It appears cookies somehow got turned off, and it wont let me turn them on. Nothing I do on IE is saved, my address bar is always empty, no history, no passwords are saved, nothing. Everytime I try to get on AIM it asks me if I have a screen name. Everytime I download updates and reboot my computer it says I didnt update. It wont let me restore to an earlier period, either.

So I make a new computer account, and I can edit internet options, and more stuff I could do than on the other account. But, after my computer is on for a few hours, my AIM settings go back to default, only 2 out of 20-some links in my address appear, and my bookmarks are in a completely different order.

I scanned for viruses, none found.

Anybody know how to fix any of this? Thank you.

You can set all those kind of options by going to Tools>Internet Options...

Hope that helps..

Sounds like you may have a serious virus or maybe a trojan on the system. AIM is a hacker's dream.

* Download XPscrub, reboot, and run it one time. Set it to "No Autostart" and reboot once more.

* Uninstall AOL and AIM and reboot.

* Run "The Cleaner" that will detect any trojans.

* Reinstall AOL from a AOL CD which includes AIM.

Stay out of AIM Rooms that are not AOL sponsored and dont download anything from someone on AIM unless you know them real good. Dont visit sites that someone sends you a link to in AIM. Those sites usually drop a JAVA script on your PC that wrecks your machine. You get the idea.

Visit AOL Help for more information.

Welcome to MSFN

I dont have AOL or an AOL CD.

Is it ok to just download AIM from their website then? Also, is it ok to back up my buddy list/settings so I dont have to redo everything?

Thanks.

I downloaded the Cleaner, and it says "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" has been changed. What should I do? Edit it or what? Thanks.

well.. have a look in that reg key first and take a screenshot if possible