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"Living With Your Computer"

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Written by:  You, the readers! 

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"Aol, So Easy To Use, No Wonder It's Number One!"

I agree with you on the Aol 6.0 column but the only problem i have majorly had with aol 6.0 is that it keep's making my kernel32.dll file constantly perform illeagle operations wich renders AOL useless untill i restart my comp.  But like you said it is still beta but again like you said it's working 50/50.\

It's kinda funny, cuz I did download it about a week ago, and needless to say, was up 'til 3am just trying to get online!  I don't know how many times I was on the phone with an AOL tech either.  Too many for my liking.  I couldn't even get a dial tone after I downloaded this thing!!   Now after all has been "fixed", I keep getting "illegal operation" warnings, etc...  The AOL tech just blamed it all on my computer, saying my computer wasn't capable of handling it.
That was good of you to warn people, I just wished I had read this last week....before I downloaded it.

My main problem with 6.0 is that it runs too slow.  And yes, I also noticed that the sign-on flew by so fast, I don't know what speed I'm online at.  (The best I did with a 56K modem and 5.0 was 45333.)

I did get knocked off 6.0 two days ago, and tried to log back on with 5.0 and couldn't.  Got error messages re: some .DLL files.  That problem was solved by rebooting the system.  (I actually had to turn off the computer and exit Windows improperly.)  I have not had to reinstall Windows 98 (second edtion)...thank goodness.

I then realized that my Power Tools 9.2x might have something to do with all this, so I have disabled it until I know it is completely compatible with 6.0.  However, even without the add-ons, 6.0 is still running slowly and beginning to annoy me.

I am one of those people who tried to test the Beta <g>.  I gave up when it screwed me up so much, that it also ruined my copy of 5.0, which I had to re-install from CD.  I then determined I wasn't about to mess anymore with the Beta copy of 6.0.

Tell everyone if they lose 5.0, they can either pickup a 5.0 disk at a book store or go to key word upgrade and still download AOL 5.0.  Everyone should wait a little while before downloading 6.0.....the bugs need to be straightened out first..


Just a word of warning. Do not download Aol 6.0 that is now available at keyword upgrade.  I thought the features looked great, so I downloaded and installed.  Now, I can't connect faster than 28,000 bps.  I have a V 90 Lucent Modem with DSL capablilites on a new computer.

Also, anyone that has a mailing list will hate the new address book.  It's almost impossible to add new members.  I even accidentally deleted one of my mailing lists with 3000 members when I thought I was deleting a single member....Thank goodness, I had that backed up..lol..

Anyway, I called Tech support and after them telling me to change my modem to a Hayes Compatible, which didn't work, they suggested contacting my modem manufacturer for a driver update.  I already know there is no new update because my modem is brand new.  sheese...I'm back on Aol 5.0 and unfortunately, I connected at 26,000 bps....so I still have to figure out what they did to my modem.  I think Aol has a few bugs in this version and hopefully will get it fixed.

this is the initial Email to me from the creator of Wavman.... 
This is what is getting ready to happen if you upgrade to 6.0, in regards to wvs in chatrooms......
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Won't everyone be utterly crushed when they discover that AOL 6.0 will not play compressed wavs in the chat rooms. All those MP3 compressed wavs? Won't play. AOL 6.0 developers did this on purpose. Why? Don't know :|

AOL 6.0 has also been specifically designed to only play wavs in the chat rooms from their preset SOUNDS folder. No other folders will work. Not the root AOL folder, the WINDOWS folder, any folder in the PATH statement...nothing.

AOL 6.0 at best, it NOT wav friendly.

I am preparing an article for TPA Software about this, tentatively called "AOL 6.0 no!". I'll let you know when its finished...but I would plan on staying with either AOL 4 or 5 for maximum wav enjoyment :)
- Kev

Well I dont like the new e-mail set up.  it feels like I am on an elevator to no where.lol.  I cant read any im's either.  If someone has used a font other than arial it is scrambled.  some I have talked to dont have the problem.  But I feel its a 50/50 thing with that.  I cant change my font color size of design on aol6.  I get booted off as soon as I click ok.  It has good features but I am back to 5.  I am keeping 6 on here unless i am told to delete it.  but i wont use it till it is fixed.

not to mention that when you are in chat half the fonts don't show ..  heh I have over 3000 fonts to access and AOL said I didn't have This one when I was on 6.0 And Yet bam on 5.0 Here it is..  when in chat I would see so many "blank" chat lines that I finally said screw it and quit the beta testing..  it wasn't worth it to me..  then when my friends system crashed I took 6.0 off and re- installed win 98 to copy over what ever was changed so not to mess up my system to badly.
*sigh* But sucked I wish they would do it better.  And finish it.  The Im answering Machine and all yes was great but the hassles wern't worth it since they refused to seem to fix them

I wish I had read your web page last week before I dl the beta 6.0 to my computer.. lol.. I had ALL the problems you listed..right up to completely destroying windows!!  Phew!  What a nightmare!

Your artical was right on the mark.  I warned my group yesterday now I'm going to back it up with your web site.  One more thing:  Waves wont play in E mail or In instant messages with waveman.  You also cant turn off your IMs like you can on aol 5.0 re: $IM_OFF  I'm a beta tester also and I uninstalled it and had to re format my whole drive.  I wont have it on my system again for quite awhile.

Your 6.0 words were right on the money.  As soon as I installed the first Beta version, I noticed all those things you mentioned...and a couple more.

First, how about a Windows Registry failure?  Yep, as I boot up the 'ole Micron, I get the happy note the Windows Registry failed to load.  I will not get into details of what you need the registry for, but you talk about a pain!

Next, not only will you have problems with Internet Explorer loading pages, but it will run slow as molasses on a cold winter day as well.  Calling AOL with all this gets you nowhere since they have not learned the new version themselves!  Heck, half the time, they couldn't give you an answer on anything, except for you to format your harddrive and reinstall everything.

One last thing I have a problem with is why didn't they put the "Home" button up on the task bar?  I asked them over 20 times, and still no response.  Y'know what I am talking about ... the button up top which takes you directly to your favorite home page?  I truly liked that button...I am too lazy to go to my Favorites Folder and click it there! LOL

Well, that's about it for now.  As a new subscriber to your column, may I say it is refreshing to see someone out there with the common sense to speak out about things they feel strongly about...not a bunch of whining and whimpering!  Keep up the good work!

It's a humdinger..that's for sure.  Changes it made on it's own:  Fonts, midi's, connection speed, and I haven't got the fortitude to explore too much farther today....what I found already was enough to make me sick.  I uninstalled 5.0 after downloading this mess and now I am looking at wiping the hard drive (did I mention that I just installed a brand new hard drive and did this once already?) again and starting from scratch.  Guaranteed I am going to install 5.0 and they can run 6.0 up a flag pole for all I care.
While I have always been a very strong advocate of AOL & will continue to use it because I have no other choice, I am very unhappy at the moment.

I just wanted to thank you for your honesty for reporting the truth about AOL 6.0.  I think those people are really ignorant for booting you from the beta testing program like that.  I think their problem is that they know that everything you said was the truth.  I really hate their 6.0 version.  I thought it was supposed to make things easier on the user... Instead, they just created difficulty.  Sure, it has a few cool new features, but it's definitely not worth the loss, now is it?  I've talked to four people so far who haven't been able to retrieve their address books sense updating.  I'm glad I didn't throw out my 5.0 CD.  I ordered a copy of the 6.0 CD.  I think I'll give it to the kids to play with.

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