Possible Norton / AOL / XP clash?

[tranman]

Bear with me, because I'm trying to describe the problem my brother is having with his computer 2000 miles away...

I recently (less than 6 mos.) helped my brother buy and setup a HP 1.2G computer. We then installed AOL(7.0?) and Norton antivirus. Everything was OK for several months, but now he is having trouble viewing web pages. He is using the AOL browser. He sent it back to HP thinking that it was a hardware problem and they said that there are no hardware problems evident. His email works fine. Here's the problem in more detail:

He dials his local AOL number(s). It tries the first one, and moves onto the second when it can't connect to the first. It then moves onto the third number when it cannot connect to the second. The third number finally comes through, and he'll get the AOL beginning screen, but that's usually it. If he clicks onto a secondary page, it won't load. He can't get anything bandwith intensive (i.e. streaming audio, etc.) I'm guessing that the third number for his area is sort of a catch-all that doesn't have the capacity to convey the necessary data. I realize that a lot of people use AOL and that he may not get his first number, but this is consistently bad, and it did not do this for the first two or three months that he was using AOL. He's using Windows XP and the latest version of Norton Antivirus. Is it that AOL is just poor, or is he experiencing some sort of software clash between AOL/Norton/XP? Could it be a virus?

I searched the forums for similar problems, but none addressed it directly.

Thanks in advance...

[reboot]

I know diagnosing a problem 2000 miles away is a pita, but...
Has he tried reinstalling the AOL software? Has he called AOL support yet?
He's paying for the service, I would think that's the place to start.

[ktkendall]

I do believe that with AOL you get a kind of bloating because over time it loads all kind of things and probably stores temp internet files without ever deleting them. I would just bet that it needs a good house cleaning, you know like deleting all unnecessary files, especially temp internet. Defrag the HD. I don't know much about AOL though to help with how to clean up all the excess.

[tranman]

He upgraded to the latest version of AOL (8?). That did not help the situation. Maybe wiping AOL off and starting again might help, and as you mentioned, doing some system maintenance. Anyone else have any suggestions?

[ktkendall]

Can you help him with how to run the msconfig utility and go to the startup tab and uncheck anything that is not needed there, also the startup placeholder under all programs. I find most people PC's I look at are just so bogged down with stuff that is in the startup that memory is close to half gone just to startup the system, Especially people who don't do routine maintenence and use things like AOL, Yahoo, MSN and let those programs load all kind of things to the startup folders.

[tranman]

thanks kt-

That's a good start. I'll try that over turkey on Thursday, and we'll see how it reacts.

[JamieJ2423]

I am having this same problem with my AOL. The e-mail functions work fine, but no browser capabilities work at all. I also run XP with Norton 2003, although I am using a cable modem. Internet explorer works just fine though. I have tried AOL tech support several times and the only thing they have suggested that I have not already tried (unsuccessfully) is to start "remote access connection manager" (which shows to be stopped), but I am given an error 5 access denied when I try. I am the administrator and the only login on this coputer. Any ideas???

[Panama Red]

Sounds like you and I have identical set ups. Cable, IE is primary browser, AOL for email accounts, Norton AV 2002. Trouble is, I don't have any conflicts. My stuff all runs great. Are you running AOL 8.0 for broadband? If not, try deleting your old software and downloading the new. Also, I've cleaned up my program startup area in System Config. (run /msconfig/startup). Real player is part of the aol package and that causes more trouble than anything. If I think of anything else, I'll post back here. Good luck

[glc]

tranman - you may have a winmodem issue and/or a crappy phone line.

[JamieJ2423]

Tranman, I don't know if you ever fixed your problem, but I found a solution for mine. I needed to start the "remote access service manager" (which I noted from another post resulting from this search). This requires modifying the registry, and for windows XP I needed to go to the wondows support site. Instructions on how to do this are in knowledge base article # 822122. Hope this helps if you still need it. Thanks to all for the help.