Topic: I Hate AOL!

[Garden Manager]

You are so right about AOL and its software. I am certain that the software slows the computer down and may even make it difficult to open other browsers. On my laptop PC, which still has AOL working on it, i cannot use Firefox without the AOL browser opening up spontaneously and slowing Firefox down. Even on the Desktop PC, the one which AOL no longer works on, just having the software on the system seems to slow Firefox/IE down.

My main obstacle to abandoning AOL software altogether (but not perhaps AOL as an ISP), is the situation with my favorite places (bookmarks). I have built up a large collection of bookmarks on the AOL browser and there appears to be no way of transferring these elsewhere (like you can with other browsers). One way AOL gets you hooked on it i suppose.

Another problem is that you get so familiar with the operations of the AOL browser that it is difficult to get to grips with IE or Firefox. Basically because they are so different from each other. I have been trying to wean my dad off AOL and onto Firefox because the music and video sites he enjoys do not work very well on AOL. This has had limited success, because he is too accustomed to the workings of the AOL browser to switch to IE or Firefox.

[hellohelenhere]

It seems that there are ways to export your favourites:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/59819

As for getting used to a new browser - it will take about an hour... :-D  It's all very simple. Can you get someone who is familiar to train you a bit? After that it's just a question of learning new 'muscle memory' so to speak, for where the commands are. It really takes no time at all...

[Lauren S]

To save your favs...Open an email, click on the little red heart situated on the email tool bar and transfer your favs into the email. Either send it to a friend or to your GMail account and then when you change ISP's you'll have all your favs saved in that email. Transfer to where ever you bookmark on new ISP and voila.......sorted  ;D

Lauren  :)

[Lauren S]

Oh forgot to mention, if you have tons of favs stored it will also slow your comp down. So have an early spring clean  ::)

[Garden Manager]

The problem Re: browser changing and AOL favorites is not really with me but my dad. He is always cursing AOL and complaining (in strong language sometimes :o) about his laptop running slow on the internet, but WILL NOT change ISP, Browser or even clear out his massive collection of favorites.

I personally can cope with changing. He will not.

[hellohelenhere]

Maybe he's worried he won't be able to complain about the new browser so much... :D

Really though, why does he not want to change? Because he'll have to learn the new system, or because of the hassle of changing over, changing accounts, setting up new settings, etc etc?

AOL have this vile way of persuading people that they ARE the internet... I especially dislike the way they portray themselves as they only 'family safe' way to surf the internet. You can get filtering & childproofing on any ISP, any browser.

My Dad resisted changing for *years*, because of the same worries about exporting things, moving his email into another package, changing email address, etc. In the end it was quite painless!

[Nemesia]

Ive been with tiscali for 5 yrs now with very few problems in that time, i pay no line rental get free local and national phone calls and 8mb download speeds. works with all browsers i use firefox and google chrome and access my emils from any pc using their web base mail client.
I can only go on the service that i have received but all ISPs have their plus and minus points but not paying BT line rental is a big plus to me £120 in my pocket not BTs

I have been stidying the various offers for a while.  I think you may be mistaken about the line rental.  One way or another it has to be paid.
It is probably part of your monthly fee. 

AOL have messed me about lately but I have got a free router out of them.
The price each month is £6.99 which includes free telephone calls 24/7 except for 0845, 09 which I found were expensive, the router and a faster broadband which has turned out to be a joke. I have sent them masses of emails as I discovered BT are charging me for calls but I am getting nowhere.  BT say it is all down to AOL to get it right which I knew really.
I have decided to go back to my previous telephone provider - very cheap calls, bill about £3 month, free in evening and weekend AND they are always available on a 0800 call.  I now use Firefox all the time and just can't believe how much faster it is.   My SinL has told me it's impossible to completely get rid of AOL from your computer.  In conclusion then, AOL is
my ISP @£6.99 which is cheap. 

[Garden Manager]

Thanks for replies RE: moving aol favorite places. I have now had the chance to try a few things out.

Using Email to transfer favorites might work but due to the numbers of favorites involved is a bit of a non starter. Plus i cannot see how you would get the links from the email to the bookmarks menu in IE or firefox - short of opening up each one and manually bookmarking each one! Sorry but life is far too short for that.

The two options in the 'Answerbag' page were more promising, particularly the Linkagogo site. I sucessfully transfered my own favorites from AOL and into IE and Firefox - quite easy really with only one or two errors/ghost link. I got into difficulty when I tried doing the same with my Dads favorites. They just would not transfer properly, with missing, duplicated or 'scrambled' foldersor links. It just did not seem to copy over as they were in AOL. I am guessing though that the reason why not all the folders transfered was that there are just too many favorite places for linkagogo to cope with. Dads favorites need severe pruning before they can be transfered it appears. There is more chance of a total solar eclipse in the UK than that happening. I myself dare not touch them!!

The other method of using AOLs 'new' IE based web browser (AOL Explorer) to copy favorites is a bit pointless really. Unless you use the bookmarks section of MY AOL on the AOL website or have you favorites already in IE then it will not work. There is no way to get Favorite Places from AOL 9.0 into even AOL Explorer as far as I can tell. If anyone can tell me different then please do.

Any other suggestions/ways to extract Favorite Places from AOL 9.0 and put them into IE or firefox?

Thanks

[hellohelenhere]

If you send your favourites to yourself (or anyone else) as an attachment, you don't then have to deal with them one by one - you import them as a whole file at the other end. Having a gazillion of them won't create problems - it's only text data when it comes down to it, it's actually very small files we're talking about compared to photos, or soundfiles.

I'm afraid I can't talk you through an alternative technique to the one you've already tried - because I don't use AOL and I don't use a PC either! But rest assured, it's a case of exporting/importing a single file, containing all the favourites, in one go, and you really don't have to worry about how many there are, nor do you have to touch them individually.

[Garden Manager]

If you send your favourites to yourself (or anyone else) as an attachment, you don't then have to deal with them one by one - you import them as a whole file at the other end. Having a gazillion of them won't create problems - it's only text data when it comes down to it, it's actually very small files we're talking about compared to photos, or soundfiles.

I am confused. Are you talking about the Linkagogo method, the AOL Explorer method or the Email method here? If its the Email method then I cant see how you create an attachment with the favorites in it. Please clarify. Unfortunately i dont have access at present to a PC with AOL 9 on it so cannot try things out at the moment.

Thanks

[hellohelenhere]

I am confused. Are you talking about the Linkagogo method, the AOL Explorer method or the Email method here? If its the Email method then I cant see how you create an attachment with the favorites in it. Please clarify.

I'm talking about the email method - but I'm afraid I can't clarify, as I could only explain how to do it on a Mac, and not from AOL, which I don't use. What we need here is an AOL-using (or ex-using) PC user who can talk you through the steps!

[hellohelenhere]

This guy talks about something called ePreserver, which you can download for 25 dollars - worth every penny if it gets you out of AOL's clutches. I'd seen it referred to elsewhere too, it looks like the easiest way to do it:
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_export_my_america_online_aol_address_book_and_email.html

To quote him:
"The problem is, AOL has lots of proprietary data formats and their entire AOL software suite seems custom designed to make it hard for you to switch to another service..."

See why I feel the way I do about AOL? They want your everlasting soul! :D

He gives screenshots of the process with ePreserver, it looks very simple. Has anyone tried it?
You can buy via Paypal.

[asbean]

This thread should serve as a warning to all who are thinking of using AOL.

The surest way of getting rid is to format the hard drive.  Drastic, but cleansing.

[Garden Manager]

I cannot believe the difference having AOL on a computer makes to its performance. After wrestling with an AOL loaded laptop it was a real pleasure going back to my non AOL Desktop PC. I even had to reinstall Firefox on the laptop because i am sure AOL somehow 'killed' it. They just do not like you using other browsers to their own.

I looked into ePreserver and downloaded a free trial version. it scanned the PC for favorites and emails but you need to pay to complete the transfer. Here i stopped because I was not sure whether it was worth buying at the price. I think being in dollars too put me off a bit as i couldnt tell exactly what i would be paying in sterling. Does look quite a good bit of software  though.

[hellohelenhere]

If you click on 'buy' (or whatever it says on the purchase button, I forget) it translates the dollars into pounds - the total comes to about 20 quid, the dollar not being quite so feeble against the pound as it was. (25 dollars = 17 quid approx, plus some sort of transaction fee I think).

If that's what it takes to escape from AOL, I'd say it's 20 quid well spent.

[telboy]

Agree wholeheartedly with that!!!!!!!!!!
GA, are you now a happy bunny W/O AOHELL??
 8)

[Garden Manager]

Agree wholeheartedly with that!!!!!!!!!!
GA, are you now a happy bunny W/O AOHELL??
 8)

Not quite but nearly. Think of my relationship with AOL as a marriage. Whilst i really want a divorce, all i can get at the moment is a separation. Basically AOL is still my ISP but I no longer use any of their software if i can help it. Even then my parents still both use AOL and i have to sort out any problems they have with it, so I still use the software occasionaly. And boy does it stress me out doing so!!