If you've just started I2P, the Active: numbers on the left should start to grow over the next few minutes and you'll see a "shared clients" local destination listed at the bottom of the sidepanel on the left (if not, see below). Once green stars are indicated next to your local destinations, there are a range of services you can access including:

• Anonymous Chat
  Start your IRC client (eg. chatzilla) and connect to the server at 127.0.0.1 port 6668. This points at one of two IRC servers hosted by I2P stalwarts Postman and Badger on I2P, but neither you nor they know where the other is.
• Anonymous E-mail
  Postman's I2P-based mail system can be accessed either via I2P's built-in webmail (aka susimail) or using any mail client that supports smtp and pop3. Accounts can send and receive mail from the normal internet. For an account, visit hq.postman.i2p. Alternately, I2P-Bote is a new serverless, end-to-end encrypted e-mail system (with web interface), installable as a plugin.
• Anonymous File Transfer
  I2PSnark is integrated into I2P, providing anonymous, encrypted bittorrent. There is also a port of e-mule to I2P called i-mule. [Urgently needs developers!]
• Forums & Blogging
  Syndie is a distributed forum and blogging plaform for I2P. [Urgently needs developers!]
• Plugins for I2P
  Extend the usefulness of I2P by installing plugins… you can browse the plugins and related info on i2plugins.i2p.
• Darknet & Public Web browsing
  I2P makes anonymously hosted websites (aka eepsites) possible, and you can also access the normal web anonymously via I2P. Configure your browser to use the HTTP proxy at 127.0.0.1 port 4444, then browse to an eepsite (anonymous, encrypted webserver run over I2P) or a normal http:// address. Some useful resources are listed below:
  
  • forum.i2p: a secure and anonymous connection to forum.i2p2.de
  • www.i2p2.i2p and mirror i2p-projekt.i2p: secure and anonymous connections to www.i2p2.de
  • eepsites.i2p: an anonymously hosted search engine of eepsites
  • ugha.i2p: ugha's eepsite, a wiki that anyone can edit, and lots of links
  • fproxy.tino.i2p: Freenet proxy
  • echelon.i2p: software archive (I2PFox, iMule, I2P-Messenger etc) and information about I2P including a beginner's guide.
  • paste.i2p2.i2p: secure and anonymous paste service.
  • There are many more eepsites - just follow the links from the ones you see, bookmark your favorites, and visit them often!

Want your own eepsite?

We've bundled some software to let you run your own eepsite - a Jetty instance listening on http://127.0.0.1:7658/. Simply place your files in the eepsite/docroot/ directory (or place any standard JSP/Servlet .war files under eepsite/webapps, or standard CGI script under eepsite/cgi-bin) and they'll show up. After starting up an eepsite tunnel pointing at it, your eepsite will be visible to others. Detailed instructions for starting your eepsite are on your temporary eepsite page.

Troubleshooting

Be patient - I2P may be slow to start the first time as it searches for peers. If, after 30 minutes, your Active: connected/recent count has less than 10 connected peers, you should open I2P's port on your firewall for better connectivity. If you cannot see any eepsites at all (even www.i2p2.i2p), be sure your browser proxy is set to 127.0.0.1 port 4444. You may also want to review the information on the I2P website, post up messages to the I2P discussion forum, or swing by #i2p-help, #i2p or #i2p-chat on IRC at irc.freenode.net, irc.postman.i2p or irc.freshcoffee.i2p (they're linked together).