For those of you using AOL desktop software to read/send/receive email, a change is coming. Your current AOL desktop software will soon be crippled in favor of a new desktop application called AOL Desktop Gold. The old desktop versions will soon stop sending or receiving email, forcing you to either access your AOL mail through their website, or sign up for a subscription to their AOL Desktop Gold application. Accessing your email via their web interface will remain free, but the AOL Desktop Gold application will cost you $3.99 a month.
All your email that remains on AOL servers will be available via their website. From there you will be able to read & reply to all your AOL email new or old. Email that has been downloaded to your computer will only be readable through the old AOL desktop software, you will not be able to send or receive from there. This page tells you how you can still access your old email & attachments stored on your computer as well as save them.
Our suggestion is to go to the AOL mail website and ensure that your old email is there. If not, follow the directions above to save whatever emails & attachments locally you wish. Then, uninstall the AOL desktop software completely. You have free access to your mail through the website, or you can setup a 3rd-party email client (such as Thunderbird) to access your AOL email. We can find no reason to sign up for a monthly subscription to access what you can get for free.
We believe everyone should have an Antivirus/Antimalware service. Malicious software and the ways they gain access to your machine are far more complex than they used to be.