[marsland]

I have AOL 9.0 Security Edition. I "updated" from the older AOL 9.0 a couple months ago. Since then, I think my computer performance has degraded. Is this a common perception? One specific experience is that sometimes I will notice poor performance, and if I C-A-Dlt, and look at the task manager, the waol.exe process is running. If I kill that process, the computer seems to work better. Additionally, sometimes I will listen to the computer and the fan noices is noticably and significantly loud. I look in the Task Manager process list and find waol.exe taking 99% of the CPU. I kill the process and listen to the fan slow down and quiet down over the next 30-40 seconds. And then there's the persistent AOL icon in the system tray, with no way to get rid of it. Is there any way to just "turn off" AOL? Or is AOL just an intrusive pig? Thoughts?

John

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waol - waol.exe - Process Information
Process File: waol or waol.exe
Process Name: America Online UI

Description:
waol.exe is the executable file for the AOL user interface which allows you to logon to the AOL network, and the Internet.

Recommendation for waol.exe:
Not a critical component, but see the information above before disabling it.

OR

WAOL.EXE

Filename Startup entry
waol.exe quicken
CoolWebSearch.quicken, also known as CWS.Therealsearch, Adware.Conspy and TROJ_CONSPY.C, is a browser hijacker redirecting Internet Explorer to http://my.search/sp.php.

waol.exe is located in "C:\WINDOWS\" on Windows 95/98/ME/XP and "C:\WINNT\" on Windows NT/2000. [Edit]

http://www.filehippo...oad_cwshredder/

Please go here:

Malware Removal Guide

Run all the programmes as advised then post a current Hijack This Log in a new topic in the Malware Forum

For the purpose of accurate malware analysis, Hijack This Logs are only dealt with in the Malware Forum. Posting them anywhere else will result in a delayed response

If you are unable to run any of the programmes, ask for advice in the Malware Forum

[Retired Tech]

waol - waol.exe - Process Information
Process File: waol or waol.exe
Process Name: America Online UI

Description:
waol.exe is the executable file for the AOL user interface which allows you to logon to the AOL network, and the Internet.

Recommendation for waol.exe:
Not a critical component, but see the information above before disabling it.

OR

WAOL.EXE

Filename Startup entry
waol.exe quicken
CoolWebSearch.quicken, also known as CWS.Therealsearch, Adware.Conspy and TROJ_CONSPY.C, is a browser hijacker redirecting Internet Explorer to http://my.search/sp.php.

waol.exe is located in "C:\WINDOWS\" on Windows 95/98/ME/XP and "C:\WINNT\" on Windows NT/2000. [Edit]

http://www.filehippo...oad_cwshredder/

Please go here:

Malware Removal Guide

Run all the programmes as advised then post a current Hijack This Log in a new topic in the Malware Forum

For the purpose of accurate malware analysis, Hijack This Logs are only dealt with in the Malware Forum. Posting them anywhere else will result in a delayed response

If you are unable to run any of the programmes, ask for advice in the Malware Forum

[marsland]

I'm sure that the waol.exe that I have is the AOL task manager, not a malware... although i'm beginning to think that AOL is just one big pile of malware

Do you or any of your readers also find waol.exe hanging? Do you or your readers find the magnitude of AOL's intrusiveness excessive?

I'm not after a vent on big bad aol... I'm after hints on how to cope with it.

thanks.
John

[Thef0rce]

aol is awful. but the good news is that you don't need the software to connect to the net, if you must keep aol as your isp.

find out how here:

http://paler.com/for...message_id=4438

yes, when I had aol as my isp and installed their software, waol.exe was not hanging for me but was using excessive resources.

[pcfixcolin]

Hello,

Upon delivering a customers machine and installing AOL 9 VR I too noticed that waol.exe did not always close when closing AOL. I brought the machine back to the workshop where I spent another 4 hours trying varios fixes. My last resort was to install Windows XP SP2 with a bare desktop and no drivers loaded. Even at that point after installing AOL sometimes waol.exe would not close again leaving the cpu at 99%.

This waol.exe problem does not occur every time I close AOL, maybee only 1 in 6 times but I dont want to deliver a machine to a customer where there is a chance the cpu is going to be held at 99% slowing everything to the maximmum.

I later installed AOL on one of my own computers with exactly the same outcome thus eliminating any hardware specific causes.

I fully understand people who say dont use AOL use IE of Firefox. I myself use IE and wouldent dream of using the AOL software but for customers who know nothing else or ask that AOL be installed what am I to do ?

waol.exe sometimes not closing and running at 99% when this happens.

I haet to admit defeat but I cannot resolve this one. IS THERE A FIX ???

Thankyou for reading

[Ppetachi]

After having problems with awol.exe always using up CPU resources, I think I may have found a solution to the problem (after 2 months of messing with my computer). This almost seems to simple. Yes, I did use a registry fix program. But on the AOL icon at the bottom on the task bar, I right-clicked it to bring up menu, then clicked on System Information. On Utilities, I cleared the cache, which was at 26 MG of something. My computer now seems to be running at around 4% CPU usage. I have a feeling this will be done often as I noticed Utilities cache already shows 2 MB. However, it is very easy to do and does not use any time. Hope this helps someone else.