AOL freezes

You're Welcome rswc90!

Just in case you may have missed a file or folder, and as you are comfortable with uninstalling, and reinstalling AOL, perhaps you would like to follow my intructions in this document How To Manually Uninstall/Reinstall AOL .

From the AOL Macintosh Downloads Page, download the All-In-One Software AOL® for Mac OS X.

If you have any questions, repost.

ali b

Hi rswc90!

Sign off and quit AOL.
Navigate to HD > Users > Your Account > Library > Preferences > America Online > Profiles.
From there, move the folder, with the Screen Name of the problem account, to the Trash. Don't empty yet.

Load AOL.
On the AOL Menubar, from the AOL contextual menu, select Preferences.
Reset all of the preferences, and when finished with all screens, click on OK.
Sign on to AOL, and see if the issue is corrected.

If so, you can empty the Trash.
If not, there are some other measures to try.

ali b

You're Welcome rswc90!

Ah shucks, I'm blushin' here!

But I do know a few AOL tricks, and here's one.

AOL benefits from a little tidying up occasionally.

In AOL Preferences > WWW > Display: Click on Empty Cache.
When that is completed, click on Cookies and click on Remove All Cookies.
Still in AOL Preferences, from the side menu, click on Filing Cabinet.
Click on Compact Personal Filing Cabinet Now.
Again from the side menu, click on Toolbar.
Then click on Clear History Trail Now.
After you have finished going through those screens, click on OK.

And if you have additional troubles with AOL, repost, and I'll be happy to assist you.

ali b

I hope Ali B sees this posting. Looks like you are the AOL Whiz. I am new to posting, and as other newbies have asked, please forgive my inexperience. When I saw rsw90's dilemma, it hit a nerve. I have been an AOL member for decades as well, and have had to deal with cross-platform issues and file cabinet incompatibilities as I went from being an MAC man since 1984 to being forced to the Dark Side by business demands and returned to sanity. The problem is that AOL has seriously neglected MAC, and I seek the mercy of the enlightened about how to navigate this minefield.

In August, my file cabinet (AOL 10.3.7) stopped allowing me to save inbox mail to my personalized file folders using the "save to" button. I communicated with some very lame AOL personnel in Mumbai who promised to escalate the ticket, and I never got any sensible help. Then, the file cabinet froze up and shut down my AOL every time I tried to access. AOL help was useless. It was then that they told me that AOL doesn't automatically back up the file cabinet for MAC as they do for PC users and told me to accept the file cabinet was "corrupted" and "unrecoverable" -- something I cannot accept because there were over 20,000 saved e-mails that have serious impact legally.

As it turns out, the signs were there earlier that the file cabinet was becoming unstable due to the storage volume and I could have protected this by transferring or deleting. I could also have been instructed how to back up externally if they had thought to tell me. Another interesting fact is that the corruption only affected my main user sign-on ID, and none of the others.

Nevertheless, I made copies of the file cabinet that was inaccessible in the desperate hope that someone out there could help me move them to another program and open them, or repair the corruption. I learned from Ali B's posting how to install AOL Service Assistant, which touted that it can open corrupt file cabinets in Mail, but I'm not figgerin' well. I did set up the IMAP for my current AOL, but it only imported the file folders from my current AOL File Cabinet (post-crash e-mails) -- none of the contents. It did start importing my inbox, however. What I am hoping is that I may be able to set up a separate Mail account where I can attempt to import the saved corrupt File Cabinet and plan for the big celebration.

Any ideas?