I Use Trillian, And Back when i first had the internet, we were with aol, IT WAS SHIT...... I could never Get on, EVER, it came with some bullshitty browser and it took like 10mins to load a page........ and MuM set those Kid Restrictions or sumfin on the browser......
I can't believe that my dads work has to disturibute those 'free' AOL CDs.
I once had AOHell, it SUCKED. Customer Support fuqued up my computer [at the time]. Anyways, I can't believe all my friends which go to my school use it, they claim it is 'the best ISP ever'. I have no idea what they are talking about.
Has anyone seen those AOL for Broadband commercials, the people who believe them need to think you can do those things and much much more with AOLFB
There is absolutly no need for AOL or any other ISP if you have a broadband connection. Now I mean if ya got something like Comcast or Verizon DSL, you dont need AOL! AOL is an ISP for dial-up only, not broadband even tho it claims to be.
When was the last time you saw AOL come to your home and install cable internet? Exactly, not a real ISP.
I always wanted to avoid Gayol related things since I got cable. I even formatted at least one PC already (more formatting will come). Although it has been three or four weeks since I last used aol (I still had to use dial-up in my room for a while) I am slightly hooked on the older versions. I have had aol since we first got dial-up like....7+ years ago I guess.
Hearing that AIM is starting to follow the dark path of it's big fat brother (or father?) really hurts. Knowing that the newer versions install spyware (although it can be un-installed) is the first sign that thigns are going wrong. I guess they are desperate to make money although their time is nearing an end.
This is pretty much my summary of the different versions if anyone who hasn't actually used aol is interested.
9.0, too many pointless features, many spyware programs (that can't be removed, as they will come right back), Big resource hog. Installed on my dell when it came, some reason older versions refused to work properly so I was stuck with it. Also installs Real Player (if you upgrade the old one they give you, it won't work and they put the old one back on) and Quick Time.
8.0, semi-tolerable, not sure about the spyware count compared to 9.0. Contains more of a classic design. Installed real player but no quick time.
7.0, this was truly the one to start all the downhill trends. AOL radio was first introduced and guess what, it didn't even work! Spyware was installed, Real Player also. I didn't use this one much at all.
6.0, this one is before all the crap, I loved this version for modern systems, first one with away message capabilities, installed real player, but earlier versions 6.0 allowed you to remove it without any problems. Wasn't a terrible system resource hog. Multiple setup programs existed, wasn't supposed to install on NT, but I used it without a hitch. "tech support" refused to believe me when I said I used NT and 6.0, but their solution to every gayol problem is to un-install and re-install gayol. (I'd seriously recomend NOT breaking aol of any version in XP, system restore also DON'T USE with aol installed, some queer XP/AOL thing where they just won't get along)
5.0, in my expert opinion, this was 4.0 with the 4 changed to 5. There was no actual difference in layout or design although there seemed to be multiple versions of 5.0, one that looked like 4.0, and one that looked more 6.0 like. Don't remember if real player was installed, don't think any spyware was installed. I didn't use this version as 6 was just better.
4.0, the last 16 bit version, and a hard to find 32 bit version. If you explore any aol cd, they contain older versions, but the 32 bit has been deleted from history and aol acts like it never existed (3.0 for win32 is still on the cd, and 5.0 also, but 4.0 vanishes). I really don't find any point in using the 16 bit version as we all know 3.0 is better. The 32 bit version I suppose isn't that useful either unless you have a 486, or just want to get it knowing it's hard to find these days.
3.0, this is one kick ass version! The first 16 bit aol to use winsock, no more web browsing in aol! (I think that 4.0 32 bit started using whatever IE was installed with windows, but 3.0 made you download it seperately.) The 32 bit version well...just a 32 bit version.
2.5, this one will always have a place on my old PCs. The oldest version to still connect today (although people say 3.0 is, they are wrong.) Built in web browser was something other then IE (I think). It is a sad browser, good for nothing. This is just so simple and non gay looking that you could chat and check some e-mails with it.
Yes, I must admit, since I had aol for a VERY long time (still have the account till december at the latest, but don't use it) I have used every version. I will most likely never forget the many many many many many many many many many many many many many (you get the idea) problems various versions have provided me with, but in the long run it gave me a chance to get online that was better then nothing...
well...that was a lot, I am either bored out of my mind, or still had some gayol rantings to do... if any of you actually took the time to read about all the versions then you must also be bored. I think I'm going to go on a UT fest and work any other rantings out of my system.
Weird. My 6.0 CD had instructions to install in Windows 3.1.
Like they had instructions for both Windows 9x/NT and 3.1.
yeah and it just told u to Goto File -> Run and type setup.exe and hit ok...
AOL detects what OS you're running than starts the apprioprate setup version which would be 3.0 I think. I used to think there was an 16bit AOL 5.0 for Windows 3.1 but I must be thinking IE. Yes, theres an IE 5 for Windows 3.1
Id say 3.0 - 5.0 were the BEST AOLs EVER. Back then, it was a good program! Now it just uses an assload of RAM and goes slow. I finally dropped AOL totally several months ago, after using several trials with broadband ISPs and stayed with Verizon. At about AOL 6.0 they became the soccer mom and 12 year old girl company that they are today. If they begin to charge for AIM service in general, Ill go MSN I guess, its down all the time, but its free. If its just the client, Ill keep using old versions, OR crack a new one... it cant be THAT hard.
Id say 3.0 - 5.0 were the BEST AOLs EVER. Back then, it was a good program! Now it just uses an assload of RAM and goes slow. I finally dropped AOL totally several months ago, after using several trials with broadband ISPs and stayed with Verizon. At about AOL 6.0 they became the soccer mom and 12 year old girl company that they are today. If they begin to charge for AIM service in general, Ill go MSN I guess, its down all the time, but its free. If its just the client, Ill keep using old versions, OR crack a new one... it cant be THAT hard.
I was a consenting victim for a long time because
it was the fastest dialup we had HERE. I have a
very good one from Walmart that says "Brought to
you by Walmart" instead of "Microsoft Internet
Explorer" and you can easily go into Walmart's
file and change it to "By Thumpnet". It was my
favorite but I reccomend 4.0 for old machines.
Thump
Anyway, I'm running a few AIM bots. I took the PERL script called juggernaut and modifyed it so it would run in Linux. It's really cool. I need to make some mass accounts for my bots.
AOL wasnt that bad of an ISP back in the day. About 5 years ago, it was great, and EVERYONE had 56K. At the time, DSL was incredibly expensive, and cable was just emerging as @home. EVERYONE had AOL for their dial-up., so I got it too. AOL 4.0, then soon after, 5.0 came out, which I got, and thought was the best version EVER. 6.0 came along and wasnt that great, they had started messing with the UI to it, and I didnt like the icon, or the colors too much. 7.0 was alot like 6.0, but didnt seem as bad. The colors were mostly the same I think, but the away message feature had FINALLY been added to the buddylist, which I really liked. I also liked how AOL's buddylist was so small, ad-free, and looked better... So I stopped using AIM for a while. AOL 8.0 finally added the redial feature for when the line gets disconnected... So I got 8.0, but would only let it sit on my PC that was my router, and had a program called Anti-AOL that kept it from disconnecting for inactivity.
At about this time, I got tired of it and said we needed a new ISP. This began the trials of high speed providers. I started with RCN (I think, I remember using RCN at one point) but there were several problems, and one day, I noticed that my reverse DNS said dial in it... WTF? So that month ended, and I tried Verizon, I didnt see many problems with it, except for my lack of a router made it a bit bad, because I had to reboot my router every few days as it ran Windows 98 SE. Along came Qwest, which was WORSE than AOL, TERRIBLY slow, used an ANCIENT protocol (SLIP), and seemed to make my modem restart every 23 hours 40 minutes. This really pissed me off, so I started using netzero accounts that I didnt own, and one phone number just so happened to be Qwest! So I started slowly leeching off the internet through them at 5KB/sec without paying. (:)).... Then came Verizon again, which I got a router for immediately, and have stuck with since.
Oh by the way, I had StarLinX dial-up at about the same time as AOL 6.0... Why? I dont know, my dad had the StarLinX for his office, but ended up using AOL there more because AOL finds new phone numbers really easiy.
Alright, one more time. The last version of 16 bit aols was 4. There was never a 5.0 16-bit. Even newer cd's have instructions for installation on 3.x because they contain almost every version of aol on one cd (just because it says 9.0 doesn't mean it only has 9.0). Fish, 6.0 was the first with the away message, 7.0 was the first with the radio (which didn't work).
The 8.0/9.0 auto reconnect, I think I watched it work once or twice, but most of the time you still get disconnected, then it dials the number, fails for some reason, then closes everything and brings you back to the sign on screen.
Comments
I once had AOHell, it SUCKED. Customer Support fuqued up my computer [at the time]. Anyways, I can't believe all my friends which go to my school use it, they claim it is 'the best ISP ever'. I have no idea what they are talking about.
Has anyone seen those AOL for Broadband commercials, the people who believe them need to think you can do those things and much much more with AOLFB
Those?
-Q
When was the last time you saw AOL come to your home and install cable internet? Exactly, not a real ISP.
AOL is for no0bs...thats it.
Where's ya dad work? Walmart? Target? LOL...just kidding...
Mail, banks, hell I wouldbt be surpised if they have people going around sticking them on peoples doorknobs and winshield wipers!
Hearing that AIM is starting to follow the dark path of it's big fat brother (or father?) really hurts. Knowing that the newer versions install spyware (although it can be un-installed) is the first sign that thigns are going wrong. I guess they are desperate to make money although their time is nearing an end.
This is pretty much my summary of the different versions if anyone who hasn't actually used aol is interested.
9.0, too many pointless features, many spyware programs (that can't be removed, as they will come right back), Big resource hog. Installed on my dell when it came, some reason older versions refused to work properly so I was stuck with it. Also installs Real Player (if you upgrade the old one they give you, it won't work and they put the old one back on) and Quick Time.
8.0, semi-tolerable, not sure about the spyware count compared to 9.0. Contains more of a classic design. Installed real player but no quick time.
7.0, this was truly the one to start all the downhill trends. AOL radio was first introduced and guess what, it didn't even work! Spyware was installed, Real Player also. I didn't use this one much at all.
6.0, this one is before all the crap, I loved this version for modern systems, first one with away message capabilities, installed real player, but earlier versions 6.0 allowed you to remove it without any problems. Wasn't a terrible system resource hog. Multiple setup programs existed, wasn't supposed to install on NT, but I used it without a hitch. "tech support" refused to believe me when I said I used NT and 6.0, but their solution to every gayol problem is to un-install and re-install gayol. (I'd seriously recomend NOT breaking aol of any version in XP, system restore also DON'T USE with aol installed, some queer XP/AOL thing where they just won't get along)
5.0, in my expert opinion, this was 4.0 with the 4 changed to 5. There was no actual difference in layout or design although there seemed to be multiple versions of 5.0, one that looked like 4.0, and one that looked more 6.0 like. Don't remember if real player was installed, don't think any spyware was installed. I didn't use this version as 6 was just better.
4.0, the last 16 bit version, and a hard to find 32 bit version. If you explore any aol cd, they contain older versions, but the 32 bit has been deleted from history and aol acts like it never existed (3.0 for win32 is still on the cd, and 5.0 also, but 4.0 vanishes). I really don't find any point in using the 16 bit version as we all know 3.0 is better. The 32 bit version I suppose isn't that useful either unless you have a 486, or just want to get it knowing it's hard to find these days.
3.0, this is one kick ass version! The first 16 bit aol to use winsock, no more web browsing in aol! (I think that 4.0 32 bit started using whatever IE was installed with windows, but 3.0 made you download it seperately.) The 32 bit version well...just a 32 bit version.
2.5, this one will always have a place on my old PCs. The oldest version to still connect today (although people say 3.0 is, they are wrong.) Built in web browser was something other then IE (I think). It is a sad browser, good for nothing. This is just so simple and non gay looking that you could chat and check some e-mails with it.
Yes, I must admit, since I had aol for a VERY long time (still have the account till december at the latest, but don't use it) I have used every version. I will most likely never forget the many many many many many many many many many many many many many (you get the idea) problems various versions have provided me with, but in the long run it gave me a chance to get online that was better then nothing...
well...that was a lot, I am either bored out of my mind, or still had some gayol rantings to do... if any of you actually took the time to read about all the versions then you must also be bored. I think I'm going to go on a UT fest and work any other rantings out of my system.
-Q
Like they had instructions for both Windows 9x/NT and 3.1.
-Q
yeah and it just told u to Goto File -> Run and type setup.exe and hit ok...
AOL detects what OS you're running than starts the apprioprate setup version which would be 3.0 I think. I used to think there was an 16bit AOL 5.0 for Windows 3.1 but I must be thinking IE. Yes, theres an IE 5 for Windows 3.1
it was the fastest dialup we had HERE. I have a
very good one from Walmart that says "Brought to
you by Walmart" instead of "Microsoft Internet
Explorer" and you can easily go into Walmart's
file and change it to "By Thumpnet". It was my
favorite but I reccomend 4.0 for old machines.
Thump
I'll leave the versioning speculation to The People Who Know AOL...
-Q
Anyway, I'm running a few AIM bots. I took the PERL script called juggernaut and modifyed it so it would run in Linux. It's really cool. I need to make some mass accounts for my bots.
At about this time, I got tired of it and said we needed a new ISP. This began the trials of high speed providers. I started with RCN (I think, I remember using RCN at one point) but there were several problems, and one day, I noticed that my reverse DNS said dial in it... WTF? So that month ended, and I tried Verizon, I didnt see many problems with it, except for my lack of a router made it a bit bad, because I had to reboot my router every few days as it ran Windows 98 SE. Along came Qwest, which was WORSE than AOL, TERRIBLY slow, used an ANCIENT protocol (SLIP), and seemed to make my modem restart every 23 hours 40 minutes. This really pissed me off, so I started using netzero accounts that I didnt own, and one phone number just so happened to be Qwest! So I started slowly leeching off the internet through them at 5KB/sec without paying. (:)).... Then came Verizon again, which I got a router for immediately, and have stuck with since.
Oh by the way, I had StarLinX dial-up at about the same time as AOL 6.0... Why? I dont know, my dad had the StarLinX for his office, but ended up using AOL there more because AOL finds new phone numbers really easiy.
Ahh yes the Qwest days... SLIP and the random disconnects!
I also remember when you were using the other dialin accounts you got SO paranoid, even more the me! You even tried to encrypt all your HDs AHah!
And what is/was StarlinX? You said they were pretty much an ISP for Turner only...
-Q
The 8.0/9.0 auto reconnect, I think I watched it work once or twice, but most of the time you still get disconnected, then it dials the number, fails for some reason, then closes everything and brings you back to the sign on screen.