The Binary Circumstance

One of these days I’ll learn that when AOL suggests I download some "upgrade" that it’s going to be nothing but problems.

When I downloaded AOL 9.0 Optimized SE I had problems.

Lately AOL has been pushing their free virus protection.  My Norton Anti-Virus software has gotten a little out of date so I thought why not download AOL’s free McAfee Virus Scan since it’s included in my current membership fee anyway.

When I started the download AOL told me I had to delete the Norton Anti-Virus first before I could start.  So I uninstalled the Norton Anti-Virus without a problem.

Then when I started the download of the McAfee Virus Scan I just got the hourglass and no messages or status bar showing me how the status of the download.  My computer just stayed like that for a long time and I figured it was locked up.  Since I had no messages, I didn’t know if the software had downloaded or if it was still in progress.

After a while, I just hit the "X".

I went back to it later and now AOL gives me a message that says that the software is partially installed and I should click on "Complete Installation" to finish the job.

I’ve tried this several times and every time I get a blank window that says McAfee Virus Scan in the upper left-hand corner.  Not other messages, no hourglass, no status bar, nothing.

So I see they’ve got online support and I to to that section and type in a brief statement of my problem.  Then I click on "Chat" thinking that I’m going to start talking to one of their online technical support people.  Nope.  It takes me to a completely unrelated window that has nothing to do with downloading the virus software or technical support.

I tried that several times, too, and always get the same result.

So I thought I should try uninstalling the McAfee and starting from scratch again. Only problem is that it doesn’t show up in the list of programs that are installed.  But the AOL login window says that I have virus protection software installed.

I’ve been wondering for some time now why I keep AOL.  Mostly, it’s because I only pay $10/mo for it under the bring your own access plan.  But the fact is that I can get free e-mail from any number of sources and the content on AOL doesn’t really offer anything I can’t get anyplace else.

So this latest problem with their software downloads may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I’ll just have to bite the bullet and start telling all my friends and the companies that I have accounts with that I’ve got a new e-mail address.

While I at it, I might change my ISP, too.  Currently I Qwest provides my DSL line and MSN in the ISP.  My connection often sucks big time.  I don’t use my MSN accounts very much and I don’t need them for content either.

We’ll see.  I hate to have to do all that extra work but AOL just really doesn’t offer me that much anymore except a lot of problems.

Their "spyware" software which has always blown up before on my computer, actually ran to completion today.  Why?  I don’t know.  But it found two programs that might have been spying on my personal information.  I don’t know why it finally started to work after all these months but I’m glad it did.  Now if I could only get AOL’s McAfee to download to completion and run, I’d be OK.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 31st, 2005 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Product Reviews, Web/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a reply. Pinging is currently not allowed.