Anti-AOL

How to remove AOL from Vista when all else fails?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:36:39 GMT

So last week was Retro Week at the house of Anti-AOL. Just for old time's sake I installed AOL 9.0 Optimized and AOL 9.0 SE on my computer (both ancient versions of AOL, in case you didn't know), confident that my own how-tos would help pull me out of any issues removing them.

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How yet another reader got over $400 back from AOL by complaining to the BBB.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:34:11 GMT

So far readers have thanked me for helping them get back over $1,200 from AOL. This is not chump change.

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No ads on this blog for six more months!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:21:21 GMT

The account for this journal was set to expire, based on when I started paying for it back in 2006, on Jan. 24th. While I usually renew early - in case, I don't know, I get hit by a train or something - thanks to a contest I entered on LiveJournal that I won, I can go back to my more natural inclination to put off renewing for a while. But I will be putting one more year of paid time on this blog before next June or July - it's got nine lives, somehow.

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100 More People Laid Off at AOL Today - Chart

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:21:42 GMT

Admittedly, I haven't kept up with how many people get laid off at AOL. There are so many layoffs every year, all year long at AOL, that keeping up is rather time-consuming. Luckily, Alley Insider has picked up where I left off with a much better chart than the one I made (it's also better than Valleywags's, which was the one I tried to improve upon) with a new layoff chart of their own.

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Doublespeak of the Week: AOL "Highlights" Declines in Revenue

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:28:22 GMT

Nicholas Carlson wants you to know the full extent to which doublespeak is used by AOL. To that end, he's reprinted a chart that AOL drew up for their recent earnings call. The chart is titled, in big, bold letters, "AOL Highlights". This gets funnier, I promise.

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Does anyone reading this want to code a more modern version of SeaMonkey?

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:41:37 GMT

I'm asking because one of my primary annoyances is not having an all-in-one browser/IM/email client to usher ex-AOL users to once they're ready to quit AOL. For years I've wanted to be able to say to them, "There's this program named X that works just like AOL does, with instant messaging, email, and browsing all in one client, but it runs on a more modern layout engine, loads more pages the right way than AOL or IE does, and it's safer to use and more enjoyable than AOL is."

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How to Contact AOL Corporate to Cancel AOL

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:43:19 GMT

Here's a comment left by a visitor on my AOL Customer Service Phone Numbers and Contact Info page, who writes that by calling 703-265-1000 and leaving a voice mail message, he or she was "miraculously" able to cancel AOL:

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If AOL doesn't cancel your account, isn't that your own fault?

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:33:57 GMT

Today Joe Manna responded to a comment of mine that I left on his blog a few weeks ago about a lawsuit AOL settled over advertisements in the footers of AOL email (some topics are much too "Yawn, whatever" for me to cover, sorry).

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Losing money on AOL after you cancel? It's a small consolation, but...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:42:12 GMT

AOL is losing money on itself, too. In the last five years its valuation (what people think it might be worth if sold to another entity) has dropped from the $20 billion Google pegged it at in 2005 to a mere $4 billion to $4.3 billion, according to several analysts.

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Just a quick update on jv16 PowerTools 2009...

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:12:43 GMT

After receiving a comment about jv16 2006 today (someone used it to remove AOL from Vista, which I do not recommend anyone do with the 2006 version) I remembered the jv16 PT dev has come out with numerous updates of the program since he released the first 2009 version.

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Do you love AOL?

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:12:22 GMT

So...I've begun a new community. I guess you could say I'm tired of people thinking I don't like AOL at all. It's been a rotten company for people to work for and for consumers to deal with but I have this tiny hope that with new management in place (Tim Armstrong as CEO, especially) things might change enough in the future that you won't even recognize it (especially if it goes out of business...OK, I'm just kidding...sort of).

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Hacker Deal Alert: Hacked free AOL accounts that are yours to keep - FOREVER!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:18:34 GMT

That's right, hackers, this is a no-strings-attached free gift from AOL to you, their nifty hackers - hack into as many free AOL accounts as you want and some of them will be yours to keep, free-of-charge, FOREVER. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - get'm NOW before other hackers lift all the free AOL accounts for you!

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How to Remove AOL (any version) From Windows 7 When It Hangs

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:45:08 GMT

There's an issue with removing more recent versions of AOL from Windows 7 (and therefore I assume all versions of AOL): when you click the Windows button -->Control Panel --> Programs and Features, then click on the AOL Uninstaller (choose which products to remove), it asks you to scan for "older versions of AOL" (it's not like you have a choice - you can't skip this step, or you won't find any AOL clients) then it hangs during the scan.

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OK, I changed my layout back to my favorite one.

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:48:44 GMT

This layout was made all the way back in Dec., 2006, which means it's kinda oooooold. But everyone always liked it the best. And I always liked it the best. Rather than going with my last edits, which were made quite a while ago and were hideous, I started from scratch.

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Nice to see AOL cares? (screen cap)

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:40:56 GMT

Not that it proves anything - it could be another company that thinks it's still competing with AOL (perhaps Earthlink dial-up? or Yahoo email?) - but while checking my stats recently I came across a visit from Brandwatch.net, a reputation-monitoring company. Well, I'll be damned...that's interesting.

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It's NOT true that you will lose your high-speed connection to the Internet if you cancel AOL!

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:00:42 GMT

AOL Is LYING

I'm not going to beat around the bush: AOL is run by liars, thieves and crooks. Take this lie slapped across a cancel page on aol.com:

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Hacked AOL account? Let Google teach you how to hack it yourself.

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:11:11 GMT

Updated 7-1-09.

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True Story: I am anti-Anti-AOLness.

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:26:45 GMT

Don't get me wrong: I'm not against my own blog. The longer I own it, the more I like the darned thing. It helps AOL users who the call reps at AOL are either incapable of helping, or else forbidden to help, since they have to make their sales quotas. No one can overestimate how good it makes me feel.

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Nudity on AOL UK

Thu, 21 May 2009 02:51:38 GMT

The "new" AOL UK home page (same old page, if you use AOL.com) soft-launched May 14th. AOL was so pumped they added a direct link to it from their Corporate press release. That's right: they couldn't wait for UK mums to gasp as kids viewed naked women in seductive poses on AOL UK. No other web company would feature nudity on a home page viewed by millions of people each day but this is AOL we're talking about - anything for an ad dollar, I suppose.

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With 26 million existing AOL software users this blog might be around forever.

Wed, 06 May 2009 03:14:10 GMT

"AOL’s software is used by more than 26.5 million people on broadband and dial-up connections every day." [source]
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[FAQ] How to keep your AOL email, Address Book and AOL Favorites when you quit AOL.

Tue, 05 May 2009 04:51:32 GMT

Before you read this, it's important to know that you don't need AOL software anymore to read your AOL email. If you cancel AOL and remove the AOL program from your computer, you can just sign in at AOL.com to check your email online.

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Maybe it's just semantics, but for me "Armstrong" = "Ice Age".

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:13:01 GMT

What does being a "consumer" mean to you?

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AOL Message Boards closing fiasco: Welcome to the AOL "Message Blogs"!

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:12:35 GMT

Readers tipped me off today that something is wrong with AOL's Message Boards: in fact, most of them are missing. The UK Message Boards were shut down with no warning whatsoever.* (See the end of this post for my UK boards disclaimer) Many UK chat rooms were also shut down. No one knows where the US Message Boards have gone. When you click on the "Is this the last board left?" topic which is found one-off from AOL's Message Board home page you're taken to...I kid you not...Yahoo!, where a board exists for AOL members to wonder aloud where AOL's message boards went. It's a bizarre situation.

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Rant for AOL/AIM Devs: Why did you do this?

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:49:59 GMT

Too bad I ~~recently closed comments on this blog~~ [5-7-09: comments have been open again for a while - and I'm still waiting!], because this is one time I wouldn't mind some feedback.

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Rondy is History

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:27:56 GMT

This is Anti-AOL, so I'll be brutally honest: AOLers aren't the only ones glad to see Rondy go. Me, too! Years ago I had this sudden flicker of hope for AOL's future - even if it's past was in rags - when Jon Miller took over.

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