Windows 2000 and AOL 7

I'm having a problem with AOL 7. Whenever I try to activate a program's internet help within that program, AOL won't activate.
Instead, it hangs and when I close the program, the aol box turns white and there is nothing for me to do but quit aol by using control/alt/delete. Does anyone know why this is happening? I access the internet with cable, and it seems to particularly happen with Norton antivirus update and The Print Shop 12. Any thoughts on how I can fix settings to activate from within these programs?

Thanks

 

Log on to AOL as usual. Once you have completed the connection (and hear "welcome ") minimize AOL and open Internet explorer. Presto, you have full functionality.

 

yes, i know if I am already on AOL then I have no problem. My question is if I choose not to be logged on, why some programs won't access aol. It happens with the programs above. I was just curious.

Thanks for your time.

 

First of all if you have a cable modem I don't know why in the world you want to interact with the internet through AOL. But if you do, did you tell AOL to be your default web browser?
If you did and you insist on using AOL then you will have to set AOL to auto log on.