A Way to Disable AOL Monitoring?

K

KennyFlys

Guest
On occasion, I still use AOL. Other than that, its constant badgering to upgrade is a pain. I'm fed up with a POS software that's so heavy on graphics and zero on value other than limited contact with a few friends.

Is there a means of disabling the waol.exe, aolacsd.exe and aolsoftware.exe other than forcing a shut down in the Task Manager?
 
When you say AOL, do you mean AOL Instant Messenger, if so..just un-install it and use a third party client like http://www.pidgin.im/
 
AFAIK, you should be able to get anything you need at AOL over a web browser to http://aol.com You don't need no steenkeng AOL software.
 
Jesse, It's not AIM.

Mike, The only thing I use it for is to join a Christian singles chatroom on AOL with folks I've known for some ten years. I don't know of another way to get into the chat rooms without having the actual AOL software installed. I just want to disable it during those times I'm not using it which is 98% of the time.
 
KennyFlys said:
Jesse, It's not AIM.

Mike, The only thing I use it for is to join a Christian singles chatroom on AOL with folks I've known for some ten years. I don't know of another way to get into the chat rooms without having the actual AOL software installed. I just want to disable it during those times I'm not using it which is 98% of the time.
Click to expand...

I used to work for AOL Technical support.

WAOL.exe is a constant background program, and it cannot be disabled without uninstalling AOL or applying hacks.

AOLACSD.exe is the "AOL Connectivity Service," which keeps you signed in should you lose connectivity to AOL while you are browsing. Unfortunately, without hacks, you cannot disable this process unless you uninstall AOL.

AOLSOFTWARE.exe is the systray for AOL. You can disable this from your startup processes in msconfig.

My suggestion? Stop being a noob and ditch AOL. Make the switch to hotmail and you'll never look back. Hotmail is about as noobish, but at least you won't have your computer hijacked with horribly written software.

Special note: Uninstalling AOL leaves garbage in your registry. Sorry, you can't easily remove it. AOL is like that. They'd like to tell you to suck it, but there is no Indian word that conveys that expression properly.
 
Sounds like some good advice, Nick!
And Kenny, if after ten years they're still single, doesn't that say something? LOL! :) Help them set up CSoA and free them from AOHell!
 
SkyHog said:
I used to work for AOL Technical support.

WAOL.exe is a constant background program, and it cannot be disabled without uninstalling AOL or applying hacks.

AOLACSD.exe is the "AOL Connectivity Service," which keeps you signed in should you lose connectivity to AOL while you are browsing. Unfortunately, without hacks, you cannot disable this process unless you uninstall AOL.

AOLSOFTWARE.exe is the systray for AOL. You can disable this from your startup processes in msconfig.

My suggestion? Stop being a noob and ditch AOL. Make the switch to hotmail and you'll never look back. Hotmail is about as noobish, but at least you won't have your computer hijacked with horribly written software.

Special note: Uninstalling AOL leaves garbage in your registry. Sorry, you can't easily remove it. AOL is like that. They'd like to tell you to suck it, but there is no Indian word that conveys that expression properly.
Click to expand...

I worked for AOL's Customer Service and I agree with the above 100%.

Take it from the guys who worked there, we were in the belly of the beast, AOL is the devil in disguise and its NOT worth keeping on your system.
 
BenZwebner said:
I worked for AOL's Customer Service and I agree with the above 100%.

Take it from the guys who worked there, we were in the belly of the beast, AOL is the devil in disguise and its NOT worth keeping on your system.
Click to expand...

Hey there fellow former CCCer!

Which call center did you work in?

Funny enough, I do a phenominal impression of the "Member Payment" whisper :D
 
SkyHog said:
Hey there fellow former CCCer!

Which call center did you work in?

Funny enough, I do a phenominal impression of the "Member Payment" whisper :D
Click to expand...

there was a period of around 2-3 years that they Outsourced to Israel.
I started in the first Israel group of Retention Agents, then I went to Outgoing sales in QA then I came back to the phones for Customer Service and Billing. The call center was located in Jerusalem, Israel.

With the money I made there I paid for my PPL! :D
 
BenZwebner said:
there was a period of around 2-3 years that they Outsourced to Israel.
I started in the first Israel group of Retention Agents, then I went to Outgoing sales in QA then I came back to the phones for Customer Service and Billing. The call center was located in Jerusalem, Israel.

With the money I made there I paid for my PPL! :D
Click to expand...

Ahh, that must have been after I "left" AOL. My departure was not pretty, lol.

At that time, however, the only non-American call center we had was in the Phillipines. We outsourced to some place in Seattle, IIRC. I worked in "PRV" which was "Pay Reserves." Was a healthy mix of Billing and Technical support. I still hear the whisper in my nightmares. I told enough people "I'm sorry you didn't read your credit card statement for the last 5 years, but I'm only crediting back 2 months" enough times that I'm pretty sure I could still argue that point successfully to this day.

Also - I was there during the joy of the SOSA and the fun of telling someone "I'm sorry your BYOA account doesn't come with any dialup time. Maybe you shouldn't have tried to scam AOL out of $10/month."

You're in Israel....awesome. Keep the fight :D BTW, if I missed your official "Hi guys" post, welcome to PoA!!
 
SkyHog said:
Ahh, that must have been after I "left" AOL. My departure was not pretty, lol.

At that time, however, the only non-American call center we had was in the Phillipines. We outsourced to some place in Seattle, IIRC. I worked in "PRV" which was "Pay Reserves." Was a healthy mix of Billing and Technical support. I still hear the whisper in my nightmares. I told enough people "I'm sorry you didn't read your credit card statement for the last 5 years, but I'm only crediting back 2 months" enough times that I'm pretty sure I could still argue that point successfully to this day.

Also - I was there during the joy of the SOSA and the fun of telling someone "I'm sorry your BYOA account doesn't come with any dialup time. Maybe you shouldn't have tried to scam AOL out of $10/month."

You're in Israel....awesome. Keep the fight :D BTW, if I missed your official "Hi guys" post, welcome to PoA!!
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I live in the USA now, moved back here a little more than a year ago.

But please dont say BYOA, Bundle, TigerDirect, Content Provider, W.I.N's, or any other brainwashing sales stuff... brings back bad memories!

I worked there between 2005 and late 2006. I had the highest M.S.I. score out of anyone but i always felt like crap after i convinced somone to keep a service that they called to cancel.

My favorite "Save", was a woman who called to cancel her AOL out of spite to her husband who was using the internet for activities that a 16 yr old boy would use it for (if you get my drift). So I said...

"Ma'am, I understand your concern 100%. Here is what WE are going to do. Are you in front of your computer? Good. Type in KeyWord "Parental Controls". Good, now using your admin rights, lets set some parental control locks on your husbands account, because when your husband behaves like a kid, he needs some parenting, right?"

She loved it and kept her AOL.

Ah memories of dark times! they paid well tho, at least that!
 
I used to tell clients who wanted to cancel AOL to write down the phrase, "Please cancel my AOL account," and to respond with that phrase no matter what the retention agent said.
 
RJM62 said:
I used to tell clients who wanted to cancel AOL to write down the phrase, "Please cancel my AOL account," and to respond with that phrase no matter what the retention agent said.
Click to expand...

I had a few of those calls. I never bothered with trying to "save" them. Not worth my time and effort.

Legally, all anyone needed to do, was let the rep verify that you are the true owner, say "Cancel my account" and then hang up the phone. by law, AOL would then be required to cancel it. The problem is that most people want to HEAR a confirmation of some sort, so they would get sucked in to the whole call flow that AOL has in an effort to put the customer in a corner with only one logical option, keeping the account open.
 
gprellwitz said:
Sounds like some good advice, Nick!
And Kenny, if after ten years they're still single, doesn't that say something? LOL! :) Help them set up CSoA and free them from AOHell!
Click to expand...
Nawww... I can't leave them entirely. Several had been married and resolved to remain single for the rest of their lives. Some folks, you can't move all that easy toward change. I first met a couple folks in 1995 and had personal meets in 1996. In 2006, a group of us last met up in Pigeon Forge when I flew up there. So, too many old friends to leave behind.

I don't use AOL for any more than those few contacts in a chat room. I still get junk to that email but my primary emails are with Google and Time Warner.

I'll probably just continue to terminate those apps in the Task Manager when I don't need AOL.
 
KennyFlys said:
Nawww... I can't leave them entirely. Several had been married and resolved to remain single for the rest of their lives. Some folks, you can't move all that easy toward change. I first met a couple folks in 1995 and had personal meets in 1996. In 2006, a group of us last met up in Pigeon Forge when I flew up there. So, too many old friends to leave behind.

I don't use AOL for any more than those few contacts in a chat room. I still get junk to that email but my primary emails are with Google and Time Warner.

I'll probably just continue to terminate those apps in the Task Manager when I don't need AOL.
Click to expand...
Well, if you don't want to set up an alternative board you can migrate everyone to, a la PoA, how about uninstall AOHell, set up a VM, and install it in there. That way it's in its own little nasty corner and won't run unless you start the VM.

Alternatively, you could write a batch/shell script that would use a kill or net command to kill the services. I admit, I don't know precisely how they work, but if they can be terminated from the task manager, it ought to be possible to terminate them programmatically. The hard part might be restarting them, but that could probably be done via reboot.
 
BenZwebner said:
My favorite "Save", was a woman who called to cancel her AOL out of spite to her husband who was using the internet for activities that a 16 yr old boy would use it for (if you get my drift). So I said...

"Ma'am, I understand your concern 100%. Here is what WE are going to do. Are you in front of your computer? Good. Type in KeyWord "Parental Controls". Good, now using your admin rights, lets set some parental control locks on your husbands account, because when your husband behaves like a kid, he needs some parenting, right?"

She loved it and kept her AOL.

Ah memories of dark times! they paid well tho, at least that!
Click to expand...

Dude, you know that you bought yourself 6 months in Hell for that right?

"Ma'am, could you send a picture of yourself"...:yikes:..."Ma'am, do you still get laid? You do? Ma'am, you may want to let your hubby keep the porn if you want to keep getting any...." THAT'S how a Mensch handles it....:smilewinkgrin:
 
RJM62 said:
I used to tell clients who wanted to cancel AOL to write down the phrase, "Please cancel my AOL account," and to respond with that phrase no matter what the retention agent said.
Click to expand...

I found it easier to just quit paying the bill. I had free internet through AOL for over 2 years before they finally shut it off.
 
Henning said:
I found it easier to just quit paying the bill. I had free internet through AOL for over 2 years before they finally shut it off.
Click to expand...

How did you do that? AOL requires direct payment either through a credit card, checking account, or on your phone bill.

You don't have the option to "not pay," they take the money.
 
SkyHog said:
How did you do that? AOL requires direct payment either through a credit card, checking account, or on your phone bill.

You don't have the option to "not pay," they take the money.
Click to expand...

Closed the account the card was linked to. AOL was never too bright.
 
I have a son who got AOL when I bought him a computer. Later, he asked me how to get them to stop billing him. I phoned customer service and told them to stop. Several minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a computer any more." At least 20 minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a telephone line any more." Even more alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a job any more." It took over an hour on the phone to get them to agree to let him out of AOL.
 
AuntPeggy said:
I have a son who got AOL when I bought him a computer. Later, he asked me how to get them to stop billing him. I phoned customer service and told them to stop. Several minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a computer any more." At least 20 minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a telephone line any more." Even more alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a job any more." It took over an hour on the phone to get them to agree to let him out of AOL.
Click to expand...

Which is why I quit my job there.

Believe me, I was good at those "alternate suggestions" but at some point, I just felt realy ****ty about the work I was doing. Never again will i go back to telemarketing!
 
AuntPeggy said:
I have a son who got AOL when I bought him a computer. Later, he asked me how to get them to stop billing him. I phoned customer service and told them to stop. Several minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a computer any more." At least 20 minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a telephone line any more." Even more alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a job any more." It took over an hour on the phone to get them to agree to let him out of AOL.
Click to expand...

Billing hated retention. Probably still that way. The secret is you call Saves, and tell them you want to cancel, and just refuse to admit to anything they offer.... a simple "No" after everything they say works fine.

Then call Billing and verify that Saves canceled. If they didn't, it was pretty serious, from my understanding.
 
I never was quite sure what, exactly, AOL had to offer that would make anyone want it. I've always found it to be slow, annoying, klunky, and buggy. But I do have to give them credit for patience.

Many years ago, I was given a lifetime free AOL account. I forget exactly why I was given the account, but I never used it. Never even installed the software, in fact. A few weeks ago, just out of curiosity, I logged into it from someone else's computer (amazingly, I remembered the screen name and guessed the right password on the first try); and sure enough, the account was still active. Had a bunch of mail in there, too, some from many years ago.

-Rich
 
gprellwitz said:
Well, if you don't want to set up an alternative board you can migrate everyone to, a la PoA, how about uninstall AOHell, set up a VM, and install it in there. That way it's in its own little nasty corner and won't run unless you start the VM.

Alternatively, you could write a batch/shell script that would use a kill or net command to kill the services. I admit, I don't know precisely how they work, but if they can be terminated from the task manager, it ought to be possible to terminate them programmatically. The hard part might be restarting them, but that could probably be done via reboot.
Click to expand...
I would be glad to see them move but a fella who has faithfully hosted the chat room for all these years will remain there. No proselytizing, just good, clean, fun chat for whomever showed up. It would always be in the "Town Square" section which was primarily "m4m" rooms. I'm not bashing that choice. Some would come into our room, stay and be decent toward the users while others would cause havoc. A few were shocked at how they were kindly treated regardless of what their profile may have represented. So, my friend will keep the chat room there.

As for a batch file that can kill those apps, I'm guessing you mean run some kind of autoexec file that would terminate them? I have no clue how to do that task but agree it should be possible to accomplish the same thing that is done in the Task Manager.
 
KennyFlys said:
As for a batch file that can kill those apps, I'm guessing you mean run some kind of autoexec file that would terminate them? I have no clue how to do that task but agree it should be possible to accomplish the same thing that is done in the Task Manager.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't put it in autoexec, unless you had it pop up a query, or it would always shut it down. But given a prompt, yeah, autoexec would work well.
 
gprellwitz said:
I wouldn't put it in autoexec, unless you had it pop up a query, or it would always shut it down. But given a prompt, yeah, autoexec would work well.
Click to expand...
Actually, since these files automatically install upon start-up, that may be the way to go. I'd need it to delay toward the end of start up so that process would take place after those files started.
 
AuntPeggy said:
I have a son who got AOL when I bought him a computer. Later, he asked me how to get them to stop billing him. I phoned customer service and told them to stop. Several minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a computer any more." At least 20 minutes of alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a telephone line any more." Even more alternate suggestions. I replied, "He doesn't have a job any more." It took over an hour on the phone to get them to agree to let him out of AOL.
Click to expand...
I dropped AOL coincident with my credit card being renewed. I just didn't tell them about the new expiration date. They called requesting it, I refused to give it to them, and we were done.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
I dropped AOL coincident with my credit card being renewed. I just didn't tell them about the new expiration date. They called requesting it, I refused to give it to them, and we were done.

-Skip
Click to expand...
I tried that once with a subscription. They phoned the bank and got my new expiration date.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top