Anti-AOL

Ready?

So you're ready to make the big switch. You've set up an account with a new service provider so you won't lose your Web connection, you've saved your AOL email, Favorites and AOL Address Book, and you want to call AOL soon to cancel your account.

New Game In Town

In the meantime, you're looking to get rid of AOL's software and on the lookout for a way to get on the Web that's fresh, fast, and fun. Maybe a friend or co-worker told you about Firefox and you're intrigued. You should be. Nearly 25% of web users worldwide are devoted to Firefox, with it's clean, simple look, exceptional speed, excellent pop-up controls, and awesome private browsing features. This article will help you make the switch.

Wait...what is Firefox?

Firefox replaces AOL's program with a much lighter, slimmer one called a "browser" that you can surf the Web with. It doesn't include an email or IM program (a fact I'd really like to change), but with so many free online email and instant messaging services to choose from, and tons of free, high-quality email and IM clients that are just a click away once you install them, that's no big deal.

Where is it?

The latest and greatest copy of Firefox is always right here. To get started, just download Firefox and run it's installer program. Once the installer is done, keep the check box filled for "Run Firefox now" so you can start surfing right way.

Where's what I use in AOL?

The difference between using AOL or IE and Firefox goes like this:

• Instead of clicking View - Refresh to reload a page, in Firefox you'll click View - Reload.
• Instead of saving pages in Favorites in AOL or IE, in Firefox, you'll save pages in Bookmarks. The Firefox Bookmarks offer tons of helpful sorting and tracking tools, and there are many add-ons (I'll get to those in a bit) that can help you do even more with them.
• Unlike the way you clear cookies and "tracks" in AOL or IE, in Firefox you can clear them manually whenever you want or clear them automatically at browser shutdown.
• Instead of clicking a "Search" button to search the Web in AOL or IE, in Firefox you'll use a tiny search box that's always visible in the upper-right hand corner. Firefox is set to search Google by default, but if you want to try another search site (or try them all) you can do that.
• Unlike the way search results open in the same page of the AOL Search window, in Firefox, your search results will open in a new page; you can just use the Back Button to return to the page you were on.
• Instead of using clunky pop-up dialogs for downloads in AOL or IE, in Firefox you just use a Download Manager. You can start installing or viewing downloads right away from Firefox's Download Manager, or get to them whenever you like from the folder they're saved to on your computer.

Flyin' Now

Once you start surfing the Web with Firefox, you'll notice web pages look better than they do in AOL or IE, websites load faster, a lot of content that's blocked or unusable in AOL or IE will finally show up and look just the way you want it to, and you'll feel cool knowing Firefox is one of the safest, most secure browsers on Earth.

Pimpin'

Firefox is made with "open source" code that anyone can draw up, so anyone (yes, even you!) can create an "add-on" to add to how Firefox looks and feels. Luckily, there are so many add-ons (estimates say maybe tens of thousands!) that you don't have to make your own to get every sort of cool thing you could want. You can find and download all the free, high-quality add-ons you want here.

There's also a set of steps for how Firefox runs that you can see by typing "about:config" into Firefox's address bar. You can change any of those steps so Firefox will work just the way you want it to.

For more on what you can do with Firefox, here's some posts on the Web that go on where I'll leave off:

• How to Customize Firefox
• Have It Your Way In Firefox!
• 20 Firefox Tips and Tweaks

Want to see my Firefox add-ons? (I think I have over 60 of them!) They're here.

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.

The online version of AOL email does everything that the offline version does: it saves hard copies of email to your PC, it allows you to read and reply to email using rich or plain text formats, and it stores an unlimited amount of your email.

If you would like to use the AOL program on your computer despite this warning, read on.

A Sample of My Recent Email

    From: [redacted]@aol.com <[redacted]@aol.com>
    Subject: Thank you for your web site... a few questions, please
    To: [me]@rocketmail.com
    Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009, 3:23 AM

    You have done a wonderful service with your Anti AOL web site. I hope you'll be patient with my questions. I have a high speed ISP (AT&T) and they tell me that my free AOL account is just slowing everything down, etc. I've disliked AOL for years but my wife is very concerned about what might happen to our important files, saved emails, pictures, etc., if we remove all traces of AOL from our computer and just go with the ATT service. Also, she's an avid user of instant messaging and ATT does not offer this feature. Do you know how we can be sure not to lose our files, saved emails, email address books, favorite places, etc. when removing AOL? Can all of this simply be transferred over to our AT&T account? We want to retain our AOL email addresses. So, in order to check our email (once AOL has been removed from our computer), would we have to type aol.com into the browser bar to get to the aol page to access our email?

    Thanks,
    Elliott K.

My Response

Hi Elliott,

Sorry for taking a while to respond but I needed time to get my thoughts together to give you the best answers possible.

If you're on a computer with less than 1GB of RAM and less than 2GHz of processor power you may encounter problems with AOL slowing down your computer and Web browsing.

Browsing the Web with an AOL desktop client will be slower than browsing with IE, or Firefox, or Safari for Windows, or Opera, no matter how powerful your computer is - in my experience, anyway. Your mileage may vary.

I would suggest what AT&T suggested - backing up your needed AOL data, removing AOL from your computer, and moving on to a faster browser that will not tie up your computer with so much RAM and CPU usage. I wrote about why here.

Before you ditch AOL altogether, I should probably point you to this...if your computer has at least 1GB of RAM and at least 1.80 GHz of processor power, you may want to switch to AOL 9.5 Classic. I panned it in my first review, when I was running the Beta version, but my opinion of it improved somewhat with the final release. Read the second half of the post, which is sub-titled "Update: AOL 9.5 Is Out".

I tested AOL Classic on my own computer, and the final version worked pretty well, not tying up the computer much at all. Your web browsing may be much slower than it would be in a traditional (non-AOL) browser...that is my only caveat.

[This didn't make it into my original reply: Once you back up your AOL email by following the steps here you can import your email from one version of AOL into another by following the steps here. It's also worth mentioning that AOL offers online file backup but it's incredibly expensive.]

If you're still determined to remove AOL completely, importing your AOL email and AOL Address Book into Outlook is explained here.

Pop Peeper, a free email notification tool with limited reply and email formatting capabilities, can import AOL email that still resides on AOL's servers and lets you send and receive current email from your AOL account. How to set it up to work with AOL is explained here.

If Pop Peeper is not for you, you can try a program called ePreserver. It costs $24.95, and it's specially designed to import your AOL email, your AOL Address Book, and your AOL Favorites into it's own viewer, and/or into Outlook, GMail, or Windows Mail. ePreserver's download and purchase page is here. A tutorial on how to use their program to import data from your AOL account(s) is here.

[This also didn't make it into my original reply: If none of those options are for you, About.com has an almost endless list of tutorials for importing your AOL email into any number of email programs, including IncrediMail, Outlook Express, and Mozilla Thunderbird. You can also try TrueSwitch, which costs $19.95, but is free of charge for existing Comcast and Yahoo! members.]

Once you've imported all of your data from AOL's software, my suggestion is to start here [How to Remove AOL with CCleaner] if you just want to remove AOL quickly and pretty thoroughly, or here [How to Remove AOL with jv16 PowerTools], if you want to be remove it more thoroughly.

To answer your question, I'm not sure what you mean by backing up "pictures" since AOL Pictures and BlueString closed down months ago. I wrote about the closings here.

To answer your other question, you cannot simply transfer your AOL data to AT&T. If you could AT&T would be one hot property, since everyone wants an ISP that automatically imports AOL's data for them. :)

As to how to check your email from now on, if you do go with AOL 9.5 Classic, you'll be able to check your email directly from the AOL desktop client, just as you always have, but if you remove AOL completely, you'll need to sign in at aol.com to check your email online from now on.

As to your wife's desire to use instant messaging outside of the AIM client, there are many options to choose from.

If you want to remove AIM from your computer, I have several tutorials for that (scroll down to the one you need, or let me know if you need a tutorial on it that I don't yet have).

Good replacements for AIM that allow you to use your AOL screen name to sign in and chat are:

• Digsby
• Pidgeon
• Trillian
• Miranda

If you don't mind, I may republish your email and my reply to you (slightly edited) on my blog in the near future to further educate others. One of the biggest complaints I get is that I don't write nearly enough about how to export and import AOL's email, Address Books, and Favorites; the amount of email I get on those topics reflects that.

Thanks for writing to me and for visiting my blog, and good luck getting your computer back in shape.

Sincerely,
Marah Marie
http://anti-aol.livejournal.com

---

Elliott soon wrote me back to say:

Dear Marah Marie,

    First of all, you are amazing. Not only did you answer all my questions (though I obviously have a lot of learning to do about all this)... you actually apologized for taking a few days to get back to me. I had to call my wife into the room because we don't run across folks like you very often. It's a pleasure.

    One thing I noticed from your email is that my system may not even be worth the effort of going through all this. It is a Dell Dimension PC, 4550 series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.40 GHz. It came with 512MB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz. The computer is 61/2 years old and is left on for 16 hours a day (every day). Do you think that maybe we are dealing with a computer that, even purged of AOL, will still never be very fast (at least not fast enough to notice the extra fast AT&T DSL connection that I pay extra for??

    I would value your opinion before I get further into this process. If the computer is not worth the effort, can you recommend a replacement? Are you an Apple fan?

Thanks a million,
Elliot K.

My Next Response

I think the idea that Elliott's system "may not even be worth the effort of going through all this" is absurd, so I wrote him to say:

Hi Elliott,

Your processor power is certainly more than adequate for surfing the Web, reading and writing email, working with basic photo programs, watching videos online and offline, etc. If your Dell's motherboard supports it, I would suggest bumping up the RAM to a 1 Gigabyte. If it's possible to fit another 512MB stick into a second memory slot, that will be the cheapest way to go; otherwise you might want to make a tiny investment for a full 1GB memory stick - it will pay you back in spades with vastly improved computer performance.

RAM is quite inexpensive these days; good deals are available both online and in places like Best Buy. I was ready to replace my 7 year old eMachines desktop (born in 2002!) that I'm typing this email to you on when someone convinced me to try a simple RAM upgrade first, so I did what I'm suggesting to you: I doubled my RAM from 512MB to 1GB. The difference was huge and immediately noticeable; it was like buying myself a new computer for a tiny fraction of the cost.

I'm sure Macs are fine computers, but as a Windows person who has not used Mac extensively since 1990 I shy away from giving my opinion on whether or not it is worth buying a Mac - especially when the computer you have needs no more, in my opinion, than a RAM upgrade to get it fast enough to do what you need.

---

Any additional advice from readers for Elliott and others in the same boat? The amount of email I get on the above topics is somewhere between frequent and never-ending so I'll take any help I can get. Given the way AOL ties your data down into proprietary formats and makes leaving so difficult, crowd-sourcing the best answers might be the way to go.

Watch out, AOL users. If you see this in your inbox - like I did tonight - then you've got Phish. Symptoms of Phish are as follows:

1. You have an irrepressible urge to click on real-looking links to AOL
2. You think this phisher's email is so convincing
3. You can't understand why the fine folks at AOL, a multi-billion dollar company, misspell words, mangle grammar and forget to punctuate

That last item is your cue to RUN as far away from your email as possible until the urge to click on links passes.

I hate AOL but that won't stop me from giving you a a few tips to help you stay sane:

1. AOL will never email you to ask you to update your billing information.
2. No one at AOL will ever ask for your password.
3. Emails from legitimate companies with misspellings, grammar and punctuation errors are NEVER legitimate emails.
4. If you're not convinced, make sure your browser's status bar is enabled and hover over the links within the email, then look at your status bar. You will see that the links point to other websites, NOT to aol.com.
5. WARNING: Sometimes phishers use fancy Javascript in their email to make it look as though links point to AOL - but it's a trick. If any of the above facts apply to the email you are reading, do not click on the links.

I have my suspicions that the phisher's email was sent to me because I run Anti-AOL. I get all kinds of pranks via my inbox because of this blog. I just roll with it. In fact, I'm turning my victimization into a public service announcement tonight to help millions of other people, which is pretty darn nice of me.

Related Material: How to Protect Yourself From Phishers and Other Attackers

"Invasive AOL updates!"

A young lady from Los Angeles emailed me this week asking, "Are you familiar with these invasive AOL updates? Can you help me???"

I test AOL's software for my blog, so the answer is, "Yes and yes".

One nearly fool-proof method to make AOL's forced updates stop is to delete the stick.dll file.

You can also delete the entire folder mentioned below - either method works on AOL 10.0 Desktop but not on AOL 9.0 VR, which I need to play around with a bit more. The full path to the file on a Windows PC should look something like this:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\1144194954\ee\services\softwareUpdate\ve r1_13_8_3\

On older versions of AOL like 9.0 VR you can try deleting anotify.exe, which might stop the white auto-update nag above the system tray but will not stop AOL from notifying you the old fashioned way that it wants to update - by covering your AOL window with a huge "now or later" nag with some buttons on it to click for "now" or "later".

My reader goes on to tell me that she can't stop using AOL dial-up because:

1. I have lots of email that have important information and don’t want to lose them, so I need to go through all of them and get what I need before I cancel (case in point: I just retrieved some emails 6 months and older today with very imp info).
2. My neighbor shares his DSL with me (I can’t afford my own right now), but every once in a while I don’t have a connection and I need to use my AOL dial-up to get online and pay a bill on time.

How to import AOL email?

I would simply import AOL's email into POP Peeper. When you set up POP Peeper, and before you use it to fetch email from AOL, make sure you change its settings to ensure your AOL email gets copied to your hard drive: Go to Options, Set Options, Storage, then set POP Peeper to "Store Entire messages to disk" and check the box for "Save messages periodically". Here's a screen cap of the window you'll use for that.

If for whatever reason POP Peeper is not for you, you can do a web search for "how to import aol email". The first result will normally be for the ePreserver program. It costs money, but many of my readers swear by it, so listen to them, not me, when you're trying to decide how best to fetch your AOL email.

How to switch to another dial-up provider?

If you need to use AOL only infrequently, why not use Net Zero for free instead? (This is the first time I've recommended a dial-up ISP in almost three years of writing for this blog, and I'm suggesting Net Zero only because her need for dial-up is not 24/7). They offer a decent plan with 10 hours free each month. That should more than meet your needs. Before you switch, find out how to switch your ISP without losing your connection to the Internet.

The best way to remove AOL?

My reader continues:

Once I get rid of AOL, I plan to copy all of the files on my computer, reformat my hard disk, and start all over to make sure there is nothing from AOL left on my computer. I know this may sound extreme, but I believe it is the best way to completely remove AOL, as suggested by close friends!

Gotta love them "close friends"! My boyfriend and I cannot even agree on this. He insists I should wipe my hard drive and re-install Windows when I'm done with my bi-annual testing of AOL software (we've argued about this for three years). I insist it's easier (and quicker!) to get the computer "like-new" again than it is to format and re-install Windows - but I don't constantly complain of AOL's ravaging effects on my computer for nothing, so I'll flip our "close friends" a quarter for suggesting a computer is much better from scratch than it is after AOL has been on it - even if you remove every last trace of AOL's invasive software. Ultimately, the choice is up to you.

Updated 7-22-08.

Software: AOL Email.

Replacement: POP Peeper.

Difficulty Level: Easy

For people who've never had any ISP (Internet Service Provider) except AOL, "How will I survive without them?" is a good question. POP Peeper can download your AOL email to your Desktop so you don't have to sign into AOL for it. You can read and write messages directly from it. If you're planning on canceling AOL and want to try this out, you should sign up with a new Internet service provider and install POP Peeper before you call AOL to cancel your account.

Send and receive AOL email from your free POP Peeper email client instead of logging into AOL.com or using AOL's software. It's no harder than typing in your AOL screen name, password, the name of AOL's email server, and asking for SMTP Authentication just one time. Set it and forget it. On a scale of 1-10, this is just plain easy. Download POP Peeper here, then follow the steps below, which show you how I set up my AOL email address to work with POP Peeper.

1. Add a new account...

Open POP Peeper and click the Accounts tab on the top left-hand side of the window. Click Add.

2. Click Create, then click Next.

An Account Wizard will open and ask you to either Import or Create a Single Account. You will be creating a home for your AOL account, so click Create a Single Account, then click Next.

3. Add your email address...

Type your AOL email address (such as xyz@aol.com) into the Wizard. Click Next.

4. The correct settings are auto-filled...

The name of the email account (in this case, the name of it is AOL) and the default mail protocol (AOL uses IMAP) will be filled in for you by the Wizard. Leave these settings alone and click Next.

5. Fill in name and password...

Fill in your AOL screen name and password when the Wizard asks you to. (My AOL screen name is itcouldntb, which I chose because aolsucks was taken.)

6. Settings again are auto-filled...

AOL has two mail servers: imap.aol.com and mail.aol.com. Choose imap.aol.com. The port number for the server, Port 143, is filled in for you. Leave these settings alone and click Next.

7. Choose how POP Peeper connects...

This part of the Wizard asks, Do you want to enable SMTP support for this account? Check Yes. Leave the box for the Name blank. At the bottom of the window, it will say, Server Requires Authentication. Check the box next to those words. The correct port number is already set for you (Port 25). Click Finish.

8. Now you can read your email...

To read your AOL email from POP Peeper, click View and Account Mode. Once Account Mode is enabled, right-click the name of each email account to check for new email or to read what you've already received and reply to it. That's all there is to it - it's as easy as pie.

See my How-to Section for more ways to get AOL out of your life.

Also see how to cancel AOL.

Last updated 3-16-09.

3-16-09: See this checklist for an up-to-the-minute rundown on signs your computer may already be infected with the malware discussed here. The article also lists preventive measures you can take.

This post aims to pierce some myths about how safe the Web is and lay out the truth very clearly so you can take a few simple steps to protect your computer and enjoy life without AOL.

Myth #1: Broadband is "safer" than dial-up.

Fact: Dial-up is generally safer than broadband. I used dial-up for about a year. I downloaded 3 viruses each time I installed AOL dial-up. AOL also installed adware like New.net, another reason I couldn't stand it. (Here's a more concise definition of New.net.) Before I tried to cancel AOL I switched to PeoplePC and while I've had problems with their service, online safety isn't an issue, so I still use PeoplePC in emergencies.

It's impossible to defend your PC against everything; whether you choose broadband or dial-up doesn't matter. It's how you defend your PC against games that hackers and online businesses play that counts.

Myth #2: the Internet is safe overall.

Fact: The Internet isn't like it was 10 years ago when it was wild but unsophisticated; hackers were both bemoaned and laughed at for having nothing better to do; search engines existed in only the most unevolved of fashions, and almost no one thought to game them for profit, popularity, or to destroy other people's computers, peace of mind and privacy. It's much worse.

Games That Bad Guys Play

Phishing Sites

Phishing sites look like sites you know and trust. Ebay's famous for the amount of phishing sites it spawns. Phishing sites are introduced through spoof emails. Watch this amazing video from identitytheftsecrets.com that explains how. Spoof emails look like those from the real site, include a link to what's supposed to be the real site, and warn you need to visit to update info, verify a purchase, or confirm identity theft.

When you look at the anchor text for the link, you see this: eBay. Click it: eBay. Not what you expected? It's that easy to pull off. The anchor text (what I wrote) hides the address it's attached to. So it's important to use non-HTML email (with a white background and plain text).

Once you tell phishers what they want to know, you can kiss everything from your credit card to your IDENTITY good-bye. You've given these crooks all they'll need to max out your credit card and get anything, from room service to a new car, using YOUR info.

Misspelled Domain Names

Say you want to visit eBay. Who doesn't? You type the URL into your browser's address bar and click "Go," failing to notice you just typed in "ebbay." Typo-squatters wait to greet you on the other end of that request. Why is that? Why doesn't the URL just 404? Who wants a misspelled domain? Plenty of people, and they can't wait to take advantage of your spelling errors to sell you things, taking you from doorway pages to more and more ads, usually by Google.

Doorway Pages

Gaming search engines is big business and big money. The object is to land sites well in search results so they can take money and computer privacy away from you. To do that, some results lead to doorway pages full of ads. Click and you're redirected to sites with more ads for things you must buy. Some doorways offer links to free or paid program downloads which sound legitimate but install hijackware, keyloggers, adware, and spyware instead.

Hacks and Cracks

Hackers and crackers have been at it for 15 years. They've learned from those who've gone before them and the knowledge base, if you really look at it, is quite astounding.

They take an amazing thing -- instant communication, the ability to talk and get things done quickly -- and turn it into a game where only the most protected and knowledgeable survive comfortably.

Given these facts, let's highlight the steps you should take to defend your PC against attack.

Ways to Protect Your PC

Keep your operating system's security patches and service packs up to date.

Most people use Windows XP, so my advice is based on that. XP has many security holes, also known as flaws. Flaws are imperfections in code used to write programs that operate your PC. Coding involves computer languages, and in order to execute code correctly, it must be perfect. You want Spock writing it, not human beings. Since we're stuck with human beings, all operating systems have flawed code, not just XP. Linux, Microsoft, Apple -- no software is immune.

Microsoft issues more patches and updates than any other company because XP is the most popular operating system in the world, so a lot is at stake for those who hack it. If you use XP, it's good to visit Microsoft Windows Update and take what the Express Installer recommends. Keep visiting for more updates, or turn automatic updates on (the link shows how). Not only do new exploits come out every day; sometimes the patches are just as exploitable as flaws they're meant to overcome.

Use a good firewall.

Turn on your XP's built-in firewall (the link shows how), or try Comodo Free Firewall. A comprehensive list of free and paid firewalls is here. I use Comodo; I no longer recommend Zone Alarm. You can't surf without a good firewall anymore; it's as essential as good anti-virus security.

Use the most updated version of your browser.

IE version 6 doesn't cut it. Even with dial-up it takes just a few minutes to update your browser, and saves you delays in the future. Your browser is as exploitable as your operating system. It can be hijacked, causing your computer to redirect to spam sites when you try to visit a legit one, and download nasty things like adware and spyware without your knowledge. While using an updated browser won't always prevent these problems, using it to block ads, websites, and malicious scripts will reduce the chances and make your time on the Web faster, safer, and happier.

Use the best virus, spyware, and adware protection you can find.

Be careful who you trust with anti-malware security. In the last few years many companies infiltrated the malware field with nothing but bad intentions. They gain trust as defenders against malware, then install it, and on top of that many companies charge for it. Once it's installed, your PC's taken over by malicious programs that only let you visit their sites, turning it into a zombie PC -- a drone, part of a botnet that does nothing without permission from its mother-ship.

Here's a comprehensive list of sites and software to watch out for, and here's a list of some free anti-adware and anti-spy products that are safe and effective. A list of good anti-virus products is here.

It's important to find one anti-virus product you like and stick with it. If you change your mind, uninstall it before installing another one. Using 2 antivirus products may cause compatablilty issues that slow or freeze up your computer.

Hijack detectors and rootkit revealers are essential.

I've recommended Hijack This! since it helped me teach others how to uninstall AOL by showing me what to disable, and I've found more uses for it since then. Don't want a program running at start-up? Kill it with Hijack This! Don't know which toolbars have been silently installed without your permission? Find them with Hijack This!

The problem is going from bad to worse with rootkits, which can turn up in any program that's downloaded from the Web or installed from CD. There's few ways to find rootkits except to see if they have "hook" modules or comparing unique "hive" scans. Rootkits are a fairly recent problem, so finding and getting rid of them is hit-and-miss at best. Informit.com explains what rootkits are and has 4 programs for download that find and uninstall them for you.

Use common sense and caution when surfing.

Be aware of your online "surroundings." Give as little trust to personal and retail websites as possible. Click with care and caution. Don't analyze which sites are safe by how they do in search results. You don't have to enter a site to download nasties. You merely have to attempt to and your operating system is gone. There's no way to tell which sites offer what until it's too late, so be as discerning and distrustful as you can.

See my How-to Section for more ways to get AOL out of your life.