Re: AOL, Windows XP and WAM

["FREDRIC D. MCKINNEY" <MCKINFD@xxxxxxxxxx>]

To Beth at University of Arkansas (BTW, I have a Master's degree in music
from there!):

To make a long story short, my recommendation for him would be to switch to
Microsoft Internet Explorer for a web browser and to switch Internet
providers.  There are many, many much better alternatives to AOL out there,
trust me.  The places I would look to see what's available in Fayetteville
would be http://www.thelist.com, http://www.thedirectory.org, and
http://www.findanisp.com.  Each of these sites does let you search by area
code, although I know that The List has yet to add the 479 area code (they
still have only 501 and 870 for area codes in Arkansas right now).  Oh, and
don't forget to have him take a look at the Yellow Pages under "Internet
access providers" or "Internet service providers", although I've also seen
ISP's listed under "Computers -- Internet service providers" or something
similar.

I've been an Internet user for exactly eight years as of earlier this week
and I've been around enough to know that America Online is just about the
worst choice one can make for an Internet service provider (partly from
personal experience!), and needless to say, I do not recommend AOL at all
for an Internet provider.  Please give me a few details about just what he
is trying to access.  You say he's trying to access a proxy server and not
getting a verification screen prompt -- what's the address (URL) of the
website he's trying to reach?

IMHO, any Internet provider that's worth using should be able to access
whatever he's trying to access with no problem.  I've had several students
that have come in here mentioning some kind of Internet-related problem
they're having at home, and often, one of the first things I ask is who
their Internet provider is.  When they say AOL, I tend to say "well, there's
your problem".  Trust me on this, AOL is a piece of junk, and the problems
that people have run into with them are well-documented on the Internet, and
there are a lot of web pages out there with some pretty harsh words for
America Online.  I've recommended my Internet provider to several of our
students, and I would recommend them here too, except my ISP is only a
regional operation with access numbers in east-central, central, and
south-central Missouri, as well as in the Springfield and Branson areas.
But I'm sure you've got plenty of good alternatives down there in northwest
Arkansas.  Just try the ISP directory sites I mentioned above and/or the
yellow pages and I'm sure he'll find something much, much better than
America Online and he'll be glad he dumped AOL, trust me!

By the way, as of back in November of 1998, America Online now owns
Netscape.  Ever since AOL bought Netscape, which used to be the champion of
the browser wars, development and improvement of Netscape has pretty much
fallen by the wayside.  At that time, the browser wars were really heating
up with Microsoft Internet Explorer cutting into a good chunk of Netscape's
market.  Nowadays, Internet Explorer has all but eaten Netscape's lunch in
many areas and is now the web browser of choice for about some 90% or so of
all Internet users, including yours truly.  About the only time I ever use
Netscape is if I'm working on a website and want to see how certain pieces
of JavaScript or DHTML will behave in Netscape, but that's about it.

My advice to him would be to dump AOL and get another Internet provider and
switch to Internet Explorer for a web browser and I believe he'll be much
happier.

Fred McKinney
*************
Audio-Video Cataloging,
Reference, and Systems
*********************
Jung-Kellogg Library
MO Baptist College
St. Louis, MO USA