-----Original Message-----
Does any know of a problem with using Remote Desktop
Connection with AOL. I have connected to AOL and
minimized the screen and tried to connect to my server at
the office and it won't connect. It works fine when using
other local ISP's.
Thanks for any help provided.
.
Why would anyone still use AOL? Yet just one more reason
to change your ISP
Most people will agree that AOL's internet service
software is bloated garbage. Certainly I never would want
something like that installed on my computer. It is
invasive and unnecessary to install that sort of software
to connect to the internet. For that matter, no ISP
software at all should be necessary for an internet
connection.
Recently, however, AOL has sunk to a new low. Both AOL's
internet software and the AOL Instant Messenger program
(AIM) are force installing unwanted software called
Viewpoint Media Player on people's computers.
There is no option to not install Viewpoint. In fact, if
you remove Viewpoint, it will be reinstalled the next
time you load AOL! I could hardly believe it when the
first person reported this at the message board. Then a
dozen more people showed up to report the same thing.
Viewpoint Media Player displays certain multimedia
content over the internet. I discovered this software on
my own machine last April and I DID NOT AT ALL like
finding it there. The reason for that can be found in
their privacy policy:
The software creates a unique tracking number ("Customer
Unique Identifier" is their term). This number and other
information is transmitted, without asking, to Viewpoint
servers. The software downloads updates and installs them
on the computer, also without asking.
The privacy policy states that "The Viewpoint Media
Player will soon be capable of tracking information about
the content it displays and how the user interacts with
it. When the Viewpoint Media Player displays Viewpoint
content, it tracks the URL it is served from, as well as
Viewpoint file data tagged by the author in XML. This
data can include, but is not limited to: the names of
objects and textures displayed, and the names of
animations invoked."
Combine all that with the fact that it is installed
without permission or proper disclosure. I'm sorry, but
you do not install software on my computer that transmits
data across the internet without my permission. For that
matter, you don't install any software on my computer
without my permission, period.
After finding this thing on my computer last year, I sent
Viewpoint a letter asking how it is distributed. From
their reply, I determined that AIM had installed it. I
then downloaded a fresh copy of AIM from AOL's web site
and installed it again (I had removed it months earlier).
There was absolutely no disclosure whatsoever that it was
going to bundle Viewpoint.
There are other things that AOL software does. For
instance, some software such as Netscape and ICQ 2000b
will insert free.aol.com into Internet
Explorer's "Trusted" security zone. When you put a web
site in the "Trusted" zone, Internet Explorer will allow
that site to download, install and execute any piece of
software completely without interaction with the user.
The reason for AOL inserting that entry became clear when
we started spotting ActiveX files from free.aol.com in
people's HijackThis log files at the message board. AOL
is inserting their web site into the "Trusted" zone so
that they can install software without the user knowing
they are doing it!
AIM is adware. That is, it displays a small banner ad in
the program and it also pops up an advertisement window
when you launch it. Recently, AIM has even started to
download movie trailers and play them at random
intervals. You heard me, AOL is using peoples' internet
connection to download huge video files in order to play
movie trailers.
Both AOL's internet service software and AIM also install
a piece of software called Wild Tangent, again without
asking. Wild Tangent is used to play games and other
multimedia. Some Winamp plugins also use it. The problem
with Wild Tangent is that it installs an autoupdater and
turns it on by default.
Wild Tangent's updater will transmit data about the
computer on which it is installed. That data includes
hardware specs, some information about installed software
and how the user is interacting with the software. The
company says this is done to see how their software is
used and that they might share it with third parties.
Several antispyware products detect and remove Wild
Tangent.
When are software developers going to understand that
they cannot transmit data from a person's machine without
their permission? There are laws forbidding data theft,
so why are they allowed to do this? When are they going
to understand that they cannot download and install
software without permission?
There are better and cheaper Internet Service Providers.
Go to BroadBandReports and find one. There are other
instant messenger programs that will let you use the AIM
network as well as several other networks such as Yahoo
and ICQ. Two very good multi network instant messengers
are Trillian and GAIM.
AOL has been losing more subscribers over the past couple
of years than they have gained. They are going to lose
far more if they don't change this behavior. This is
unacceptable and I would never put up with AOL's
behavior. I suggest you don't put up with it either and
find a company who will treat you with some respect
