[FAQ] Why is AOL unsafe? How can I make it safer?

This may come as a surprise, but you’re not staying safe by using AOL. Every day you encounter possibly unsafe ads, phishers and Nigerian scams. AOL is not protecting you (or me) from such routine online dangers.

AOL Email is Unsafe

Clicking the Spam Button in AOL’s email doesn’t make scams or phishers go away – for every email that you mark “Spam”, more spam will often comes in it’s place. Anyone can get their bulk (and sometimes, spammy) email whitelisted by AOL, because it’s not a matter of the sender having a good website for you to visit or a good email for you to read; it’s a matter of the sender wanting to send email to AOL users in bulk. Whoever is willing to do so can get whitelisted. And your GoodMail? Really not so good, if you’ll pardon my pun.

Another one of those deletable posts turned public service announcement.

Perhaps owing to my advanced age (38), I pulled a muscle carrying about 15 bags of groceries last night so, since I can’t do much else, I’ve been playing around with possible new layouts for anti-aol. In a few minutes I’ll put up one I’m testing on my personal journal.

Never mind…I tested the new layout in IE, and…

…while it seems to work perfectly in IE7 and IE8, it breaks in IE6, which 10 percent of you are still using on my blog (today, that will equal over 50 people). IE6 came out in 2001, folks, so it’s time to upgrade to XP Service Pack III and install IE8 or, better yet, also install Firefox (please, please, please pick Firefox!) so I can finally install better layouts. How many more years am I supposed to wait so I don’t drive off at least 50 of you a day? IE8 will help you AOL software users have a smoother, better, and safer browsing experience until you can finally remove AOL, since your AOL software uses whatever version of IE is on your computer to display web pages. Please get cracking.

Switching to Firefox

So you’re ready to make the big switch. You’ve set up an account with a new service provider so you won’t lose your Web connection, you’ve saved your AOL email, Favorites and AOL Address Book, and you want to call AOL soon to cancel your account.

In the meantime, you’re looking to get rid of AOL’s software and on the lookout for a way to get on the Web that’s fresh, fast, and fun. Maybe a friend or co-worker told you about Firefox and you’re intrigued. You should be. Nearly 25% of web users worldwide are devoted to Firefox, with it’s clean, simple look, exceptional speed, excellent pop-up controls, and awesome private browsing features. (Edit, 12-21-2009: Firefox 3.5 is now the most popular browser in the world.) This article will help you make the switch.