Removing Aol software!

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 19 Sep 2005 5:02 am

I've went with Comcast Cable for internet service and was wondering if it was ok to remove the Aol program from my PC?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 19 Sep 2005 6:10 am

Unfortunately AOL invades so many files that in many cases you can never completely remove AOL. On the Dell users forum, many have reported having to do a "clean" install on their PC (reformat and reinstall everything except AOL) to get rid of AOL.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 19 Sep 2005 11:09 am

Uninstall AOL using Control Panel > Add-Remove Programs. Open your Network Connections utility, look to see if you have a network connection for your NIC, assuming you have one (installed as a card or built into the MB). Right click on the network connection for that NIC and select Properties. Click on the "Support" tab, then press the button labeled "Repair." Turn off the computer.

Assuming you have obtained a Cable or DSL modem and a router, turn them off. Using two short Cat5e network cables with RJ45 plugs on the ends, plug your Cable or DSL modem into the broadband router (such as a D-Link DI-604), and plug the router into your computer. Turn on the computer, turn on the router (or plug in the power plug) and wait a minute, then turn on/plug in the Cable/DSL modem and wait for the lights to turn solid green and stabilize.

When the modem is happy-happy, open your default browser and try navigating to any website. Windows might complain that you are offline. If so click Try Again. If still no happy happy, click on the Internet Options for the browser and configure it to think it is on a LAN, permanently connected to the Internet (it is now). If it has an option to look for a proxy server, check that option. Close the options and try loading that website again. You should be online by now.

If you still can't connect to the net, open Network Connections and try to repair that connection related to your network adapter (card or onboard NIC) (see instructions above).

If that doesn't do it you may need to input your login name and password into the broadband modem and possibly the router as well. This can get really complex from here onward. I hope this gets you going. If not, post your problem again and we'll try to get you connected.

Wiz

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 29 Sep 2005 3:58 pm

You might also do a search,and deleat, that gets most of it.

start/search/aol/destroy...

Bill

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 30 Sep 2005 2:11 am

A "delete" should never be done to uninstall a program. That leaves many files that can cause system problems. Programs should only be deleted as a "last resort" and even then there will be fragments around and registry entries.

I've been on service calls because someone just "deleted" a program. Some I was able to "fix" and others the only option was a clean install (reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything).

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 30 Sep 2005 2:19 am

I found in Windows/System32/oobe a lot AOL files. The oobe folder is like 13.8MB and I tried to delete the entire folder, but told it was being used by other applications.

There are a bunch of .dll files in there, as well as a lot of .html's. When I clicked on the .html icons, IE said it could not open them for security reasons. Also, on a lot of other icons, when clicked, produced error flags.

What a drag. A useless folder to me, it seems, and using up quite a bit of space - 14MB.

I'm running XP [eMACHINES].

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 30 Sep 2005 6:39 am

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR><SMALL>I found in Windows/System32/oobe a lot AOL files. The oobe folder is like 13.8MB and I tried to delete the entire folder, but told it was being used by other applications.

There are a bunch of .dll files in there, as well as a lot of .html's. When I clicked on the .html icons, IE said it could not open them for security reasons. Also, on a lot of other icons, when clicked, produced error flags.</SMALL><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

"oobe" is an integral part of the Windows OS. More info on it here.

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 1 Oct 2005 11:07 am

Thanks Dave,

I guess that's why they don't want you getting rid of it. Good thing I couldn't.

erik · Post by **erik** » 2 Oct 2005 3:03 am

Last night I uninstalled AOL as well as many programs taking up space on my hard drive. I then ran PC Rescue and found 61 errors in my Active X files, and few other errors with another folder. I fixed them all and defragged my hard drive. There are still some AOL remnants but at least I freed up space and my o.s. is working fine. Having a utilities repair program is essential to a smooth operating system, IMO.

I noticed during defrag I found a lot of black boxes. Are these bad sectors? And if so my PC Rescue must be responsible for fixing them? Previously any time I had these boxes I would get unending windows pop-ups saying I had bad sectors and needed to run scan disk and had to fix each to continue with defragging.

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-johnson

Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 7 Oct 2005 3:50 pm

Boot up your computer without the modem connected !!!!

Then you won't get all them messages about files being in use.

At that point,you can sucessfully delete all AOL files and such.

I advocate that NO ONE ever use AOL for internet system.

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http://home.comcast.net/~crookwf/
http://photobucket.com/albums/v479/billcrook/

Les Green · Post by **Les Green** » 7 Oct 2005 6:35 pm

Think it's hard to rid your computer of AOL?
Wait till you try and cancel your subscription!
I got about 6 months of free use (not that great but free) before I convinced them I wanted to cancel. "Give us another chance. Try AOL free for 2 more months."