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[sevenlayermuddle]

Favour requested...

I've agreed to help my ageing and very non-techie parents, who live with 400 miles distant, to make the leap from Win 98 & dialup to modern PC & broadband.  I've helped them to spec up and order a new Dell, which will be loaded with Win XP on delivery (Dell charge £40 extra for that, bl**dy cheek!).   For broadband, they want to stay with AOL, as per their dialup.  That wouldn't have been my first recommendation but they're anxious to keep the same email address and I sympathise with them.

I fully expect a phone call from father in a few weeks time when he's ready to go online, asking me to tell him how to set things up, and assuming I'll be intimately familiar with all things-AOL.  I'll also arrange to visit them in person when they're ready to run, but I'll only have a day or two to spend there so I need to be reasonable confident that all will go smoothly. 

So, if anybody has any constructive advice (apart from DON'T GO THERE!!!) about unusual features of AOL broadband that might catch me out, I'd be grateful!  If there's a deafening silence in response to this post then maybe I should be even more grateful as that might imply I've nothing to worry about   

TIA,

SLM

[oldfogy]

It's been a long time since I used AOL (dialup) but as far as I can gather the process is still the same,
"insert the AOL disc" and just follow the install instructions.

Although they might want to backup their settings first which should then make things easier.
Below is some text I "used to use" some time ago for doing this.

To back up you’re favourite places, address book and emails:

1. Close AOL completely and click on the Windows Start button.
2. Go to Programs and click Windows Explorer.
3. Double click on your AOL folder and right-click on the Organise file.
4. Left click on Copy, minimise Windows Explorer and right-click on your Desktop and paste the file here.
5. Maximise Windows Explorer. Right-click on the Download file and repeat step 4 as above to copy this file to your desktop.
6. Close Windows Explorer. You can copy the Organise and Download folders to a backup device such as a Pen drive or CD writer if you have one (the files will rarely fit on a floppy disk)


To restore your favourite places, address book and emails:

If the backed up Organise and Download folders are on a backup device, copy them to your Desktop.

1. Right-click on the Organise folder on your Desktop and select Copy from the menu.
2. Click on the Start button, go to Programs and click Windows Explorer.
3. Right-click on the AOL folder and click Paste. When asked if you wish to replace the existing folder, simply click YES.
4. Close Windows Explorer, right-click on the Download folder on your desktop and left-click on Copy.
5. Click on the Start menu, then on Programs and Windows Explorer, right click on the AOL folder, left click on Paste. Close Windows Explorer.

NB
Backing up files to a CD Writer can result in the files being marked as 'Read Only'.
Unfortunately, AOL cannot work with such files in this situation.
To rectify this, simply take the following steps...

- Right-click on the ORGANIZE folder and click on Properties.
- Remove the tick in the box for Read Only and press OK.
- Next open the ORGANIZE folder, click Edit and Select All.
- Click File, followed by Properties and ensure that the Read Only box is white - i.e. that there is no tick on it.

[HPsauce]

Far to complicated....... 

If they are already on AOL much is held online in their account and the setup CD takes you through it very simply.
Honest.
And if they get stuck just phone support, who in my recent experience (when I'm helping AOL users) are very good.

The only things they may need to think about moving are any documents photos etc. stored on the old W98 PC.

[UncleUB]

The only things they may need to think about moving are any documents photos etc. stored on the old W98 PC.

I presume that could easily be done with a USB flash drive stick ?

[HPsauce]

I presume that could easily be done with a USB flash drive stick ?

Not necessarily. Only if you can find one with W98 drivers, which most modern ones won't have.
(I keep an old one specially for such tasks)
It can be quite difficult to move stuff from that vintage of PC as there's often just nothing in common with a new PC for data transfer.
Small volumes can be emailed or you can sometimes set up a local network with a USB-LAN adapter or installing a network card.

[oldfogy]

Far to complicated....... 

But like I said.

It's been a long time since I used AOL .....

NB:
A backup that never needs to be used is far better than a backup that you don't have.
Should it ever have been required or helpful.

[kitz]

AOL is now owned by TalkTalk so they will be on their network - as you say perhaps not the most recommended but it should be ok for low usage type users... and if theyve just moved from dial up its still going to seem awfully fast to them.

The most major concern with TT really is how their FMP LLU can and has knock users off line for a while.. however if they are going from dial up it isnt so much of a problem.  I only mention this in case if you find the router wont sync when it should.


Whilst you can set up the router without the AOL software and cd.. in view of your parents tech experience its probably best to use it.  The whole AOL experience is designed for the less technical of users and their Cust Support expect users to have the software installed if they guide through any troubleshooting etc.

[UncleUB]

@ TalkTalk,they were my first experinence of BB in 2007 after many years on dial-up....what a nightmare.I was always disconnecting and their support are amonst the worst I have ever known.I was always calling the 'escalation' team.hours I spent on the phone.I was already a TT landline customer so I thought going with them would be the easiest thing to do.Wrong.   

[sevenlayermuddle]

Thanks for all these responses,.

Apart from the unflattering references to TalkTalk (esp their support), which I'd anticipated and I'm sure are valid, I do feel reasonable reassured.  For what it's worth, I'd reasoned that Plusnet may have been good for them, but they do want to keep that AOL email address.

As regards backing up the W98 system, plan (b) will involve borrowing a LAN card that I recently installed on an ancient W95 system of my own.   Since it works in W95, and was bought less than three years ago, I feel confident it will also work in W98, even if it involves a bit of hassle.  And it's not that long since I did it on W95, so I should be able to remember the various hoops through which I must jump to share the W98's disk with XP.

I'm not yet sure what Plan (a) will be.  I know that USB sticks are harder to use with W98 but there's a few download sites that claim to have drivers that make it possible.  It's certainly tempting, as their disk is only 6GB so with an 8GB stick I can preserve a complete image of their old data in its entirety.

Plan (c)'s been suggested by my parents... print it all out and then leave them to type it in again.  The stuff that matters is limited to a few dozen word documents, apparently

[HPsauce]

The stuff that matters is limited to a few dozen word documents, apparently

Often the case, hence my email suggestion earlier. Just send it to themselves.

[roseway]

If it's only a few documents you could copy them to floppies (assuming that the PC has a floppy drive of course).

[sevenlayermuddle]

The stuff that matters is limited to a few dozen word documents, apparently
Often the case, hence my email suggestion earlier. Just send it to themselves.

Yes indeed, HP - that's a rather more sensible 'last resort' and one I'd not though of.  Appreciated.

If it's only a few documents you could copy them to floppies (assuming that the PC has a floppy drive of course).

There was no floppy drive on the options list when I 'built' their system on Dell's website last night, a sign of the times... . 
But maybe I'll pack a borrowed one in my toolkit when I go visit, my plan a,b,c sequence must be quite well down the alphabet by now.   

[UncleUB]

Just to say well done SLM,what you are doing for your parents .

[sevenlayermuddle]

Just to say well done SLM,what you are doing for your parents .

Aw shucks, thanks. 

For all you know though, maybe I'm just in it for the inheritance?     

To be more serious, we already owe them a visit early in the year since we always spend Christmas with my girlfriend's parents.  The English (and her family in particular) seem to take Christmas a lot more seriously than us Scots, but we then try to redress the balance with a visit back up North early in the year.  We've overlooked that for the past year or two, so I've a bit of catching up to do.

[dizzy4528]

Why stay with AOL for the email Address , i moved to Newnet last year and my original AOL is still in use, in fact i have 6 aol email addresses for the family and every one can still be accessed and used to send or recieve mail . I havent even used my Newnet Address , and  i sign into my newnet account with my AOL name