How to COMPLETLY remove AOL from a system???????

#1 Mr.Guvernment

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 02:40 AM

Hey all,

i do tech support and keep getting customers who ditched AOL - but u know how they leave in all that extra crap even after uninstalling it.. i was curious if any one knew of a guide, or site or a way to completly remove ever last file that AOL puts on your system, remove all adapters it puts in etc etc

But this is also something that simple minded people will need to be able to do, so not much 3rd party software can be involved...

So, any info or leads would be great, a search on google did not do much for me.

#2 clutch

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 03:05 AM

Um, format?

Outside of that, it's going to be a pain. I know that modified versions of IE can sometimes leave parts behind and make upgrades fussy. I wouldn't know of any "clean" ways to remove AOL from a box other than formatting.

#3 Mr.Guvernment

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 05:36 AM

argh! i figured as well

thas what i told a customer - but then i had him get IE 6 SP1 and it seemed to have fixed the problem he was having

His comp was still looking for AOL as the defualt browser even asfter setting IE as it.

argh! must find full info!

#4 sapiens74

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 05:39 AM

i believe if you remove it then reapply all the SP's you should be ok

#5 CheekyMonkey

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 08:02 PM

Then your customer's problem was with his browser, not with stray AOL components. If you install a version of AOL that needs a browser version higher than what is currently on the computer it will upgrade it (with the same thing you get from MS) and the horrific change that they make is that it now says "Provided by AOL" and the little icon is AOL's symbol, not the "MS Flag". Neither of those changes affect the browser in any way. So, again, if he was having a problem with the browser it was in deed a problem with the browser, not with the fact that he has now or had in the past the AOL software.

#6 CheekyMonkey

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Posted 14 November 2002 - 08:06 PM

Oh, BTW, I have been provisding tech support for about 5 year now too. And if their unnstaller leaves anything at all on the computer it would be in /program files/common files

But those files still would not affect the browser.

Umm....do you work for MSN?

#7 Mr.Guvernment

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Posted 17 November 2002 - 02:14 AM

Quote:

hene work for MSN no. and form what i have heard AOL leaves FAR more then a few files in your common files area.

This is why i am searching around for some answers.
Even after you uninstall it it leaves it's virtual adapters in place often - but i think they recently changed that. I am thinking that this customer had used an older version of AOL. as apply SP1 to IE 6 seemed to fix the issue.

BUt even as the customer said every time he click on a link it would ask him to connect via AOL - but i am also thinking he did not properly uninstall it, even though it was not in his add /remove.