# Was AOL causing my computer to crash?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 14, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437 "2002-09-14T17:40:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jmpride62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@jmpride62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmpride62)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437/1 "2002-09-14T17:40:08Z")

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When I purchased my computer, I received a free one year subscription to AOL. My computer often crashed, particularly when I was online. About two months ago, I switched to MSN, and my computer has not crashed since. Could AOL have been causing the problem? Anyone have a similar experience?

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437/2 "2002-09-15T01:44:21Z")

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The only problem I’ve had with AOL is the network settings being mangled when it’s installed.

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**Author:** ![Costermonger\_means\_barrow\_boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Costermonger\_means\_barrow\_boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Costermonger_means_barrow_boy)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437/3 "2002-09-15T02:15:39Z")

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The one thing I found that most affects crashing while online is the “hardware acceleration” setting on your Display Properties/Advanced settings/Performance tab. For Netscape I used to have to turn off the acceleration entirely. It’s OK on the current release, however.

It’s certainly possible that AOL has different screen handling than other browsers, that it doesn’t do things in the standard order or wait for the standard delays between actions, etc.

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-aol-causing-my-computer-to-crash/128437/4 "2002-09-15T04:03:00Z")

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What kind of computer did you purchase?