AOL disabled EVERYONE'S Messenger Service

[Barry]

Without warning or any notice of what they have done, AOL has disabled
Messenger Service, which is NOT part of AOL software, and it's irreversible,
at least in my case. See
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/pcworld/20031024/tc_pcworld/113108
for more information. I need Messenger Service, and even if I didn't, I'd
want the ability to use Messenger Service. It devalues my computer to have
some mystery problem that prevents its use.

In my services menu for Messenger, "startup type" is set to automatic, and
"status" is set to started. I've tried restarting it a couple of times, and
it didn't work. At the command line, while online, I tried net send *
"Hello" and got the message "An error occurred while sending a message to
MSHOME*. System error 64 has occurred. The specified network name is no
longer available." Doing the same while offline gave me "System error 1231
has occurred. The network location cannot be reached. For information about
network troubleshooting, see Windows Help." The automatic restoration
utility that AOL provides also did not work. AOL referred me to a newsgroup.

Any help in restoring Messenger Service would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Raoul]

Firstly, don't mistakenly confuse the Messenger in Services with any form of
IM. You can probably safely change it from Automatic to Manual.

 

[Barry]

Thanks, I'll give manual a shot, but it still bothers me that automatic
doesn't work.

I was wondering if this was the appropriate newsgroup, but there seem to be
Q&A's about Messenger Service and IM. Maybe this group should be renamed
windowsxp.im or windowsxp.instantmessenger. Or is it supposed to be about
both? I joined it so long ago that I forgot.

 

[Brian W]

Barry,

I just read the article, I would complain VERY LOUDLY!!!! Don't stop at
emails, use the telephone, ask for supervisors, or supervisors of
supervisors if you need to, this is an intrusion.

If you are in a position to do so, use threats like, "I will drop your
service and call MSN or SBC", or "I'll shove this software up your a**" (OK,
maybe don't go that far )

The article says that AOL will soon be promoting this "feature" and will be
providing information to re-enable the messenger service.

Bottom line: don't stop complaining until they tell you how to re-enable the
service.

FWIW, it is this sort of Orwellian intrusion that made me dump AOL 3 years
ago.


Good luck
Brian W

 

[Barry]

Barry,

I just read the article, I would complain VERY LOUDLY!

I have, and I'm taking it to the next level. I'll be taking legal action if
AOL doesn't do certain things, which I won't specify at this time. I don't
remember what AOL's TOS said, but when you deal with any company, there is
an assumption that they will follow the standards and practices common to
their industry, to a certain extent. Just by them calling themselves an ISP,
there is an implication that they won't do something WAY out of line with
those standards and practices, unless it's explicitly stated.