[COBOL2Java]

Stopbadware's report on AOL is here.

[battlegearboat]

AOL hell. Glad I've steered clear of it all these years.

[guitar4jesus]

Anyone using aol deserves what they get.

[Sofa King]

What!? AOL is bad!?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Wait, none of this happens if I've only been using those disks they keep sending as coasters, right?

[NittanyLion]

The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall.

Well, at least it partially uninstalls. From what I read, that's more than you can get accomplished by calling their customer service group and requesting account cancellation.

[thoughtomator]

Hey, they're only about 4 versions late...

[Cvengr]

It doesn't take a genius to realize AOL's software screws up the computer operations. When software is that unpredictable to the owner/operator, he has absolutely no sense of security or reliability in the software provider. It's a major reason we've switched to other vendors/SW systems. We also discontinued 10 year old service with the company because of their SW.

Good news to hear.

Now that this issue has been publicly brought to their attention and they have publicly asserted they are not as so alleged and they have chosen to publicly represent the professions, it seems to me that they may be liable to the public or a class action if they are fraudulant.

[Recovering Hermit]

"Fails to uninstall software completely (Unacceptable unistallation)...

There's a shocker.

Personally, my biggest pet peeve is any software that tries to sneak a Google or Yahoo search bar into my browser.

Adobe Reader and RealPlayer are two that come to mind.

RealPlayer is especially offensive because it basically hijacks your computer for anything multimedia, and also installs "RealDownload" and "RealJukebox" and other unnecessary crap.

After all of that, they actually have the balls to try to charge you for the "full" version.

[NonValueAdded]

They're only realizing this now?

[Tennessee_Bob]

AOL 9.0 is accused of 'badware behavior'

Only this version?? Geeze - all of them suck.

[ShadowAce]

[70times7]

AOL - get your internet service here if you want access to more chatrooms and other useless garbage than you ever thought possible teamed up with absurdly high prices. Just think, AOL users, you get to pay the price for those billions upon billions of CDs that make the smooth transition from letter carrier to household to landfill w/ the wrapper intact!

Has anyone else heard the recording on the net of the AOL rep that will not let the guy cancel his account? When I heard it I thought it was a humorous fake, but now I hear it is real. Anyone know?

If it is real it would not surprise me. I still get phone calls occasionally from a collector trying to get me to pay an AOL bill for an account from ~97 that I cancelled and they didn't - called and e-mailed them to end it, then closed the bank account they were drawing on. They still seem to think I owe them. The only thing they are owed is distain.

[reagan_fanatic]

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.

Bullcrap. There was no 'design flaw', it was deliberate.

AOL could at least restore a little of the trust they've lost by simply telling the truth once and awhile.

[rock_lobsta]

Paging Captain Obvious...

AOL's malware has been screwing up sheeple's computers since they went Windows. Each successive version has been more intrusive than the last. I'm sure version 10 will suck even more.

As said previously, sheeple who use AOL deserve what they get.

[antiRepublicrat]

Cleaning up after AOL is one of the non-fun things I get to do when my friends complain their computer is acting up.

[Xenalyte]

"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.

"Architect" is a noun. It is not a verb, and applying verb-type endings to it and inserting it in sentences where the verb would go won't make it so.

It's an ugly, nasty coinage and deserves our censure and mockery, as do those who use it.

(/grammar purist mode)

[CPOSharky]

AOL disks make nice targets.

[Old Professer]

ping

[Still Thinking]

"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."

Disclosure is not good enough. Uninstall should mean uninstall, disclosure or no. A user has the moral right and therefore should be assisted by his software vendor to completely remove any vestage of a certain software package from hardware he purchased with his own money, period. An ISV doesn't have the right to decide that what they want is more important than what the hardware owner wants, except that they have the right to protect their intellectual property from theft.