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IE7 won't work without without logging on to AOL first

K

Ken90630

Golden Member
Hey, All,

A friend of mine can't get on the Internet with IE7 unless she goes online with AOL first. This is with a fresh Windows Vista Home Premium install on a new hard drive, on an HP Touchsmart PC. ISP is Time Warner cable broadband. Only security software is SpySweeper w/anti-virus (and disabling it doesn't help the problem).

I've checked the obvious settings within IE7 and don't see anything wrong. I can't figure out why launching IE7 independently of AOL won't work. Anyone seen this or know what's causing it?
 
Originally posted by: Ken90630
Hey, All,

A friend of mine can't get on the Internet with IE7 unless she goes online with AOL first. This is with a fresh Windows Vista Home Premium install on a new hard drive, on an HP Touchsmart PC. ISP is Time Warner cable broadband. Only security software is SpySweeper w/anti-virus (and disabling it doesn't help the problem).

I've checked the obvious settings within IE7 and don't see anything wrong. I can't figure out why launching IE7 independently of AOL won't work. Anyone seen this or know what's causing it?
Click to expand...

It works fine on my friends PC who also runs AOL and Time Warner. (I should shoot him)
 
Check in IE7 that it is set to "never dial a connection" .. and personally I would remove all that AOL crap software. Most users do not realize they can do anything they want, even use an AOL home page, without the need for AOL software or branding of the browser .. You should also check that the browser is unbranded and remove the branding if present. In IE7 you must totally uninstall it and reinstall a clean non branded download of IE7 from Microsoft.
 
Second the branding issue.

Also, check that it is not looking for an AOL proxie.
 
Originally posted by: bruceb
Check in IE7 that it is set to "never dial a connection" .. and personally I would remove all that AOL crap software. Most users do not realize they can do anything they want, even use an AOL home page, without the need for AOL software or branding of the browser .. You should also check that the browser is unbranded and remove the branding if present. In IE7 you must totally uninstall it and reinstall a clean non branded download of IE7 from Microsoft.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. Good tips -- I'll check those things.

Bruceb: I like your idea about removing the AOL software. Since my friend is still probably going to want to use her AOL home page (she's used to it), as well as her AOL e-mail account, how will she 'access' those two things if I remove the AOL software? Will she just use IE7 to go to AOL.com and "sign in" or whatever? Will she be able to get the same kind of home page she's used to?

Forgive my ignorance here, but my contempt for AOL and refusal to use it myself has the unintended consequence of leaving me kinda ill-equipped to help others use it. 😛

PS: Before anyone asks, yes, I have advised her to ditch AOL entirely ... to no avail.
 
Yes .. this URL: http://www.aol.com/main.adp?adp=1

Is the AOL home page here in the US, NJ area .. should be the same throughout the US
From there you can Sign In and then use any AOL stuff you have .. you can either set the
Browser home page to it or just Bookmark it
 
Great. Thanks again. :beer:

Two last questions (I hope 😀 ):

1) If she cancels AOL entirely (stops paying for it), can I assume she won't be able to use that home page to access her AOL e-mail account anymore and use AOL's other 'personalized' home page features? If not, why would anyone pay for AOL? Or were you previously recommending uninstalling the AOL software but continuing to pay for AOL in order to keep the e-mail service and personalized home page functionality? (Yes, I realize these are prolly stupid questions. 😱 )

2) If I uninstall her AOL software, or she stops paying for AOL entirely, but she wants to keep her AOL e-mail address and continue to use that, does that e-mail access then become a Web-based e-mail client like Gmail or something? And if so, can I assume that her anti-virus and anti-spyware apps won't be able to scan incoming e-mails anymore? (That is the case with G-mail -- as a Web-based e-mail client, incoming mail is not 'scannable.' Or so I'm told by the folks at NOD32. The protection kicks in later when an infected e-mail tries to execute when the user opens it.)
 
Can't say about NOD32 .. see their home page: http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php
and maybe post that question to their forums. Her AOL Email should still be ok as should
most other services on the AOL home page. I am fairly certain, she was paying AOL for the
Access to the Internet, which she now does not need since she has Comcast. Perhaps others
who do use AOL can provide more information. As far as I know AOL mail has always been Web Based.

AOL can be used with MS Outlook or other clients by following basic steps here:

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et122204.htm
 
Originally posted by: Ken90630
Great. Thanks again. :beer:

Two last questions (I hope 😀 ):

1) If she cancels AOL entirely (stops paying for it), can I assume she won't be able to use that home page to access her AOL e-mail account anymore and use AOL's other 'personalized' home page features? If not, why would anyone pay for AOL? Or were you previously recommending uninstalling the AOL software but continuing to pay for AOL in order to keep the e-mail service and personalized home page functionality? (Yes, I realize these are prolly stupid questions. 😱 )

2) If I uninstall her AOL software, or she stops paying for AOL entirely, but she wants to keep her AOL e-mail address and continue to use that, does that e-mail access then become a Web-based e-mail client like Gmail or something? And if so, can I assume that her anti-virus and anti-spyware apps won't be able to scan incoming e-mails anymore? (That is the case with G-mail -- as a Web-based e-mail client, incoming mail is not 'scannable.' Or so I'm told by the folks at NOD32. The protection kicks in later when an infected e-mail tries to execute when the user opens it.)
Click to expand...

aol does offer free sollution if you have your own broadband access. They will still allow you to access aol features using the AOL software. That how i setted up for my grandma when she switch from aol dial up to att dsl back in 07. She wanted to keep the aol software since she was used to using it.
 
Originally posted by: bruceb
Can't say about NOD32 .. see their home page: http://www.eset.com/products/nod32.php
and maybe post that question to their forums. Her AOL Email should still be ok as should
most other services on the AOL home page. I am fairly certain, she was paying AOL for the
Access to the Internet, which she now does not need since she has Comcast. Perhaps others
who do use AOL can provide more information. As far as I know AOL mail has always been Web Based.

AOL can be used with MS Outlook or other clients by following basic steps here:

http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et122204.htm
Click to expand...

Well, if she was paying AOL for actual Web access, then I guess it makes sense she wouldn't be able to get online without going thru AOL first. AOL must have some 'arrangement' with Time Warner then that won't let users get online via IE7 and Time Warner itself. I guess I'll need to call Time Warner myself next week.

Thanks for that link for setting AOL up with Outlook. That may come in handy.

Thanks again for all the info. :beer:

 
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