Dumping AOL -- need advice - Democratic Underground

grasswire

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Fri Jul-18-03 01:21 PM
Original message

Dumping AOL -- need advice

I'm going to make the leap off AOL after eight years. I need some information.

Are the files (txt, jpg, bmp) that I have stored on my hard drive under their download feature going to still be available once I discontinue the service?

They ARE on my hard drive, after all.

But will they be accessible to me?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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waywest

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Fri Jul-18-03 01:34 PM
Response to Original message

1. protect your address book

Email yourself on another email address (yahoo, hotmail eg.)include all addresses so you can put them in the new address book. It's easy to forget that it is AOL's address book. They (support)
will be even less help when you won't be paying them anymore.
Good luck!

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NJCher

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Fri Jul-18-03 01:40 PM
Response to Original message

2. congratulations

On getting rid of AOL. As a college instructor who teaches hybrid courses (part online, part classroom), I receive many emails from students and the ones who have AOL are always a problem. Their papers have funny symbols, don't come through and there are all sorts of other bugs.

Cher

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grasswire

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Fri Jul-18-03 01:52 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. thanks

.....still hoping someone who has done this will know about the downloaded files.

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Warren Stuart

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Fri Jul-18-03 01:58 PM
Response to Original message

4. Format your hard drive, reinstall the OS

It's nearly imposssible for the average person to remove all of the registry entries that AOL puts onto your computer.

Microsoft recommends reinstalling the OS on an annual basis, this is crazy but it solves a lot of problems. You will have to reinstall all of your apps, be sure to save all of your data (easier said than done). Since you are dumping your ISP, you won't have to bother with those settings (this was always the hardest thing for me to do when my hard drive crashed).

Good luck!

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dpbrown

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Fri Jul-18-03 02:04 PM
Response to Original message

5. If they're in a folder on your hard drive

And you can access that folder through your system hierarchy, then you'll have access to the non-proprietary format files you have stored there.

I haven't used AOL for some years, but I recall that they used to have a proprietary image format called .art and that other programs couldn't open it. However, any other file that resides on your hard drive and is not proprietary to a certain program will be available to you afterwards, if my experience is any guide.

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Wed May 01st 2024, 07:14 AM
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