Aol dilemma

[neick]

AOL 9.5, VISTA ISSUES: On boot up I get a small blank popup box (no error message) that is tied into AOL. This prevents my welcome screen from loading and any hotlinks etc via AOL pages/content, email etc. I can access email to read and write but that's it.

Here's what I have done so far to try and resolve this problem:

downgraded to 9.5 from 9.6 because AOL tech told me 9.6 is a hog, whatever. Uninstalled McAfee, Reinstalled 9.5 twice, cleaned and wiped registry, computer etc and still the problem persists. No problem however with IE or Firefox....Can anyone help me with this puzzler? Thanks

[jholland1964]

AOL 9.5, VISTA ISSUES: On boot up I get a small blank popup box (no error message) that is tied into AOL. This prevents my welcome screen from loading and any hotlinks etc via AOL pages/content, email etc. I can access email to read and write but that's it.

Here's what I have done so far to try and resolve this problem:

downgraded to 9.5 from 9.6 because AOL tech told me 9.6 is a hog, whatever. Uninstalled McAfee, Reinstalled 9.5 twice, cleaned and wiped registry, computer etc and still the problem persists. No problem however with IE or Firefox....Can anyone help me with this puzzler? Thanks

Not sure what you mean here "cleaned and wiped registry, computer etc"
Do you mean you reformatted the computer? That is what is normally meant when somebody says they cleaned and wiped the registry, computer.

My first suggestion would be to get rid of AOL all together.The AOL tech told you that 9.6 is a resouce hog, AOL in general is a resource hog and has been for a very long time. If IE and Firefox work fine without AOL then why do you have it on there at all?
You said you uninstalled McAfee, what anti virus program did you install in it's place?

How do you know absolutely this early boot pop up IS AOL?
Since this alleged AOL pop up happens very early in the boot process it sounds as if this could be an infection.
Please answer my questions and follow all the instructions given on your Read Me first sticky

http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread134865.html

Post back here with all the requested logs.

[Rik_]

Is your AOL connection dial up or broardband? If it's broardband then you don't actually need the AOL software at all!

[neick]

Not sure what you mean here "cleaned and wiped registry, computer etc"
Do you mean you reformatted the computer? That is what is normally meant when somebody says they cleaned and wiped the registry, computer.

My first suggestion would be to get rid of AOL all together.The AOL tech told you that 9.6 is a resouce hog, AOL in general is a resource hog and has been for a very long time. If IE and Firefox work fine without AOL then why do you have it on there at all?
You said you uninstalled McAfee, what anti virus program did you install in it's place?

How do you know absolutely this early boot pop up IS AOL?
Since this alleged AOL pop up happens very early in the boot process it sounds as if this could be an infection.
Please answer my questions and follow all the instructions given on your Read Me first sticky

http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread134865.html

Post back here with all the requested logs.

Thanks for the response...I will be able to do the actions recommended tomorrow. As to your questions/points: I did not reformat the laptop, I used C Cleaner to clean the registry after I removed all AOL files and common files. I have Microsoft Security and AVG that I also ran a complete scan.

AOL is on my start up menu which triggers the popup on boot. I am certain this is an AOL issue because when I uninstalled AOL and rebooted, the popup did not appear. Only when I reinstalled AOL again did the popup rear its ugly head again. Using MSN or Firefox is popup free.

Unfortunately I have years of files and folders on AOL so I am a captive of sorts until somebody comes up with away for me to migrate all my folders and emails to another program.

Stay tuned......

[neick]

Is your AOL connection dial up or broardband? If it's broardband then you don't actually need the AOL software at all!

I have broadband. I don't understand your comment, please expand, thanks

[jholland1964]

You don't need AOL software if you have broadband. It is just that simple. The software provided is basically for persons using dial up because it has to be configured and used in order to go online. When using broadband then AOL is just a software package that you are paying an unneeded monthly fee to use. As you said, you can use Firefox or MSN, which is Internet Explorer. AOL email can be accessed via webmail. You are paying another company for broadband and basically all you need to do is plug in the cable, then use any browser, email program, IM program, whatever else you are paying AOL for you can do all of that without using AOL software, of course they rarely tell you that, otherwise they would lose the monthly fee you are needlessly paying them. AOL does not offer broadband service, it actually only offers dial up service and this is becoming few and far between today also.

I also noticed you said that you use Microsoft Security Essentials AND Avg. This is a huge no-no. Both are antivirus programs and the absolute rule to follow is only one anti virus program should ever run on one computer. Uninstall AVG totally. It really ranks quite low when compared to all other av programs.

[neick]

thanks.