If you are connecting to the internet via telephone modem (i.e., 56K or
less), then you might try uninstalling and reinstalling the AOL software. I
had AOL for about a decade and it was sometimes tempermental. I recall
having to uninstall/reinstall several times. Note that AOL also supports a
"parallel" installation, which is primarily intended for upgrades, but can
be used with the same verison.
You could also try contacting AOL support. But, the quality of their
support has been going downhill for some years, so I would not count on much
from them. I gave up on them a few years back, shortly after the so-called
"security" version of AOL9 would not work on my PC and their user support
was better called "useless support".
If you have a high-speed connection to the internet, then try using any
browser other than the AOL browser. For a while I had AOL in parallel with
Comcast cable, and the AOL interface was slower and more quirky than plain
Internet Explorer or Firefox.
Finally, it is pretty clear that AOL has decided to change from being
primarily a dial-up ISP to some sort of add-supported web-based something or
other. The details of their new business model are fuzzy to me, but they
have been laying off thousands over that past few years. See the following
links, or simply do a Google search on "AOL layoff":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14169456/
http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/blogs/living-loco/2007/oct/15/aols-falco-says-2000-layoffs/
Thus, you might want to start thinking about some other ISP, even if you
must stick with dial-up.
