How does one configure AOL so that incoming file attachments are not
received in zipped form? I am not an AOL user, but when I send file
attachments using Outlook Express, recipients who use AOL are
confronted with what they tell me are unopenable/unviewable zipped
files.

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 01 May 2003 08:04 PDT

The file name that AOL recipients usually see when the file is
unopenable is odll.zip.

Hello nautico,

I did some searching for you and was surprised not to find a method to
do this. I decided to phone AOL and find out for you. They tried to
tell me that "that was how the internet worked" and when I would not
buy that, they admitted that "AOL zips files to save on bandwidth
costs".

I was surprised to hear this considering that AOL is probably the most
expensive dialup service out there. After they made it clear that it
was impossible to change this, they offered two free months of
highspeed internet, although saying that files would STILL be zipped
even with high speed.

Here are my recommendations for you:

-This is the closest I was able to come to a solution, and it might
require that the people download the latest version of AOL from here:
http://www.aol.com/downloads/ (although their version might already
have this feature). "You can let AOL unZIP compressed attachment files
that you receive automatically. Log on to AOL. Click My AOl, Click
Preferences, click the Download icon, check the box to Automatically
decompress files at sign off."
Source: http://members.aol.com/rollyh/page14.htm

-This website has more detailed instructions on how to change the
preferences inside AOL so that attachements are automatically
unzipped: http://www.safetyforum.com/help.html#aol (scroll down to the
section "Problems with AOL Email Attachements".

-If these are friends/relatives you are emailing, get them off AOL and
onto a better isp. Note that cancelling an AOL account is NOT easy,
they will offer free months and use other tactics to try and keep a
member. One of the best ways to get disconnected without a hassle is
to tell them that your employer has prepaid for 3 years of high speed
internet access for you. Let them try to beat that. :)

-Send them instructions on how to open a zip file. First they will
need a program like winzip which can be downloaded here:
http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm
Here are instructions for downloading files with AOL version 4 through
5: http://www.ezinstructions.com/downlaol.htm
Downloading and viewing attachements with AOL 6 and 7:
http://www.ezinstructions.com/aol6down.htm

-Another suggestion would be to host your file on an internet server
for AOL members and send them a link. You can get low priced hosting
from companies such as http://www.hummingbirdhosting.com/ (and you
don't need a domain name, jsut send them the ip address and the
location of the file).

I hope that this answer will be helpful. If you need any
clarifications, please let me know and I will do my best to further
assist you. It does look like that AOL is zipping files to save on
bandwidth costs at the expense of making it harder for users. There
really is no way to change this because the files are being zipped
before they reach the user. Also note that even if they set up so that
files are unzipped automatically, they will have to exit AOL before
AOL will start unzipping the files.

All the best,

tisme-ga


Search Strategy: 

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download winzip
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download aol
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open attachment zipped aol
://www.google.com/search?q=open+attachment+zipped+aolSearch

Many thanks for a comprehensive and helpful response!