AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Trixie

Trixie

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Staff member
I have a friend at work who has recently installed AOL 9.0 and has noticed that the games she plays on her computer have slowed down a lot. What's the reason, and what can she do about it?
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Get rid of AOL, or stop playing games and get to work :p
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Thanks Steve! I knew I could count on you for some good advice. ;-)

EDIT: She wanted me to ask, "what kind of a lazy ass has time to check a message board all day?" }> See why she's my friend?
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Oh, come on you guys! :p

Does she need to upgrade her computer? If so, with what?
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Thank you Christo! Unfortunately, she's not here today, so I won't have the info til next week.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Despite her computers specifications, AOL is "everything intensive" while running. I just plain hate it, but if she insists on keeping it, then get as much power as her wallet can afford (CPU & Memory) a good graphics card would not hurt either. All people like me need is a gateway to the net, but if you like all that garbage then AOL is the ISP for you, or your friend. The last version ran dog slow on a 900 MHZ computer with 256k of ram, so I know this newer version is probably the pits.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Trixie I am running AOL 9.0 on cable modem, on a 600 mhz, 512 mb ram pc. If your friend is still on dial-up, that is half of the problem right there. But, it runs fine, however AOhell (industry term) is a toy, I just use it chat and keep up with some family. All my surfing and media playing is "not" done with/through aol.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Thanks guys. I will ask her tomorrow. I know, I have AOL which I use for e-mail and chatting mainly. I just upgraded to 9.0 and I haven't noticed any real differences in how the computer is running, but I do have a cable connection. I'll get more info from her tomorrow, and I'm sure she'll appreciate the help.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

OK, she's gonna upgrade. She doesn't have much RAM, and she is on dial up, but she says she doesn't run AOL all the time, and not when she's playing the games.

She's read the advice here and really appreciates it. She's gonna try upgrading at some point in the future and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the help!
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

I'm no computer hardware engineer nor a software programmer, but I am responsible for a small network of about 15 computers at work and do quite a bit of PC freelance work for family, friends and co-workers.

Two common descriptors I see quite frequently with problem machines people ask me for help on:

Compaq

AOL

I have an older PIII-500 at home that I built and use daily that runs rings around a lot of much newer machines people ask me to work on. I've tried AOL(dial-up) a couple years ago and it was like turning my PC into a concrete paperweight. I stayed with my dialup ISP and eventually switched to cable access(Adelphia).
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

That's BULL####!!! There's absolutely no reason she should have to buy more memory because of AOL.

AOL would be using RAM ONLY if it's running in the background all the time. It's likely it's set up to start as soon as Windows starts up. The only reason it does that is to make it come up slightly faster when she logs on. It's not that big of a difference though, and it's NOT needed.

Is there an AOL icon in her system tray (the little icons on the lower right side of the screen)?

She should be able to right-click it and tell it to "Close" or "Shutdown" or something like that. That'll only last until the next time Windows starts up though. It needs to be set to NOT start every time Windows starts up. One page I found says the option is called "Autostart". Make sure it's turned off or disabled.


If nothing else, have her check her startup folder in her Start menu. If AOL is there, remove it.

I repeat, there is no need to upgrade just because of AOL.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Well in the rare instance someone would actually want to be on the internet and do other things at the same time, that memory upgrade may not be such a bad idea.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Reformat the HD and reinstall everything. You never told us what OS she was using.
 
RE: AOL 9.0 taking up too much RAM?

Windows ME is the OS.

Yes, I think she's going to get a little more RAM anyway, I'm not sure what she has (I don't think she is sure, either).
 
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