...they are in .dat format. Is there a way to convert them or am I stuck not being able to transplant the archives to my new computer?
You can download a Yahoo! Messenger Archive viewer or decoder (usually in the form of shareware software, and for Windows only). I read that the .dat format is Windows only, though I can't confirm. (http://www.wackyb.co.nz/Yahoo!_Messenger_Archives/) The latest Mac version of Y! Messenger seems to be .ychat, though this may not have always been the case.
I wish there were a cleaner way to convert, but here's what I know:
Use that archive viewer, and save all your .dat archives to plain text (or formatted if you register for the software). As plain text, from there you can look for some way to convert them into Adium X or iChat log formats. No idea about importing them to the official Y! Messenger client though.
