Kill AOL Noise

cdudey · 01-17-2008, 09:28 AM

I am an engineer and find AOL one of the most user-hostile programs (and companies) that I have ever used. However, my wife thinks it is better than anything else she has used, so it is here to stay on her PC. Internet Explorer or any freeware browser or email program is not an acceptable substitute to her.

Although AOL 9.0 and 9.0 VR provide SOME settings options to suppress SOME popups and other annoying content, including from AOL, there is still a HUGE amount of uninvited and unwanted content (news, weather, ads, etc.) displayed in the AOL browser window. Involuntary downloading all this crap takes a lot of time at dialup speeds when first logging on. Paying still more for Broadband is not acceptable, either. Having to look at it on the welcome window adds insult to injury.

I want to use every trick in the book to SUPPRESS as much of that junk as possible.

I am referring to dirty tricks such as modifying Registry entries and using a Hex Editor to modify AOL executable, .DLL, and .INI files. These are the only things AOL canNOT prevent, once I get my hands on their software.

I would like to simply SUPPRESS DISPLAY of everything except ligitimate user information such as email and favorites. I have no use for Instant Messaging, Videos, Internet Radio, Channels, and toolbar buttons for shopping/money/entertainment/sports etc.

Some things such as NEW undocumented Registry keys or values to be ADDED, I simply have no way of discovering on my own.

Of course, to be useful, this must be done in such a way that it does NOT cause AOL to crash or even display time-wasting error messages I must click to dismiss.

I don’t want to re-invent the wheel if anyone has already done any or all of this. HAS anyone?

Does anyone know where AOL INTERNALS are publicly documented?

**koala** · 01-18-2008, 06:13 AM

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cdudey · 01-21-2008, 10:45 AM

I obviously was not suggesting anything illegal. Particularly, I was not intending to circumvent any security measures.
But I can certainly understand your position, now that I am aware of your viewpoint. Sorry if I upset anybody.

01-17-2008, 09:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
cdudey Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 2 OS: WinXP	Kill AOL Noise I am an engineer and find AOL one of the most user-hostile programs (and companies) that I have ever used. However, my wife thinks it is better than anything else she has used, so it is here to stay on her PC. Internet Explorer or any freeware browser or email program is not an acceptable substitute to her. Although AOL 9.0 and 9.0 VR provide SOME settings options to suppress SOME popups and other annoying content, including from AOL, there is still a HUGE amount of uninvited and unwanted content (news, weather, ads, etc.) displayed in the AOL browser window. Involuntary downloading all this crap takes a lot of time at dialup speeds when first logging on. Paying still more for Broadband is not acceptable, either. Having to look at it on the welcome window adds insult to injury. I want to use every trick in the book to SUPPRESS as much of that junk as possible. I am referring to dirty tricks such as modifying Registry entries and using a Hex Editor to modify AOL executable, .DLL, and .INI files. These are the only things AOL canNOT prevent, once I get my hands on their software. I would like to simply SUPPRESS DISPLAY of everything except ligitimate user information such as email and favorites. I have no use for Instant Messaging, Videos, Internet Radio, Channels, and toolbar buttons for shopping/money/entertainment/sports etc. Some things such as NEW undocumented Registry keys or values to be ADDED, I simply have no way of discovering on my own. Of course, to be useful, this must be done in such a way that it does NOT cause AOL to crash or even display time-wasting error messages I must click to dismiss. I don’t want to re-invent the wheel if anyone has already done any or all of this. HAS anyone? Does anyone know where AOL INTERNALS are publicly documented?

01-21-2008, 10:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
cdudey Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 2 OS: WinXP	Re: Kill AOL Noise I obviously was not suggesting anything illegal. Particularly, I was not intending to circumvent any security measures. But I can certainly understand your position, now that I am aware of your viewpoint. Sorry if I upset anybody.