AOL Problem

Toddly · October 27th, 2002, 12:47 PM

My brother asked me to look at his computer which is a Dell Dimension 4100 running Windows 98.For some reason everytime the computer starts AOL auto runs. If you close out ,it opens again and again. I could not find a way to stop this and know nothing much about AOL. Anyone seen this happen before? It is Version 8.

Atomic Rooster · October 27th, 2002, 01:10 PM

The only things I can think of is to go into the startup folder and remove AOL from there. After it starts up, rick click on the icon in the task bar and see if you can go into AOL's properties and stop it from starting up at boot. (I've tried going into MSCONFIG and unchecking AOL in the startup tab, but it keeps re-checking itself at reboot.) Other than that, you can just remove the whole dang thing as long as he doesn't use AOHELL.

osprey4 · October 27th, 2002, 01:11 PM

This one is easy. Your brother has one or more programs trying to access the internet and he has selected AOL to be his default connection.

Go to IE, Tools, Options, the connection tab, click the radio button next to Never Dial a Connection.

Next, go through your start-up list (Start, Run, type "msconfig", the Startup tab) and uncheck any items that might be trying to dial in. For example, Windows Update might be set to try to access the internet to look for updates.

Finally, get AOL under control. Open and sign on, then go to Settings, Preferences, click Association, then click NO. Otherwise, AOL will think it's the default connection to the internet.

By the way, this is not new with version 8.0, but obviously, your brother was asleep at the wheel when he installed it and clicked the "YES, Allow AOL 8.0 to Take Over My Life" button.

Toddly · October 27th, 2002, 01:26 PM

Thanks for the quick replies. I hate AOL as well but a lot of people use it and I don't know much about how it works. He lives about 30 minutes from me so I am going to send a link to this page to him. I did go to msconfig and removed all the stuff that I thought he did not need which included Kaaza and a bunch of other things his son installed but it was still doing the same thing. I will try these suggestions. If I uninstall it and reinstall he would not loose his email settings and mail would he? I actually may just try to talk him out of using it and try another ISP but people get used to certain things and don't want to change.

osprey4 · October 27th, 2002, 01:41 PM

Does he have an earlier version on there? If so, when you uninstall and reinstall, it should save everything.

I can envision what your brother's systray looks like, 27 icons, AOL, RealThingie, etc. all flashing and sucking the lifeblood out of his system. Makes you look like a real hero when you get all that junk out of there and his system starts running the way it should be.

I suggest you also encourage him to download and run Ad-Aware. I'll bet he's in for a real surprise.

Toddly · October 27th, 2002, 02:28 PM

JnM He had AOL Version 7 but I believe that is gone now that we upgraded. There were many unneeded items that I got rid of and I have a copy of Ad-Aware that will be put on next time I visit. The computer still is slow but I think it is from AOL continuing to try to load.

osprey4 · October 28th, 2002, 04:32 PM

Did he check the "Never dial a connection" radio button in IE, Tools, Connections tab? Did he clear AOL out of his startup folder? And AOL is still running after doing these things?

I recommend always keeping the old version of AOL until you're sure the "upgrade" is working. (or do like my Dad, he never uninstalls anything! He still has AOL 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0!)

Toddly · October 28th, 2002, 05:48 PM

I have not seen the computer since I posted the question but I did send him the link for this thread. Thanks for the ideas and assistance. I will post back with the results.