I didn't think it existed anymore

[technical.angel]

I booted up a Pc, and AOHELL opened up.

I was a little shocked. People still use it?

[sprocket79]

You'd be surprised at how many emails I get from various people who still have AOL.

I was watching some news program and one of the pundits was talking about something to do with the Internet, I forget what, but he saying "AOL" instead of "the Internet." He probably doesn't even realize that they are 2 different things.

[MelodiousBubbles]

They either still use it, or don't know how to get rid of it.

My neighbor had it for a short while and had to have my sister and I come over to root out all the files and get rid of them because just removing it from her programs list did jack shit. We ended up having to do a system restore when we discovered that she'd somehow made it impossible for us to remove it. Well, impossible with our limited knowledge.

Then again, both of us as well as our mother told her she'd be a dumbass if she used it in the first place. Lo and behold...

[Stormraven]

I suppose it's shameful, but I still have it. It still does what I need, and I have an older computer and dialup. I'm lazy enough not to want to change until I have a need - or at least a better computer, so I can go high-speed.

[Eric the Grey]

Don't feel bad Stormraven, I had my AOL account from back when they sent out a single floppy disk until my mother passed away about 6 years ago. I hadn't even used it for the longest time, but I kept my mother on a sub-account and she used it. It was easier than teaching her how to use so many different applications.

When I canceled the account, the CS guy was astonished I'd been a member for so long but didn't push the issue when I told him why I was canceling.



Eric the Grey

[mattm04]

I once helped a NFP go from dial up AOL to a Business connection. The hardest part was getting the AOL software removed from the system.

My neighbor uses AOL still. Older guy, only basic email and web surfing(i/e news and weather sites and light research and other similar things) with a 3rd party webmail. It was easier for me to train him to use AOL to dial out, minimize it and use Firefox.

[Dreamstalker]

One of my clients still uses the whole AOHell "experience" (she thinks that anything else won't let her get online...AOL is not your ISP, that's Verizon). It still amazes me how well that can screw with a system (at least hers) if it's allowed to...every time I set up a security suite (AVG, Spybot, Sygate, etc) if she lets AOL update itself that's all blown away.

On one occasion, the update closed Firefox and would not let it restart until it finished getting its claws into everything. Don't ask me how that happened as I'm still trying to figure it out...it also borked some other stuff but seeing as she won't let me remote into her computer I don't know what it did.

When I installed a firewall that was actually worth something, I blocked the auto-updater as an experiment. Surprise, everything else that was supposed to work did (and her computer was miraculously faster). Not so much of a surprise, she thought it was the antivirus updater and so I HAD to let it through (at one point she actually got a virus through the AOL update, but even that didn't sway her).

[protege]

My grandmother still uses AOL...even though she has Verizon's FIOS. Yeah, I know Only reason she has AOL, is because she's used to it. But, seriously, AOL sucks--it wants to get its tentacles into everything...usually at the expense of computer health. In fact, I've noticed that on her machine, she gets as much spam and other crap with their "security suite." I mean, come on. Do you really think they're going to block their own crap?

[lordlundar]

I once helped a NFP go from dial up AOL to a Business connection. The hardest part was getting the AOL software removed from the system.

Ahh yes, removing AoHell, where Boot'n'Nuke is considered a viable removal process.

[Chromatix]

Ooh boy. I still get occasional requests to install AOL software (in the UK). Frankly I'd rather eat my own shoes than install it with my own hands.

[AriRashkae]

I sucked my mother into getting a cable modem a few years after she saw ours. She and my grandmother (her mother) moved in together so my grandmother could rent out the upstairs apartment and have someone around when she went to FL for the winter. Yesterday she txt'd me (still working on her grammar LOL) asking how to cancel AOL. First I have to talk her through updating all her emails to the one attached to her cable account.

[tsar]

When I installed a firewall that was actually worth something, I blocked the auto-updater as an experiment. Surprise, everything else that was supposed to work did (and her computer was miraculously faster). Not so much of a surprise, she thought it was the antivirus updater and so I HAD to let it through (at one point she actually got a virus through the AOL update, but even that didn't sway her).

That's about the time you come to terms with the hosts-file, just blackhole aol's update servers to 127.0.0.1 sweet 127.0.0.1

[Calud]

Ooh boy. I still get occasional requests to install AOL software (in the UK). Frankly I'd rather eat my own shoes than install it with my own hands.

I'd rather chop off my ding dong than admit that booze is not food.

Wait... wrong show. But yeah... AOwhatthehell?

[crashhelmet]

Until recently, the ISP I work for had a partnership with them. Their customers would use our service for broadband access. They handled all of the billing and we had to provide technical support for the connection only. Unfortunately, their customers thought that we were technical and customer support for AOL and used to barrage us with all sorts of requests and complaints.

CH