Rob Pegoraro

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Fast Forward: AOL 8.0
With Personal Technology columnist Rob Pegoraro
Monday, Oct. 14, 2002; 2 p.m. ET

Every year, Fast Forward columnist Rob Pegoraro reviewed AOL 8.0 in his Oct. 13 column. Overall, Rob says AOL 8.0 "offers benefits that outweigh its flaws and omissions." Read his full review AOL's Self-Expression Upgrade (Post, Oct. 13).

Transcript Follows:

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Rob Pegoraro: Good afternoon on what feels like a slow Columbus Day. I'm here to talk about AOL's new 8.0 software, but also personal computing and consumer electronics in general. I, in turn, have a question of my own to all y'all out there: If you were shopping for a new Internet provider, what sort of information would you want to know about any such company before deciding to sign up? And what sort of companies would you want to look at--name-brand firms like AOL, EarthLink, MSN, Prodigy, et al.; only providers that offer some kind of broadband access; only companies based around the D.C. area; or some combination of those or other criteria?

So: The floor is yours... let's go to the first query.

Alexandria, Va.: I use a cable modem. Does AOL 8 have anything new to offer me?

washingtonpost.com: AOL's Self-Expression Upgrade (Post, Oct. 13)

Rob Pegoraro: Around the D.C. area, where AOL has yet to arrange any deals with cable-modem operators, its only real offering is the $14.95/month "bring your own access" option. (It does offer cable-modem price plans elsewhere--the difference is the cable systems it's negotiated with so far.) Unless you're really, really attached to your AOL account, I would not recommend the "BYOA" option.

Wheaton, Md.: Can you please explain to me the appeal of AOL? It is in most respects the anti-Web and yet millions of people become members and use AOL without complaint. What am I missing?

Rob Pegoraro: This is a question I've been wondering about for years. I've written numerous times that AOL just isn't a good choice for intensive Web or e-mail use; its new version doesn't change that. But, look, 35 million people use it, and I don't think you can assume that they all got brainwashed by the TV ads and the CDs that showed up in their mailbox. As what's still largely a self-contained service, AOL does some things that other providers just don't. This is a difficult thing to grasp if you're used to ranging across the entire Web, with nothing more than your bookmarks file to guide you, but AOL seems to appeal to a lot of people with its "the online universe in one window" option.

Falls Church, VA: Does AOL 8.0 continue the disturbing trend of messing with Internet Explorer and other system settings without asking? Example: AOL 6.0 changed IE's "busy" icon in the upper right corner to an AOL logo and changed its title bar to "Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by America Online"

Rob Pegoraro: I asked AOL about its browser setup, and I was told that it requires Internet Explorer 5.0 or newer, and prefers IE 6--but if you only have 5.0 installed, that upgrade is up to your discretion. I haven't seen any modification to IE on the machines I put AOL on, but I'd want to double-check on the Win 98 box (which had the oldest version of IE installed, and which is also unfortunately stuck at home today). E-mail me if you'd like a follow-up on this.

Washington, DC : So what is the deal with AOL's e-mail system? Surely after this many years they've had the time to make improvements in it that would make it competitive with Outlook Express. While I've been relatively satisfied with many of AOL's features (and its web browsing capabilities have improved dramatically in the past few years), it is still very cumbersome to do things like send attachments via e-mail or even to save your e-mail.

Rob Pegoraro: You've got me. AOL's mail doesn't compete with *any* standalone mail program out there. If you want more advanced access to AOL mail, your only real option is to use Netscape 7 or download one of the third-party programs that can fetch and send AOL mail from outside the system (we reviewed one, eNetBot, a few months ago).

Kalorama: So is 8.0 going to wreck my machine? A few people I knew tried it in Beta and it wiped out their systems and they had to rebuild. If I just go to Keyword Upgrade, is my machine going to survive? I use AOL DSL through Verizon on a new Dell PC.

Rob Pegoraro: I didn't have any problems myself on three different PCs, and I had the beta installed on two of them before upgrading to the release code. Haven't seen any reports of installation problems in my e-mail, either (although the people whose computers were wiped out would probably have to drop a note in the U.S. mail, or perhaps send me a telegram).

Falls Church, Va.: Is AOL 8 compatible with Mozilla or Netscape 7?

Rob Pegoraro: Meaning, can you use Mozilla or Netscape 7 on top of AOL 8? Sure--just like any other browser.

Alexandria, Va.: Do you plan to review the new version of MSN?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes. Not this weekend, but on one of the next two Sundays after that. (I'm waiting to get a copy of the finished code before I start any sort of intensive evaluation of it)

San Francisco, Calif.: Does each new version of AOL take up a lot more space on the hard drive than earlier versions? I still have AOL version 5.0 and I am concerned that if I change to version 8.0 it would take up a lot more disk space. Why might upgrading to AOL version 8.0 be a good idea?

Rob Pegoraro: Here are the disk-space requirements AOL cites for the new version and its replacement:

AOL 7.0:

Windows 95 - 208 MB
Windows 98 - 194 MB
Windows ME - 178 MB

AOL 8.0:
Windows 98 - 141 MB
Windows ME - 129 MB
Windows 2000/XP - 117 MB

All these figures increase a lot if you don't have a sufficiently new version of IE installed. And even AOL 7 represents a bigger bite of the hard drive than AOL 5. But that's true of just about any new app compared to something three version numbers ago.

Silver Spring, Md.: OK, so Palm has its new cheapie Zire PDA on the market now. I don't need a high-end PDA, but I'm wondering if Zire does enough for me. How much is 2.5MB of memory going to hold? And will the price come down even lower than $99?

Rob Pegoraro: My recommendation is to skip the Zire. 2 MB will not last long at all if you start installing third-party software, plus this thing has no backlight at all. Spend another $30 or $50 and get a Palm m125, Sony Clie SL10, or a low-end Handspring Visor.

St. Loius, MO: In your opinion, what is the biggest benefit that a regular user will see from 8.0?

Rob Pegoraro: I hate to sound completely bubble-headed, but the redecorating options, especially with IM, really do make the AOL experience more enjoyable. This is a completely shallow, superficial thing to seize on--but then again, so is watching outtakes of The Bachelor :)

OTOH, if you didn't like the *mechanics* of how most of AOL worked before, you won't find all that much to like about this version.

Fun in AOL 8.0-Land : Okay, I'm really in my office in Washington DC, but...

I just upgraded today after reading your column and I'm so glad I did. Not only is it terrifically cute to have my very own smiley faces in IMs, I LOVE the AOL companion. Now I can work in other applications and still know if someone is messaging me or if I have mail. The only thing I would improve is a way for the companion to show if you have mail in any of your screen names without have to pretend to switch screen names. Thanks for the review!

Rob Pegoraro: To follow up on my last comment--actually, the AOL Companion *does* represent one real improvement in the workings of AOL. Without, you're forever chasing windows around in circles inside AOL's environment, trying to find that IM chat you just left for a second.

Arlington, Va.: When do you think the prices will come down on DVD player/recorders? And have you heard anything good or bad about the DVD/VCR combo units?

Rob Pegoraro: DVD recorders are already starting to cost a bit less--the Philips unit I liked back in July now sells for $900, $100 less than its initial price.

DVD/VCR combos have the same pros and cons as TV/VCR hybrids: you get some complicated gear in one box, with no wiring to futz with, but if one part breaks you need to send the whole thing into the shop. Mechanical failure isn't a real risk with a DVD player, but with a VCR it can be.

Falls Church, Va.: Is there a way to get older versions of AOL? I don't want to use the new version on my aging system, and I'd rather have version 5.0, which would take less system resources.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, but finding the right download link is a little tricky (and the address is really ungainly). So try this: Visit www.aol.com and look for the link, most of the way down and under the red "AOL Information" heading, that reads "New! The Next Generation of AOL for Macintosh now Runs on Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar)! Get it Now!" Click that, and you'll get a listing of AOL software for download that goes as far back as version 4.0 for Windows 3.1.

The oldest version for Win 95/98, however, is 6.0.

Laurel: Md. Being a former subscriber, AOL keeps sending me CD-roms offering 1050 hours free for 45 days. But since I don't spend 23 hours a day using Internet, I don't see the point.

Beyond the discussion of the merits of version 8.0, how much quality branded content does AOL offer these days. To many former users, it was just a "beginner's ISP."

Rob Pegoraro: I think they upped the "first month free" offer to 45 days for that reason. But still, there's only so much time I want to look at that spinning AOL pyramid :)

The quality of AOL's content really varies a lot. If you have a keen interest in pop culture, especially of the AOL Time Warner variety, it's hard to beat AOL. But if what you like is already available on the Web, I wouldn't go with AOL at all.

Washington DC: Rob - When are you going to write up something about 802.11b/a/g? I have been wireless now for a while but I am curious to see how other people have been using it (no I don't wardrive and I have WEP setup) Also, what is the deal with washingtonpost.com asking me for my zip code, year of birth, and gender? I don't mind filling it out once but multiple times in a session cmon, I am letting guys put a cookie and I am not eating them!

washingtonpost.com: Hello, please describe your cookie problem in an e-mail to webnews@washingtonpost.com>. You shouldn't be getting multiple requests for registration info. Once you fill out the form once, a cookie should be set on your machine that eliminates the registration page.

Rob Pegoraro: I'm still deciding what to do about the competing high-speed variations of 802.11 (as opposed to 802.11b, which is here already, available at low cost, works reliably and has been reviewed many times in this space). We'll have some sort of comparison between 802.11a and 802.11g before too long, though.

College Park, MD: Rob, I've just recently installed Netscape 7.0 and am using it with IE 5.5 in order to compare.
May be my imagination, but I get no annoying pop ups, etc when I go to Washington Post.com. Even with PopupStopper, IE drives me crazy with Orbitz etc ads.

Rob Pegoraro: If you install Netscape 7 after you've installed Mozilla, Netscape may pick up--er, steal--your Mozilla user profile, which (at least on my computer) can result in it acquiring that "reject pop-up windows" preference. It can also result in you needing to create a new Mozilla user profile, unfortunately.

Herndon, Va.: Did you see that ESPN.com is going to start offering free video to high-speed users? Of course, that video will come with commercials. What do you think of this? Will we see more video-on-demand models like this?

Rob Pegoraro: Video with commercials... I believe I have seen this before. I think it's called "television."

Seriously, the only thing that surprises me about sports video on the Web is that it's taken so long for people to offer it. I mean, baseball is whining about not having enough money, but doesn't offer *any* video online until this year? C'mon, if somebody as dumb as me notices something's missing, there really is a problem here!

Dulles, Va.: Rob - what is the "useful life" of a typical desktop these days? Assuming minimal upgrades, like maybe extra memory, but not a whole lot else?

Rob Pegoraro: Depends on what you do, but I think that lifespan is going up a bit. It used to be two years was a generous figure, but now three seems more common. If you upgrade the video card and processor (not difficult procedures if your motherboard was put together right) that figure can increase still more.

Washington, D.C.: On shopping for an ISP, I'd like to know if any providers are bundling in security services with their product? Any of them giving away firewall software, etc?

Rob Pegoraro: Excellent question. I think we will want to ask that (along with one about virus protection)... especially since my 387th copy of the Klez virus just sailed into my inbox just now.

College Park: Hi Rob,

I like a pop account with my ISP. Some pub space is also nice. I'm supposed to have 10MB's of free web space through Earthlink, however I'm not sure if I can access it via ftp or not. They may only allow access through their cheesy click and build interface.

Rob Pegoraro: Not sure if EarthLink allows FTP access or not, but I would be very, very surprised if you couldn't upload your own HTML, images, etc. through the Web interface.

Rockville, MD: On AOL 7 when I try to reach their online tech help, why can't I find any field on the screen on which to enter my data? It seems to be all read-only.

Rob Pegoraro: Which keyword are you using? I'm not sure I can help that much--I only have 8.0 on this machine--but I can try.

Also, FWIW, those problems I reported yesterday about using AOL over an office connection under Windows 2000 seem to have gone away. 8.0 appears to be content on this PC now.

Pop Ups: If you're using IE, PopUpCop very nicely kills most all the pop-ups. Even washingtonpost.com, which is pop-up h**l, becomes bearable. it also gives you a green/yellow/red indicator to give you a rough idea of how much crap the web site is throwing at you (it turns red for washingtonpost.com).

Rob Pegoraro: Got an address for that application? (We reviewed pop-up-control programs back in February or March, but I don't think this app was among them.)

College Park, MD: Wow, Rob! I don't seem to get Klez in Netscape now. I've gotten it about 100 times in Outlook.
NAV stops it but its a pain.

Rob Pegoraro: Well, that's the thing. It's not that I'm at much risk, since I use Eudora and the anti-virus system here is updated religiously, but it gets really tiring to DELETE see each new message DELETE come in, get the same warning from Norton DELETE and then have to slame the DELETE key. Every single day since I don't know when.

Vienna VA: Do you know how Earthlink compares to AOL?

Rob Pegoraro: There's different creatures entirely. EarthLink has tried really hard--as hard as anybody, except for maybe MSN--to come up with an Internet package that marries AOL's all-in-one simplicity with the freedom to run your own mail, Web software and roam the Web at large, but it's still a very different experience from AOL. The basic problem is this: With just about every other Internet provider, you pay to get access to the Web, while with AOL you pay to get access to AOL, and the Web is more like a bonus. So if you like staying in the AOL world--chats, IM, message boards, etc.--other providers will make a poor substitute. But if you like the Web world, AOL's just a waste of time.

College Park, MD: I use Zone Alarm as a firewall. With DSL, its amazing how many attempts are made to access my PC. Love the software! I think its a "must have" for broadband if you leave your pc connected.

Rob Pegoraro: I agree. (I get more than enough probes on my home computer as well.)

Arlington, VA: I see a lot of comments saying how terrible AOL is as an ISP. I haven't had much trouble using AOL, but am wondering if that is because I have never tried another ISP. Is there a different service that you would recommend for someone who might be interested in switching?

Rob Pegoraro: Depends on a few things, like what sort of computer you use, your familiarity with other Internet applications and what you do online. Give me a little more info, and I'll see what I can suggest.

Falls Church, VA: In response to your question about what we'd like FFWD to consider in reviewing ISPs: I would like to see some customer satisfaction surveys or benchmarks. Many ISPs sell a variety of attractive services, but have problems that cause frequent disconnections, or have really bad technical support. Sites like DSLReports (www.dslreports.com) include a user review structure that might be helpful in determining whether the ISP is actually providing what it says it will.

Rob Pegoraro: That's true, but the problem is in finding a set of user reviews that are applicable across a much broader spectrum than just cable and DSL providers (for which I do place a lot of credence in DSLReports' rankings). Ever since we've been putting together ISP surveys, I've been trying to find some objective way to grade companies on their quality of service and tech support, but nothing has quite worked so far.

So if you've got suggestions--bring 'em on!

Silver Spring, Md.: So after that teaser on your new computer, what did you get and how is it configured?

Rob Pegoraro: Heh. I was wondering if people actually read this morning's E-Letter :) This PC is an IBM NetVista in a business-like shade of black, with a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 and half a gig of memory. I don't think the graphics card is going to support a round of Quake III over the office network, sadly enough.

But really, I'm just happy to have a computer with a keyboard that doesn't contain the crumbs from the last three years' worht of lunch at my desk.

Firewalls: To change the topic to computers that work (heh heh heh) - Mac OS X has a built in firewall, but no tools to configure it. I've played with BrickHouse a bit, which is a utility to configure the OS X firewall for you. Have you seen any other of these? Compared 'em?

Rob Pegoraro: I used--and paid for--Glucose Software's Impasse (www.glu.com) under OS X 10.1. 10.2 Jaguar has a built-in firewall, although it's not in the most obvious spot; you need to look for the right tab in the Sharing control panel.

PopUpCop: Pop Up Cop is made by EdenSoft:
http://www.edensoft.com/

I've used a couple of pop up blockers for windows & this seems to be the best combination of simplicity and function.

washingtonpost.com: And here's the link to the Post's review of pop-up stoppers.

Rob Pegoraro: There you go...

Vienna VA: What are the most siginificant pluses for 8.0 vs 7.0?

Rob Pegoraro: The window-dressing options and the AOL Companion. One makes the service look a little niftier, the other makes it easier to use.

College Park, MD: Re: DSLReports, while a great site, the reviews are full of stupid (in my mind) rants about ISPs. I've had Verizon DSL for almost 3 years and have had very, very few problems with it.
I've also found their support to be fine. Just my 2 cents wortyh.

Rob Pegoraro: I think with Verizon, a lot of the complaints you see there date to its very, very, very bad debut in the DSL world. Verizon's DSL was so bad that I got three entire columns out of it, all of which drew numerous e-mail replies with their own tales of woe. Some came from Verizon employees!

These days, I don't hear so many complaints, except for the company's brain-dead "domain verification" policy about e-mail addresses. But that's another rant entirely.

Somewhere, USA: I'm an AOL customer, but all I'm interested in is a reliable ISP. Is hotmail (for example) much cheaper a month? I think I pay about $24 for AOL. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Hotmail's just a Web-mail provider, and a pretty lousy one at that (given how little you get with its free service). MSN is one option, and I'll be reviewing its new software in a couple of weeks or so. But it's only a buck or two cheaper than AOL's $24/month; you can get quality Internet access for $20 a month or even less without looking too hard.

Falls Church, VA: Here are a few suggestions for grading an ISP's service and support:

-see if they don't charge money for service and support calls. I find it unethical to charge people for a problem that is probably your fault.

-ask how many phone tech support reps are available per customer

-check out their Web support site; is it carefully designed to prevent the customer from easily contacting the company by e-mail or telephone?

-find out what average hold time for support is; times longer than 10-15 minutes are unfriendly

-for broadband ISPs, find out how long it takes for them to install (or send the equipment to the customer for self-install). This number can vary from a few days to over a month. It's significant.

Rob Pegoraro: Good suggestions; here are some quick responses:

* haven't heard of anybody charging for service and support yet, but if they do we will definitely want to list that. (Knowing the computer industry, I'm sure people have at least considered this.)

* we used to ask the tech-support-staff/subscriber question, but most providers refused to answer it, and we had no way of verifying the number for the ones that did.

* Web-site setup is, indeed, a good thing to investigate.

* most providers should know their average hold time; it's a standard metric in the business. So we might want to ask that (knowing, OTOH, that we can't verify it, and that I've talked to provides with decent average hold times who still provided miserable customer support--Verizon circa 2000 being one of them)

* The install time for broadband seems to be down across the board for DSL and cable; are there any companies still taking a month to set up a line? If so, why are they still in business? :)

Arlington, VA: (My earlier question asked what service you might recommend for someone interested in switching from AOL) I am currently running on Windows ME, Pentium III and am on a 56K modem (Gateway computer). My wife likes the east-of-use for email using AOL (just upgraded to 8.0) but I also like to surf the web to find answers to questions I might have. I'm more knowlegable than the average user, so switching to a new service should not be a problem. I just don't know which service "get my virtual feet wet" with.

Rob Pegoraro: You'll definitely want an ISP that supports multiple e-mail addresses and offers some sort of integrated software app.
MSN might work, but I haven't tried its software enough to tell you for sure. In the meantime, I'd look at EarthLink, which several of my coworkers continue to say good things about.

College Park, MD: Rob, do you have any plans to review digital photo finishers? I've been using WalMart and think they do a great job. 4 x 6 is only .26 cents a copy. Less than I can print them myself. Takes about 4days to get the pics in the mail.

Rob Pegoraro: Here's a review we did in late June:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64883-2002Jun29.html

Rob Pegoraro: Well, it's 3 now and work calls. Thanks for some great questions (and some interesting suggestions about shopping for ISPs). As ever, if I missed your question, you can reach me by e-mail at rob@twp.com.

- R

washingtonpost.com: To the reader having trouble accessing Rob's review of the Philips DVDR985, click again and the link should work.