AOL Question

[xane]

For anyone who is using AOL, specifically their e-mail.

I have to inform a semi-computer-literate person how to change the reply-to address in their AOL e-mail, in step by step instructions.

I don't have AOL installed, so if someone out there does, or knows, can they be kind enough to give the instructions so I can relay them on.

TIA

 

[WPKenny]

I hate AOL. I mean REALLY hate AOL.

If you're not in a rush, I'll have a poke around on my dad's pc and write down what steps you take but I dunno the next time I'm going round.

Last time I was round there, I wanted to share the net connection with my mum's pc on the other side of the room. So we got the crossover cable sorted, plugged in, got the pc's talking, logged onto AOL, shared the connect etc etc. Everything was going great. Till I logged off...and tried to log on again.

It turns out that AOL creates a fresh network connection each time it connects via BB. So basically each time my mum would like to connect to the net via my dad's pc, he's have to go to the hassle of sharing the net again. Now with a step by step walk through of how to do this, my dad could manage it but there's no hope in hell my mum could. I went to AOL's live help for assitance but I may as well not have feckin bothered since instead of actually answering my question they just cut and pasted section of the FAQ's and readme files which I told them I'd already read. Their next response was to cut a paste a "Can't help you! Phone this number...." message.

Utter cnuts AOL are. Their "user friendly" environment is completely alien to me. Nothing makes sense. If you want to access your FTP space, you have to type in the keyword FTP and then go through a couple of menus before getting a screen showing your FTP space but has less functionality than a twig and even something as simple as deleting a file...you'd thing you just press "DELETE" wouldn't you? Nope, you have to go through at least 3 menus to delete a file. Fucking shit.

 

[Xavier]

I found the same but figured a bodge round it quite quickly.

When AOL dials up, copy+paste the dialup connection it creates and use that to dial out instead. Then once your DUN connection is established fire up AOL and depending on the client version it should connect to their service without trying to dial out. There's a setting or two elsewhere you need to bodge to get it working properly but their preferences system is pretty simple, it wouldn't take long to spot.

Xav

 

[WPKenny]

Hmmm.

I might try that. AOL's preference system is fairly easy to get around and you can tell it to look for a net connection and use that to log onto AOL before it attempts to dial in itself.

 

[xane]

I connected to mt friends PC last night via Remote Assistance and had a poke around, can't see anything in the mail settings that can change the Reply-To address

If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated.

 

[Tom]

I don't quite understand all this anger toward AOL. Its marketed as a safe, easy tool to access the internet, and download your email. I know a few people with it, and they're very happy with what they get. Its only when people try to do more technical things with it, that it falls over, but it was never really designed for that?

 

[xane]

AOL is an absolute godsend for those with younger kids who dont want to clean up all the adult shite every month or so.

 

[Xavier]

You can do a pretty similar job with a decent firewall and a 'guardian app'. My big problem with AOL is that they still use funny network transports and proxy the TCP/IP connection somewhere within their infrastructure, the net result being that a lot of online games need a LOT of tweaking to get kind of pings you'd expect from similar products offered by other ISPs.