AOL Dial-up Service Versus Netzero Dial-up Service

This article will compare AOL dial-up service against Netzero dial-up service. I have used both AOL and Netzero as my ISP (internet service provider) on my very old computer. My computer uses a Pentium II processor and operates on Windows 98. It has 32mb of ram and 4GB of hard drive space.

AOL dial-up service and Netzero dial-up service both offer virus and spyware protection. AOL dial-up service uses McAfee security suite while Netzero uses the Norton anti-virus system.

I cannot operate the latest version (9.0) of AOL dial-up service on my computer. I must use the older (7.0) version. However, I can operate the latest Netzero dial-up service version (8.0).

I have had numerous problems with the AOL dial-up service software. The pages load much slower as compared to the speed at which the Netzero program loads them. This often results in a previous page reloading when I trying to get to a different web page. Example: I am on Hotmail's web page and want to go to my Associated Content page. I close out the Hotmail web page and the screen clears. I believe that everything is working normally and I expect the Associated Content web page to appear, however, it does not. Instead, the Hotmail page appears once again.

In addition, my system often locks up when I am running the AOL dial-up service program. In order to regain control of my system, I have had to shut my computer off. I also have received numerous error messages. When I receive these error messages, the AOL dial-up service software closes down the program and I have to begin again.

With the Netzero dial-up service software, I do not have these problems. In fact, the only problem that I have had with this software happened after my power temporarily shut off while I was in the program. When the power came back on, I could no longer load the Netzero dial-up service program, I received a fatal error message. The only way to correct this error was to reload the program from the CD.