Anti-AOL

Tested: instructions are still up-to-date and work on latest version of AIM Pro as of 6-2-08.

As mentioned in Why You Want to Uninstall AIM Now, AIM has a lot of weaknesses that make it very unsafe, especially in light of the latest vulnerability exposed by Core Security researchers. It's best to simply uninstall it and use something safer.

Messengers that I like are Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM), Trillian, and the latest version of MSN Messenger, which really kicks butt.

What follows is how to uninstall AIM Pro.

How to Uninstall AIM Pro

1. For Win XP users: Click your Start button and click Control Panel.

In Control Panel click Add & Remove Programs, then locate AIM Pro on the Add & Remove List and click Remove.

For Win Vista users: Click your Start button and click Control Panel. In Control Panel click Programs and Features, then locate AIM Pro on the Installed Programs List and click Uninstall.

2. Click Yes to remove AIM.

You'll see a dialog box that says: "Are you sure you want to remove AIM Pro from your computer?" Click Yes.

3. That's all..

You'll see the AIM Uninstaller remove AIM components for a few minutes, then you'll see a dialog box that says: AIM Pro was successfully removed. You don't need to restart your computer to remove this version of AIM, so that's it.

4. Now click your Start button, click Search, click All files and folders, click Advanced Options, and click Search system folders and Search subfolders.

Type "aim" into the search box without the quotes. Right-click and delete any AIM components that show up in results.

!Important If you're testing AOL's Helix software don't delete anything in C:\Program Files\AOL\RC\ee. If you do, Helix will no longer work.

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

If you have any questions leave a comment or email me.

Also see How to Remove AIM 6.1.

Tested: instructions still up-to-date for AIM versions 6.1, 6.5 and 6.8 as of 6-2-08.

As mentioned in Why You Want to Uninstall AIM Now, AIM can be very unsafe, especially in light of the latest weakness found by Core Security researchers. It's best to uninstall it and use something safer.

Messengers that I like are Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM), Trillian, and the latest version of MSN Messenger, which really kicks butt.

What follows is how to uninstall AIM versions 6.1, 6.5 and 6.8.

How to Uninstall AIM 6.1

1. For Win XP users:

Click your Start button and click Control Panel. In Control Panel click Add & Remove Programs, then locate AIM 6.1 on the Add & Remove List and click Change/Remove.

For Win Vista users: Click your Start button and click Control Panel. In Control Panel click Programs and Features, then locate AIM 6.1 on the Installed Programs List and click Uninstall.

2. Click OK to uninstall...

You'll see a dialog box that says: "Uninstall AIM 6? Click OK to remove AIM from your computer." Click OK.

3. Remove your personal data, if you like...

You'll see the AIM Uninstaller remove AIM components for a few minutes, then you'll see a dialog box that says: "Do you want to remove personal data such as AIM screennames?" Click Yes.

4. Almost done...

Now you'll see a dialog box that says "Completed". Click Close.

5. Just reboot your computer.

Now you'll see a dialog box that says, A reboot is required to complete the uninstallation of AIM 6. Click OK to close." Clicking OK will not reboot your computer, so to remove leftover AIM files and folders, reboot your computer manually right away.

6. Now click your Start button, click Search, click All files and folders, click Advanced Options, and click Search system folders and Search subfolders.

Type "aim" into the search box without the quotes. Right-click and delete any AIM components that show up in results.

!Important If you're testing AOL's Helix software don't delete anything in C:\Program Files\AOL\RC\ee. If you do, Helix will no longer work.

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

Any hacker in the world can use your AIM messenger to do a lot more than send you messages.

According to ZDNet blog writer Ryan Nariane: The attack scenario works without the target clicking on a link and only requires that the AIM user is logged on and accepting incoming messages.

The weakness allows any kind of worm or malicious (unsafe) code to run. Just having AIM open and accepting messages is enough to infect your computer with all kinds of nasties. This is very serious. For that reason you should uninstall AIM immediately and use a safer IM client such as Pidgin (formerly known as GAIM, until AOL sued them for it) or Trillian.

AOL has patched the AIM clients affected (but this weakness affects factory installs of AIM as well, which won't be patched until they're used). AOL claims the patches will work until the code is fixed on Oct. 16, but Core Research (which discovered the flaw) says that the patches are easily gotten around by hackers.

A demo given by security researcher Aviv Raff is quite telling. Aviv was able to use the weakness in the way AIM supports the display of HTML code in Internet Explorer to open Ryan's calculator just by sending him an IM.

According to The Globe and Mail's Tech Blog:

The flaw exists in the most recent versions of AIM 6.1, and in 6.2, which is still in beta-testing mode. Core Security also found it in the business-focused AIM Pro and in AIM Lite. The problem does not crop up in AIM 5.9, an older edition that many users still have, or in version 6.5, which also is in beta mode.

If you wonder why I've never written about weaknesses in AIM before (it's famous for these sorts of issues) it's because:

1) I wouldn't have time to keep up with the flaws security researchers find in it nearly every week

2) This week's flaw is very serious, so I'm making an exception to Reason 1), and...

3) I hate to say it, but despite my constant inner fog of anti-AOLness, I always kind of liked AIM. I used to message with someone I cared about on it, so it has a bit of sentimental value.

That said, let's get all this AIM crap uninstalled.