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AOL 9.0 Called Badware

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the been-called-worse dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The bad news at AOL keeps coming. First they get in trouble for releasing search data on more than half a million customers, then it gives away security software with a nasty EULA, now its free client software is accused of acting like badware according to Stopbadware.org, the Google-funded rating group."

9 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. Badware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That sounds like a term a 5 year old would come up with.

    1. Re:badware? by w33t · · Score: 5, Funny

      I prefer to call it "misunderstoodware".

      --
      My Computer Music Tutorial Videos
    2. Re:badware? by Tom+in+Boston · · Score: 5, Funny
      But it's so simple and easy to uninstall! I wrote up these instructions...

      http://websiteperson.com/advocate/uninstallaol90.h tm

      1. Go to the control panel, Add/Remove Software, and choose AOL. I think it asks you to restart after this.
      All done, right? Not yet!
      2. Follow the same steps to remove "Real Player," assuming you don't want it! (Spyware, intrusive.)
      3. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Coach." Apparently uninstalling AOL doen't uninstall this, whatever it is.
      4. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Desk Bar." Hmmm... Maybe this was the icon in the task bar?
      5. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Spyware Protection."
      6. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL Toolbar."
      7. Follow the same steps to remove "AOL You've Got Pictures Screensaver."
      I think we're almost done!
      8. Follow the same steps to remove "Pure Networks Port Magic." (What the heck is THAT?)
      9. Follow the same steps to remove "Viewpoint Experience Technology."
      Not done yet...

  2. Jessica Simpson by Andrewkov · · Score: 3, Funny

    The AOL software is down right angelic compared to the Jessica Simpson Screensaver!

  3. wtheck by kemo_by_the_kilo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Between not letting you cancel (even post mortum) and having "bad"ware... the only thing left for them to do is start including dell batteries with their CDs

  4. Re:Maybe Joe Schmoe shouldn't be using a computer. by monsterfish · · Score: 5, Funny
    He doesn't look at a PC as a car, he thinks of it as a washing machine.
    In that case... I guess I look at my car as a washingmachine, look at my PC as a car... but I just can't remember what I use my actual washingmachine for!
  5. I love it! by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Funny

    AOL is worse than malware. Malware is written with bad intent, or possibly written by Malcom Reynolds. AOL is just badware -- badly conceived, badly designed, and badly implemented.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  6. Re:Maybe Joe Schmoe shouldn't be using a computer. by mspohr · · Score: 3, Funny
    Dude! Pop Tarts are DANGEROUS with toasters...

    Lawyers and pop tarts http://www.overlawyered.com/2004/12/poptart_fire_l awsuit.html

    Flaming strawberry pop tart toaster blowtorch http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/

    The definitive word from Dave Berry: http://www.cfcl.com/vlb/Cuute/f/pop_tarts.txt

    --
    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
  7. Re:Maybe Joe Schmoe shouldn't be using a computer. by operagost · · Score: 3, Funny
    The average joe is a bit too ignorant for his own good.
    Yes, he is too ignorant. Let us, the intellectual elite, enslave these weak-minded brutes and put them to work for us!

    Seriously, I'm pretty sure most men, at least, know what they're driving. Sorry, but it's only the women I know who have had trouble recollecting certain significant details about their vehicles, such as the number of doors or when they last changed the oil.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.