Problems starting applications after using AOL 9

I have been having problems opening applications on my computer such as Internet Explorer, word and avast after using AOL 9. When i boot the computer everything is fine but as soon as i log onto AOL everything breaks down. When i ask a program to start the cursor changes to a loading sign but then changes back to normal again and nothing opens. This happens for every program on my computer. After a while AOL just stops responding and i have to end the program. Sometimes, after this happens all the programs i asked to open, open simultainesly. Other times i have to reboot the computer to open the programs. I have tried re-installing AOL but the same problem persists. I cannot change ISP as i am relying on an existing account in AOL. I have recently changed firewalls if this makes a difference.

Alex

 

Alex, it would help if you specified the OS and the Firewalls, both the old one and the new one.

After a while AOL just stops responding and i have to end the program. Sometimes, after this happens all the programs i asked to open, open simultainesly. Other times i have to reboot the computer to open the programs.
In general, the symptoms seem to indicate conflicting software and heavy memory usage.

If the OS is XP, than it would be safe to try disabling your firewall and enabling XP's to see if that is a problem.

I don't use AOL, but do know that it has added a great many security functions, and those may be conflicting with others that you've installed.

Lot's of possibilities here.

Regards - Charles

 

I use XP home but i have heard that the firewall is not very effective at keeping out nasties on the Internet or a LAN. I was using ZoneAlarm but have recently changed to Sygate PF. According to task manager there are no processes eating up the memory and i have perfectly enough to handle these kinds of programs (1gb).

symptoms seem to indicate conflicting software
The reason i changed firewalls was because my old copy of ZoneAlarm became corrupted and was not functioning properly. There are no files left over, but is there a possibility that ZoneAlarm has not properly uninstalled?

Why can't computers just be simple, like toasters?

 

Hi Alex,

i have heard that the firewall is not very effective at keeping out nasties on the Internet or a LAN.
Not true, WF is perfectly capable, its shortcomming is lack of outbound control.

In any case, in order to have a shot at narrowing this down, you should confirm or eliminate that the firewall is or is not the problem.

What other internet security apps do you use? Examples: a popup blocker, SpyBot's Teatimer, SpywareBlaster, Spywarequard, and so on.

Regards - Charles

 

I use the following Anti virus & anti spyware programs:

AOL Spyware protection
Ad-Aware SE
Spybot (i do not use teatimer)
HijackThis
AOL Default popup blocker
RegCleaner
CWSshredder
Sygate PF
Avast

In the past i have used AVG anti-V, Spyware doctor, spysubtract, ZoneAlarm

I like to make sure that everything is kept at tip-top condition as you can see.

 

Alex
This may sound like a **** thing to say but I’m glad someone else is experiencing this problem.

I’ve been going around in circles with this one for months now. Exactly the same symptoms and more importantly something until now I hadn’t considered.

I installed AOL9 three months ago for about a week but then uninstalled it. Ever since I’ve been unable to start applications after I use dialup networking.
If I wait 5 minutes before I use anything it seems to work ok. If I forget and use an application the system will come back eventually after 5-10 minutes.

I can only think AOL has replaced some drivers because this defiantly smells like a software issue.

 

OK I don’t believe it but I think I may have fixed the problem.

It’s 2am so anything could still go wrong by the time I get up in the morning.

I just spent the last 5 hours trying all the possible settings in dialup networking but nothing seemed to fix the problem.

Finally I went into the "network setup wizard" in "network connections" and redid the home networking setup to be

“Directly connected to the internet and no network yetâ€

This was on the second page of options after the introduction. On the first page of options choose "other" then click on next. I think it’s the second option down. Go through the rest, don’t worry about a setup disk just finish and reboot your machine.

Obviously this will disable any home networking you have setup but at least the dialup now works. If you need to add any networking try adding it after and see if the problem stays away.

Tried dialing in six times now and haven’t had the problem since.

I’m going to bed!

 

Tears

Its all gone horribly wrong. That didn’t work after all, back on the case.

 

I should be shot

Well i found out what was wrong. I should really be shot for this . After installing AOL 9 i installed Syagte P firewall. Thats when i started using AOL. The thing is i forgot to turn off Windows firewall. Evertime i used the net both firewalls went head to head with each other trying to tell programs what and what not to do. This caused compatibility problems which meant that everything stopped!
Hope this helps you!

Easy mistake to make eh!?

 

Thx. I'll try that. Let you know what happens.