AOL glitch causes info mix-up

Some people who tried to access their personal pages on America Online this weekend found themselves looking at a completely different page instead, the Web giant confirmed Monday.

The glitch affected MyAOL personalization features such as stock portfolios, calendars, sports scores and weather updates for a "very small number of users," the company said. AOL did not reveal what caused the problem but said its effects were still under investigation.

For now, most of the users affected are getting their old pages as a stopgap, while AOL fixes its software.

"We took immediate, corrective steps to address the issue," AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said. "We've already reverted to a previous version of the software that rendered this customized content, so no new users have been affected that we are aware of."

Graham declined to confirm or deny a report last week by Computerworld that said the MyAOL members affected could pull up other members' personalized Web pages. The glitch involved customized pages on both AOL's proprietary service, which has 24 million subscribers, and the AOL.com Web page.

The personalization glitch comes a couple of weeks after a vulnerability was discovered on AOL Instant Messenger. The issue could have allowed malicious attackers run a "buffer overflow" through a security hole in AIM's software. AOL patched the hole by releasing an updated version of AIM.

[Prndll]

A joke, right?

AOl sucks. It has always sucked. As time goes on, it gets worse. Noth about AOL is actually worth the investment of the time or money. After years of seeing, hearing, actually experiencing, and fixing various AOl software malfunctions; all I can tell you is to just stay away from it all together.

AOL LOL

Okay - so AOL has its quirks - the fact it is so huge makes the headlines. You didn't hear that noone in my company could not print this morning did you while patients were waiting ?

AOL, I don't use them but I did for a while on their broadband trial and I can tell you - it is quite simply the nicest company I have ever had the pleasure to deal with - if it were not for their software I would definatley still be with them. The nicest company ever - and it puts many others to shame, I felt quite guilty after leaving them.

I think people need to lay off AOL, there software does suck, but as a company it is excellent. And NO - I am not in any way affiliates to them LOL.

So there was a minor screw-up for some people - big deal.

[Prndll]

Where is the logic?

You can choose what ISP you want. You have that right. However, I cannot justify sacrificing my money, my computer, and my information on the basis of "nice". You would agree that their software sucks, but it is their software that defines them. Especially when they go to such great lengths to diseminate their cd's.

Ya know, for so many years, people have fought and lost their lives for the freedom of racial equallity. If you take a look at some of the things AOL is (in reallity) doing, they are creating an online segregated community. They are creating the "back of the bus". This is just one example.

AOL's business practices are dubious at best and are atleast questionable, and you refer to them as "nice".

Do I really have to appalogize for putting my sense of logic first and my heart felt feelings second when it comes to computer technology?