I had AOL 7. It kept freezing up periodically. Could not fix so I
installed AOL 5 Okay so far. BUT I've lost my "address" book and list
of "Favorites" Is there any way to restore them.
 A fast answer will be appreciated
                 Erwin A Levine

Hi Erwin,

Losing your favorites sure can be frustrating. You haven't mentioned
what operating system you are using, but I will try to give you a
variety of options for restoring your favorites.

According to a utility on the LinkDragon website "AOL stores favorites
in a non-standard file format which itself varies depending on which
version of AOL you are using. The AOL file that you will need is known
as your 'Personal Filing Cabinet' or in short a .pfc file. We must
find this file or generate it before you can import your AOL
favorites."

this page has further information on how to do that and what to look
for, you can read more here:

http://www.linkdragon.com/aol.htm

basically it's a two step process

* find your old favorites file by searching for a file that ends in
.pfc
* import it into your version of AOL using the import feature.

One of the downsides to AOL's favorites is that the folder for them is
inside the main AOL folder. So, if you overwrote your AOL folder when
you tried to install AOL 7 the favorites may be lost. Check on your
hard drive to see if you have one or two [or more] AOL folders. If
there is only one, there is a chance that your attempted installation
of 7.0 overwrote the favorites you had in 5.0.

[source: AOL Tips and Tricks
http://www.iabc.com/chapters/us_1/newyork/techtips/tt084.htm]

If you need more assistance on this process, you may want to contact
AOL by phone. Their contact information is here:

http://www.aol.com/nethelp/findinghelponaol.html

Good luck!

jessamyn-ga

Hi win-ga,

I was the researcher who was helping you with your problem regarding
your computer freezing. If you look back to that question, there has
been no clarification posted regarding the answers to the questions
that I orginally asked you. In addition, the "comments" that others
have posted is not what you're paying for..anyone is free to comment
on any question to provide additional information. However what you
didn't like in the comments seems to have affected the rating you gave
me (yes, it only affects me). I couldn't contact you any other way so
I thought I would try this.

I would be happy to help you, but I do need your responses to those
answers first.

answerguru-ga

Hello Win-GA,
       I would like to help clarify a few things for you.  First off,
you may be able to recover your saved mail and favorite places, but
the address book may not copy over to version 5.0.  It might be easier
to troubleshoot the freezing issues on your AOL 7.0, which I am
willing to do if you wish to post follow up information (Such as what
version of windows you are using, what kind of computer, how much ram,
what kind of video card, etc.)  You may also contact AOL technical
support by dialing 1-888-346-3704.  The technicians should be able to
help you with 7.0, however, I do not believe they will help you move
your PFC from 7.0 to 5.0.  If you would rather stick to the AOL 5.0,
then read on.

       The .pfc files mentioned before don't exist.  You need to
create them. Start by double clicking on the MY COMPUTER icon on your
desktop.  Double click on the C drive, then double click on PROGRAM
FILES.  In this folder, you will find an AMERICA ONLINE 7.0 Folder
(however, there may be more than one). Double click on that folder. 
Inside of this folder, you will find an ORGANIZE folder.  Drag this
folder to your desktop to make working with it easier.  Open the
ORGANIZE folder from your desktop and search for a file that is very
similar to your screen name.  It will contain only the letters of your
screen name, and the last few letters may be separated by a period. 
The file you are looking for is NOT a .arl file or any other file
extension.  If you find more than one file that is labeled as your
screen name, select the largest one.  You can find the size of the
file by right clicking on it and selecting properties.

       Once you find the file that is labeled the same as your AOL
screen name, right click on it and select RENAME.  Rename this file to
whatever you want, and add ".pfc" to the end of it.  For example:
Myscreenname.pfc.  You have now isolated your filing cabinet and set
it up so that AOL can read it.

       Open your AOL 5.0 software.  Click on FILE from the menu bar
and select OPEN.  Navigate to your desktop, double click on the
ORGANIZE folder that you dragged to the desktop earlier, and double
click on your new .pfc file.  This will open your list of favorite
places and email.  You should be able to drag and drop these files
back into your filing cabinet from there.

       This is a lot of information, so print it out and read over it
a few times. I will post further comments if you need. Good luck, and
I hope you have your filing cabinet back soon!