AOL Installed!

After my angst, AOL 9.1 is finally installed on my new Dell computer. What was the problem? You might have guessed it. It was the Vista operating system that was incompatible with AOL 9.0.

While waiting for Tom (PC Guy) this morning, I search the Internet to see if anyone else was having the same problems. It didn’t take me too long to find out that I wasn’t the only one by a long shot. Back at the beginning of the year there were quite a few postings to a Microsoft forum about other users who could not install AOL 9.0 or AOL 9.1, or even AOL 9.1 VR (Vista Ready) on their computers that had a Vista operating system.

I printed out the postings from that forum and gave it to Tom when he came in this morning. Tom had asked me to call AOL for support but I didn’t because I knew that would be an exercise in futility. Many people on the forum reported that they called the AOL Help line. That’s an oxymoron, AOL Help. Of course AOL was of no help. I even called Smart Computing for help. I’m a long time subscriber so I thought for the first time I would take advantage of their much advertised tech help line for subscribers. That was a waste of time. The guy on the other end of the line blew me off.

The postings on the forum dropped off after March of 2008 so I came to the conclusion that AOL finally figured out how to make their version 9.01 compatible with Vista. Tom and I downloaded the latest version. Right away we noticed that this was going to be a SLOW DOWNLOAD. It was. It took about 2 hours to download. Tom couldn’t wait. He has a life.

Tom fixed my HP Photosmart All-in-One printer problems (I couldn’t’ use the scanner) by uninstalling and reinstalling the software. It now works, for the time being at least. This is about the fourth time this software has been uninstalled and reinstalled.

Tom left the premises. I continued to monitor the SLOW AOL download. If this was downloading to Windows XP, it would only take minutes. But no, this is downloading to an upgraded version of Windows. What has this upgrade done for me? If anyone knows, let me know.

When the download was almost done, I got an error message. My heart dropped. But, there was hope. A button appeared that said “continue?” I said ‘YES!”. It picked up where it left off. This happened three more times. Man oh man. What is it with the upgrades? Don’t they test these things before they put them on the market? Of course they don’t. This is the new business ethic, throw it out on the market and let them work out the kinks. Thank you Mr. Softee.

The download finally completed and the Welcome screen of AOL appeared on my widescreen Dell computer. Nirvana! I love the user interface and icons on AOL. I have one friend who constantly criticizes me for staying with AOL. I know AOL has problems and has no support for its users but it does have the most user friendly Internet portal. It is the one I prefer.

My joy was short lived. I got an error message. Ugh! I turned of the computer, hoping it only needs a reboot. I wait a minute and, with bated breath, I turn the Dell back on. AOL came up! My computer didn’t blow up! It works! Hosanna!

How long this will last, I don’t’ know but I was had AOL up for three hours, catching up. Right now I’m on my old Gateway computer. I have AOL version 9.0 (which I reinstalled myself without any problems.) After dinner, I’ll turn on my Dell. Oh I hope I don’t have any more problems.

What did I learn from this whole episode? I should have listened to those who said Vista sucks. I’ve also learned that the Help lines also suck. What works now is going to forums on the Internet for others who have the same problem. This is the only place where you will find anyone who has the knowledge and can help. There are good people on those forums who are unselfish and willingly help those of use who aren’t techies.

This is something I discovered last week where I work. My boss had just completed two days removing Malware from the office network computers. After finishing he found he couldn’t get the printer to work. He posted the problem in the Google browser and discovered others who had the same problem. Within minutes he received an e-mail from a person in Russia who had the answer. The Russian user sent him an e-mail with instructions how to solve the problem. My boss keyed in the instructions. Immediately the printer began printing.

This episode opened my eyes. Don’t depend on AOL, Dell, Microsoft or Hewlett Packard. They’re too busy laying employees off and outsourcing work to India where they speak heavily accented English. The Help lines will never be effective because there is no money in it for the companies involved. The AOL’s, Dell’s, Microsoft’s, and Hewlett-Packard’s of this world don’t care about their consumer. They only care about making the sale. Their priority is how many stock options and bonuses they can give their executives. Perhaps the greatest failure perpetuated on the American public in recent years is this “upgrade” Vista. Someone please tell me how my life is better because I have Vista on my new computer. Please.

I say put a pie in the face of all those who are responsible for this travesty. Think different. I next time I get a Mac.

A Frustrating Day

Last night I made good on my New Year’s resolution to clean out my mail cabinet. I had over 600 messages that I had to check and to either discard, file or respond to the messages. Until the wee hours in the morning, I diligently checked each message and made a good choice. I even discontinued some of those automatic generated e-mails. Thus, it was with great anticipation this morning that I turned my computer on, planning to start with a clean slate and have a productive day updating my genealogy files.

Now you probably have surmised where I’m going with this. Oh yes, I had a clean slate alright. In fact, it was so clean I brought up AOL with an error message that it loaded improperly. Good old AOL. They never let you down. My AOL wasn’t loading properly. What did I do except clean out my mail? How does it go? The best laid plans of men and mice go awry? Something like that anyway.

I tried my old computer. I had the same error message on that computer. I tried Bill’s computer, which is on the same network and the other two computers. I thought that maybe, just maybe, it’s at the source of AOL. But no, I could bring up my AOL account properly on his computer. No errors. Same network, different results. What could I have done wrong?

Here is what the problem was. I don’t have the Quick Read blurb on the mail in my AOL box. I checked my PC Filing Cabinet. My saved message showed a Quick Read description but if I went back into the file, all I saw was a blank envelope for that date. To the right of the blank envelope, it was all white space. What in the world now? Is this some kind of nefarious scheme to keep my Computer Guy in business for the New Year? I mean I like Tom and all but I'm at the point now where I'm going to have to put him on my payroll.

So what to do? I thought I would take the bull by the horns and uninstall AOL from my old computer and reinstall it from the CD-ROM I have of AOL version 9.0 (I had 9.1 on my computer but I don’t really need that version.) This took awhile to do but I was able to bring up my AOL account, minus all the mail I had saved on my hard drive. Not to worry though, I see a folder on my desktop that says “AOL Saved PFC.” Okay. Now what do I do with that? At least I can access my AOL account now and see with the Quick Read feature and see who sent me e-mails.

Next I took on the new computer. I uninstalled AOL 9.1 and reinstalled 9.0. I wasn’t so fortunate AOL, nothing happened. I suspected I would have a problem because the new computer operates on the VISTA system. Oh how I wish I took my friend Larry’s advice and got a Mac. AOL, Windows, Vista……….it all adds up to frustration.

To say I was spitting mad is an understatement. What to do? I asked Bill if he wanted to go for a ride on this sunny Sunday afternoon. He did. Off we went. Anywhere, just to get out of the house and this frustration and into the cold fresh air.

First we stopped at Big Bob’s and got a bucket full of sand. Bill needs that to fill in the deep indentation on our front lawn that the Ryan Home folks left when they installed the sod after repairing our drainage problem.

Next, we stopped at the American Legion Post 28 to put Bill’s name on the calendar for the American Legion van to pick him up and take him to Wilmington for his appointment at the Veterans Administration Medical Center two weeks hence. We used to call this in to Ron Robinson, the van coordinator but he choked to death on a piece of food a month ago and no one has taken his place as coordinator. We were told we had to appear in person at the American Legion clubhouse on Route 24 and Bill would personally have to write his name on the calendar.

Of course we had another hurdle to jump over before we could do this. We had to have a key to get in the American Legion club house. We had one but who knows where that is now? We never go there because of the smoking. The American Legion posts are private clubs so smoking is permitted and do they ever take advantage of it. We arrive at the entrance and ring the buzzer. Someone lets us in. As we expected, the place is full of veterans and their women folk. Drinking and pool playing is in full swing. And yes, it was a smoke filled hall.

We ask who to see to get a key. We’re directed to an office in the back. The gentlemen veteran in the back office checked his records and told us we had keys issued to us. We agreed that we had the keys but we don’t know where they are now. He says he can give us new ones for $8.00 a piece. It was a deal. He made up new keys for us and I gave him a $20 bill.

We leave the American Legion Post 28 club house, reeking of smoke and alcohol. Just like the old days when we used to go to the 247 Bar in Philadelphia. Ah sweet memories. Well, at least we accomplished something today. And, as an extra bonus the gentleman told us the name of the new van coordinator. But we’re keeping the keys just in case of another emergency.

We left and drove leisurely back home. Bill saw that I had a phone message from a friend. I called the friend. He wanted to know if I wanted to dine out tonight with our usual Purple Parrot group. However, this night we would be dining at the Stoney Lonen restaurant in Rehoboth Beach. The Stoney Lonen is known for its seafood dishes. I don’t do seafood but I like my friends. I think I need a night out to get de rattled. It’s been a tough day.