Internet Tips

America Online users are no strangers to crashes. Freeze-ups and lockups on the service have numerous causes, but here are a few things you can do either to prevent them or to recover gracefully:

Resume operations. If an hourglass freezes on your screen, too many people may be logged on to AOL--or perhaps the system's server has crashed. Wait a minute or two. If the hourglass doesn't go away (and doesn't respond to your mouse movements), press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, click the line that reads "America Online [not responding]," and then click the End Task button.

If you don't see an hourglass, but AOL remains unresponsive, you may be experiencing problems with other areas of your PC (hardware or software). Besides being a resource hog, the AOL 4.0 software does not get along with Internet Explorer 5, it loathes IntelliMouse, and it may tangle with any number of utilities you may be running. If AOL 4.0 keeps crashing, try some of the following strategies.

Upgrade your AOL software. Some versions are flakier than others. To find out which species of AOL you're running, select Help, About America Online. When the America Online window pops up, hit Ctrl-R. If you're running a version of AOL 3.0 earlier than 131.75, you need to upgrade. If you have AOL 4.0, upgrade if your version is older than 134.224. If you're running Windows 95 and experiencing frequent freeze-ups when using AOL 4.0, consider returning to AOL 3.0. Use the keyword upgrade.

Empty your cache. Clean out AOL's cache weekly by clicking the My AOL button and then selecting Preferences, WWW. Open the General tab, and click the Delete Files and Clear History buttons.

Turn down your video. AOL's software might be pushing your video card to its performance limits. Right-click an empty spot on the desktop and then click Properties. Under the Settings tab, change the Colors entry to 256 and click Apply. Under the Performance tab (you may need to click the Advanced button to find this), move the "Hardware acceleration" slider down a notch. Click OK.

Disable your antivirus software. Some virus monitors conflict with America Online. To see if such a conflict is responsible for your troubles, try temporarily disabling your system's antivirus software. If that solves the problem, you'll probably need to switch your antivirus software.

Turn off compression. AOL's graphics compression--which speeds up image rendering on your screen--tends to cause trouble for some Internet Explorer 5 users. To turn it off, first click the My AOL button and then select Preferences, WWW. Next, under the Web Graphics tab, remove the check in the box beside "Use compressed graphics." Then click OK.

Remove the AOL adapter. Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, and double-click the Network icon. Under the Configuration tab, highlight AOL Adapter and click Remove. Click OK. Restart Windows, sign on to AOL, and the software will reinstall an updated version of the adapter.

Disable IntelliMouse. If you're running Microsoft's IntelliMouse, try disabling its software. It may conflict with AOL 4.0.

Try calling a different number. The server you're calling may be busy or even down. To test this possibility, try calling a different access number (they're listed under My AOL, Access Numbers).

Get your system in order. Run ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter to clean up your hard disk: Select Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools. To make sure you're running the latest version of whatever browser you use with AOL, check the appropriate Web site for Microsoft or Netscape. It's also a good idea to visit the Web sites of the companies that made your PC and your video card, and download any updated drivers.