-Caveat Lector- This reminds me I must scan that article in the Aust mag Exposure about AOL using its software to look into your computer.That was few years ago, the software engineers who created the design were on the run for their lives for daring to tell. Also I found out the hotmail probs were because they never paid a bill! Nicky -----Original Message----- From: Jack Koenig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, 7 January 2000 19:28 Subject: [TheEagle-L] Beware of AOL 5.0! The following was provided by our friend, Bill Utterback: Source: International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/IHT/TECH/tek010300a.html AOL Upgrade Unplugs Rivals Frustrated Users Ask if ProblemWith Software Is Hijacking or Error ---------- By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Service ---------- WASHINGTON - Iris Rache, a 68-year-old real estate agent in Washington, may describe herself as a technology neophyte, but until recently she had few problems juggling her three on-line services - America Online Inc. for personal electronic mail, RCN Corp.'s Erols as a backup and a residential-property database service for work. But then she upgraded her AOL software to the new 5.0 version. ''It said, 'Just click here and we'll upgrade you to 5.' And so I clicked. And they upgraded me,'' she remembered. ''And all this other stuff got screwed up.'' She found that she could no longer log on to Erols. And that the housing database she needed that day to get some information for a client would not connect. Ms. Rache tried calling AOL but gave up after being on hold for what she described as ''forever.'' She called tech support for the real estate service and someone walked her through 40 minutes of troubleshooting, to no avail. She wound up waiting a month until a tech-savvy friend poked around her machine and tweaked some settings. She has company. Since AOL 5.0 was first released in October, technical-support call centers for major Internet service providers competing with AOL, including EarthLink Network Inc., Prodigy Communications Corp., and AT&T WorldNet, have been jammed with calls from frustrated customers reporting similar problems. At least one major Internet service provider said it was preparing a lawsuit against America Online, which is by far the largest provider in the world, with 20 million members. Most complaints appear to mirror Ms. Rache's: On a computer using a Windows operating system, non-AOL Internet software is disabled after the AOL upgrade. A few users have reported conflicts with virus software and other mysterious problems. Some have found that they can log on to their other service provider, only to be greeted with a prompt that says, ''Would you like to start AOL now?'' And some customers using AOL's discount ''Bring Your Own Access'' plan, in which another Internet provider is used for the actual connection, now have to dial up to AOL itself, incurring a $2.50 per hour surcharge under that price plan ON-LINE ''HELP'' bulletin boards on AT&T WorldNet and AOL are filled with irate AOL 5.0 complaints shot through with exclamation points. The debate has even migrated to AOL's nature photography forum, where nearly 40 percent of the 350 messages listed recently talked about possible version 5.0 bugs instead of the featured topic. One message was particularly desperate: ''After installing 5.0 É I cannot connect to my websites nor can I connect to my e-mail nor can I connect with VisualInterdev É Can someone please help me before I go out of business?'' The problem, according to technology experts, appears to be that AOL's network settings basically hijack Windows computers by overwriting their normal Internet settings in a way that causes other Internet providers' settings and software to stop working. The result takes different forms depending on which operating system is in use, Windows 95, 98 or NT; what the original setup was, what providers' software was first installed and how the user answered a critical question that AOL asks during installation. In particular, answering ''yes'' to ''Would you like this copy of the AOL software to be your default Internet application?'' apparently triggers many of the problems. An AOL spokeswoman, Anne Bentley, said that more than 7 million of the 20 million AOL subscribers had downloaded the new software and that members who had complained ''seem to be a relatively small number.'' ''We have found that a very small number in very unusual circumstances have had problems,'' she said, adding that the solution is ''a really simple fix.'' But Bill Kirkner, chief technology officer at Prodigy, said that in more than half the cases, remedying the problem is tedious and time-consuming, involving painstaking reinstalls of software. ''Sure, it is possible to fix all of these things,'' he said. ''But it can make the user's experience unpleasant.'' Mr. Kirkner said he saw little reason why AOL would have chosen not to follow industry-standard practices for Internet software in the way it had with previous versions. ''This is another example of AOL being the bully on the playground,'' he said. Frustrated AOL subscribers say the company should use have used its much bragged about easy-upgrade service to distribute warnings about and, ideally, fixes for potential problems. One subscriber, Steven Way, a psychologist from Paris, Tennessee, said, ''Each time I wanted to use anything but AOL, I would have to close 5.0, uninstall the adapters and reboot the system.'' He solved his problem by erasing AOL 5.0 and reinstalling 4.0. Thanks to you, the Impact Voters of America is now the nation's largest network of grassroots organizations. Keep ahead of the curve by visiting us at <http://www.impactnet.org/>www.impactnet.org. Our sponsor this quarter is Senitel Communications, agents for Qwest. 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