PatETC wrote:
> I've used AOL for years but am beginning to see I'm wasting my money.
>
> I use a dial-up--what is my best option to replace AOL - cheap?????
>
> Pat
>

Talk to people in your area and see what service that they're using for
dial-up, assuming you can find folks using it. (not a "shot", but it's
becoming increasingly rare)

I've never used AOL but if you can, try downloading Firefox (net
browser/surfer) and Thunderbird (mail and newsgroups) and get familiar
with them. They're really very easy to get going with the basics.
http://www.mozilla.org

Then download SpyBot Search and destroy from:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

As well as Ad-Aware from:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Update the definitions and run them weekly. Updating them is simple.
There's a button on the startup menus that will say something like
"check for updates" or a similar phrase.

Do you have a antivirus program?(again, I'm not familiar with AOL) If
not, you definitely want to get one and set it up to start upon booting
the system so that it is constantly active. (Again, not a difficult
task) Norton Antivirus (now Symantec AntiVirus) is pretty decent.

I run a host of other things but I think that this is a pretty good
start and I'm sure that others will chime in.

--
Steve

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little
bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards...