# AOL Privacy Alert

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-privacy-alert/215722>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-privacy-alert/215722 "2003-11-28T14:16:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PurplePerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PurplePerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurplePerson)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-privacy-alert/215722/1 "2003-11-28T14:16:06Z")

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More than once, I have had the icon for AOL and the words Privacy Alert after it, appear on my tool bar. I have AOL. I went to AOL online help. The person I communicated with, didn’t seem to be able to figure it out.

So far, as soon as the alert comes on, I have exited AOL and logged back on. That got rid of it.

Yesterday, the alert came on and then Internet Explorer screens cascaded all over my screen. Forty four of them before I could get offline and the only way I could get offline was to turn my computer completely off, manually.

What’s up?

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**Author:** ![PurplePerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PurplePerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurplePerson)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-privacy-alert/215722/2 "2003-11-29T02:03:51Z")

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Sorry to bring this back to the top if I shouldn’t, but I would really like to understand this. I have run virus scans each time, but there is no virus.

The cascading Windows happened once before a year or so ago, before there was an AOL Privacy Alert.