AOL DDOS?

vsp · 03-23-2003, 01:08 PM

Ahem.

* AOL sucks,
* Microsoft sucks,
* But you knew that already.

Dad called today -- his web browsing is still fried. (AOL 7, Windows ME, neither of which I am the least bit fond of.) A friend of his upgraded to Windows XP and that solved the problem; he was encouraged by this until I explained that doing so would cost him $100. Or, to phrase it more completely, "$100 to run the exact same program that was running fine on Thursday and that he had no part in screwing up."

So the fun begins, as I try to figure out what I can do that might rectify the problem. Upgrading AOL to version 8 is one option, but I haven't been getting my regular coasters in the mail lately and don't have an install disc handy. (Not that they're hard to find.) I looked it up and saw that he's running IE 5.5, and thought "Ah, perhaps upgrading that to IE 6.0 with the latest patches will help."

Problem: As far as I can tell, you CAN'T DIRECTLY DOWNLOAD an installable file for IE 6.x. You have to download a setup file, which then connects to MS and starts the download process for the remainder of the files. From what I can tell, the setup file doesn't simply download the newest version of IE, it also installs it as part of the same process, and since MY computer is just fine right now, I'd just as soon not fuck with it if I can help it.

Which brings me to the bigger problem with this approach:
1) I'd much rather download the files at my DSL speed (then burn them to a CDR) than on my Dad's around-28.8-speed-on-average line, and
2) If I could connect to Microsoft's website (or anywhere in the first place) on Dad's computer, I WOULDN'T NEED THE FUCKING UPGRADE.

Or I can spend five bucks and wait one to three weeks for them to ship me a CD with it on there, except then my Dad will be foaming at the mouth because he won't be able to get to eBay for a week.

Not to mention that AOL's bloatware incorporates IE into itself. If I upgrade IE separately, does that have a decent chance of making AOL even more unstable than normal?

I'm not nearly drunk enough to be ready for this aggravation.

03-23-2003, 01:08 PM	#1
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Ahem. * AOL sucks, * Microsoft sucks, * But you knew that already. Dad called today -- his web browsing is still fried. (AOL 7, Windows ME, neither of which I am the least bit fond of.) A friend of his upgraded to Windows XP and that solved the problem; he was encouraged by this until I explained that doing so would cost him $100. Or, to phrase it more completely, "$100 to run the exact same program that was running fine on Thursday and that he had no part in screwing up." So the fun begins, as I try to figure out what I can do that might rectify the problem. Upgrading AOL to version 8 is one option, but I haven't been getting my regular coasters in the mail lately and don't have an install disc handy. (Not that they're hard to find.) I looked it up and saw that he's running IE 5.5, and thought "Ah, perhaps upgrading that to IE 6.0 with the latest patches will help." Problem: As far as I can tell, you CAN'T DIRECTLY DOWNLOAD an installable file for IE 6.x. You have to download a setup file, which then connects to MS and starts the download process for the remainder of the files. From what I can tell, the setup file doesn't simply download the newest version of IE, it also installs it as part of the same process, and since MY computer is just fine right now, I'd just as soon not fuck with it if I can help it. Which brings me to the bigger problem with this approach: 1) I'd much rather download the files at my DSL speed (then burn them to a CDR) than on my Dad's around-28.8-speed-on-average line, and 2) If I could connect to Microsoft's website (or anywhere in the first place) on Dad's computer, I WOULDN'T NEED THE FUCKING UPGRADE. Or I can spend five bucks and wait one to three weeks for them to ship me a CD with it on there, except then my Dad will be foaming at the mouth because he won't be able to get to eBay for a week. Not to mention that AOL's bloatware incorporates IE into itself. If I upgrade IE separately, does that have a decent chance of making AOL even more unstable than normal? I'm not nearly drunk enough to be ready for this aggravation.

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