September 28, 2003
I HATE AOL! Nothing
I HATE AOL! Nothing personal against you AOL's out there. I don't hate you--just AOL. I had AOL when I was new to internet service, and I really think they give lousy service at too high a price. I call it "internet with training wheels," personally. I can't even get rid of the most recent AOL infection that my computer got. So I really loved and agree with this article I found on Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity from September 25th:
AOL Malignance
Your Computer: Few viruses are as difficult to eliminate as a bad AOL infection. My new laptop came with about 4,000 AOL icons in every possible nook and cranny: the desktop, my favorites, my links, my startup menu... These days, this is almost impossible to avoid with a new machine, but a couple hours of work usually eliminates the cancer.
Unfortunately, the infection can return when you download certain things including, surprisingly, old versions of Netscape. Why can't McAffee list these guys as the major virus they are and block 'em?