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If you've been watching any of the NCAA tournament games, you've likely seen the AOL commercial that features two guys at a cafeteria. The clueless guy is holding a tray with a plate of food and a sandwich. The supposed "expert" guy puts a cover over the sandwich and then goes on to cover clueless guy's plate of food with chili and jello to illustrate that his plate (his computer) is unprotected and is vulnerable to viruses and spam, while the covered sandwich is protected (because it has AOL for broadband). I'm sure you've also seen AOL's ad campaign saying that most of us are just asking for a computer virus.
I've always been annoyed with AOL, but these recent commercials take the cake. Now that most everyone has access to broadband internet (and not signing up for dialup), AOL has changed its business model to prey on naive people. Are spam, viruses, and spyware problems? Absolutely. But, no one needs pay exorbitant monthly fees to AOL to keep their computer protected. In fact, you don't have to pay anything. AOL over Broadband costs $15 per month. That's $15 over and above whatever you are paying monthly for broadband service. AOL is not providing your internet connection, it is just giving you virus protection and lots of "exclusive" content. The "exclusive" content is basically stuff that you can get completely free on the internet.
AOL's dialup service works the same way. They charge $23.90 per month for "added protection" and "exclusive" content. This is a total crock. $24 per month is almost as much as cheap DSL broadband service costs. You can get dialup service that is just as fast and takes you to the same internet from other companies for $10 per month or less.
If you have AOL, let me let you in on a little secret: you don"t need it! If you are worried about viruses, buy an antivirus program from the store. You can usually get one for under $30 after rebates when they're on sale. Better yet, download the completely free AVG Antivirus. I've been using this for years, haven't paid one red cent, and have been virus-free. If you are worried about spam, open a different email account. Sign up for my newsletters and I'll give you a Gmail account with 1GB of storage. If you're worried about hackers, make sure the firewall built into Windows XP is active. Or, download the very highly-rated ZoneAlarm firewall. It too, is completely free.
If you want to pay AOL $15 per month to watch choppy video in a tiny window that shows behind the scenes footage of your favorite reality show, go right ahead. The rest of us will use our cheaper (or free) and perfectly capable alternatives and be laughing all the way to the bank.
