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I have owned, worked with and been around computers for over 20 years. I have mastered the installation of various versions of Windows and assorted drivers. I have mastered the last 3 major releases of Mac OSX. I have installed more software applications than I care to remember. I have connected to the internet via more ISP’s than fingers on both hands. I may be getting older and I may be retired from the business but at the fundamental level I know what I am doing.
Which is why, when asked recently to install AOL onto a Mac, I didn’t blink. I didn’t do a double take. And rather foolishly, I didn’t even break out into a cold sweat. Having never installed or used AOL it never occured to me to have a cross and some garlic handy.
I’m not going to go into the gory details. Nor am I going to describe the unbelievable mess that is AOL. Nor the nasty, insidious way it trys to take over your machine. This was meant to be a piece of friendly advice – and the advice is – don’t do it. Ever. Even for payment. I guarantee you will never be the same again. And I rather think that I have got the really bad bit still to come – and that’s removing it!
Believe it or not, AOL’s software has actually got better. I remember in the olden days (4 or 5 years ago) when installing AOL’s browser on your machine prevented you from using another internet provider without a super-geek tweaking your system. In the early days of AOL, they even overwrote the TCP stack with their own custom version which was only compatible with AOL.
Oh don’t. I’m breaking out in a sweat. It’s a Halloween story…
Sounds horrible! I remember installing AOL on my parents computer years ago and never being able to get rid of it. I think it’s still there, lurking malevolently in the background…