Posted on 08/29/2006 4:23:57 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
AOL LLC's free Internet client software has earned the company a slap on the wrist from StopBadware.org, a consortium set up to combat malicious software. In a report set to be released Monday, the group advises users to steer clear of the software because of its "badware behavior."
The report blasts the free version of AOL 9.0 because it "interferes with computer use," and because of the way it meddles with components such as the Internet Explorer browser and the Windows taskbar. The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall.
The main problem is that AOL simply doesn't properly inform users of what its software will do to their PCs, said John Palfrey, StopBadware.org's co-director. "We don't think that the disclosure is adequate and there are certain mistakes in the way the software is architected in terms of leaving some programs behind," he said. "When there are large programs, some of which stay around after you've thought you've uninstalled them, they need to be disclosed to the user."
Because AOL has taken steps to address StopBadware.org's concerns, the group has held off on officially rating AOL 9.0 as badware, Palfrey said.
Still, the report is not good news for AOL. Other software that has been the target of StopBadware.org reports includes Kazaa, the Jessica Simpson Screensaver and the Starware News Toolbar.
Backed by tech companies such as Google Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Sun Microsystems Inc., StopBadware.org bills itself as a "Neighborhood Watch" of the Internet. It is run out of two well-respected university departments: Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and University of Oxford's Internet Institute in the U.K.
Monday's report states that AOL is taking steps to address StopBadware.org's concerns, and that the company has confirmed that there is a design flaw in its uninstaller software, according to a draft obtained by IDG News.
An AOL spokesman said that it is "clearly ridiculous" to categorize his company's software as badware. "No company has done more to fight malware than AOL, and millions of users are protected by our software every day," said AOL's Andrew Weinstein in an email message. "We're reviewing the suggestions made in the report, and we are taking steps to address them, as they mostly involve minor UI issues."
AOL has been struggling through some major changes of late.
It has opened up its once-private network, offering the AOL 9.0 software for free in a bid to attract new users and boost online advertising as its traditional subscribers have fled. The company now has 17.7 million U.S. subscribers, a drop of 3.1 million over the past year.
Last week, three AOL executives, including Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Maureen Govern left the company in the wake of a scandal over AOL's public disclosure of more than 2 million search queries made by 650,000 AOL users.
AOL has also come under fire for licensing its free antivirus software, called Active Virus Shield, with what anti-adware advocates view as excessive advertising and data gathering provisions.
Since the search disclosure, AOL has taken steps to restore consumer trust, said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jon Miller in a recent e-mail to employees. "There is a tremendous responsibility that goes along with our mission of serving consumers online," he wrote. "We have to earn their trust each and every day and with each and every action we take."
StopBadware.org's reports can be found here.
"fdisk works remarkably well.. :0)"
ROTFLMAOPIMP, unfortunately I think fdisk is the only solution to an AOL installation. You should browse the registry after and AOhell uninstall, you can spend hours removing hooks and references.
Cleaning up after AOL is one of the non-fun things I get to do when my friends complain their computer is acting up.
My first computer was a Packard Bell 66Mhz 486 with a 420 MB hard drive Circuit City special and it came packaged with Prodigy.
I received an AOL floppy in the mail and signed up, the next day I dropped them and the guy on the phone was an a$$hole and hemmed and hawed about my dropping AOL.
I was finally able to un install all of them by starting up in "Safe Mode" and using Windows' add and remove feature. I then performed a file search for "aol" and manually deleted most of them. The ones kept were tied to needed programs and I was not sure they weren't needed. Sure sped up her computer.
Stuff can't be architected, but can be engineered. Muahahaha!
I've come to an uneasy truce with engineering as a verb, since I'm not even sure "engineer" was a word until the last century. I think all those words stemmed from the application of "engine" to locomotives, then transferred to the train's captain.
How "engineer" came to be attached to what we now think of as engineers - civil or chemical - is something I don't know and would like to find out.
(Word origins fascinate me.)
AOL disks make nice targets.
Try canceling your service with them.
"Enthused" still rubs me the wrong way.
As in "he enthused over the new AOL release"? I don't like that much. Ugh.
I think "engineer" is from a latin word that means "to monkey with"
Good to know I'm not the only person who doesn't like Adobe and find it annoying.
I don't like sites or companies who use it.
Just tell me what I want to know and quickly thank you.
Be gentle; I know it's bad for me and my computer. I know. I know. And I hate ("hate"'s a word which I rarely use) aol. It locks up my computer all the time. They're a liberal company, to boot. But I am an intelligent person who feels like aol has implanted something under my skin and separating the two have been impossible for me. I *want* to stop, but there are so many issues. It's like alcohol. It's bad, bad, bad.
There ought to be a 12-step program...
How was aol able to take over my brain? I never saw it coming.
And Architect is old greek for 'smoker of way too much weed'.
I thought Compuserve was great, but I guess that was back in the old days of the 80's. It was the era of "hair" bands and guys with eyeliner.
Kermit! Believe it or not, there is still a Kermit project out there. I noticed it last install I did under Fedora Core 5. I didn't install it, as I have no need for it anymore, but it's good to know that some software never dies.
Most ATMs today use it to communicate back to the bank.
Me too. (hence my nick here)
You might want to check out the OED's Word Of the Day
Today's entry sucks, but some are incredibly interesting. I love it when they have an entry for really old words. You can trace the history of the word as it evolves.
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