OK. My name is Furbird and I am an AOL-coholic. I know and understand the repercussions of this. However, it is amazing to me that of the 10 message boards I am a part of, this is the ONLY one that I have to open internet explorer for. Can you guys give me a real reason, other than AOL sucks and all that other stuff you have in the FAQ? I just can't understand why this board is this way but nobody elses does this "invalid session" crap.

I run the board on a program called phpBB. The makers of that software are security-conscious, and implemented some great security measures. Unfortunately, AOL does some non-standard things that make you look just like one of the intrusion methods used for hacking. So it breaks the session.

They were planning on releasing a less-secure version, which I could load and eliminate this. I just haven't thought about it again and haven't looked to see if it is available.

Wow, excellent explanation. There's one more evil thing to add though (AOL goes above and beyond to be evil). AOL's browser is proxied, not a real IP connection, so they don't even have to give you that IP temporarily. This proxy can't maintain user sessions properly, though I don't know the intricate details on why exactly.

I appreciate the honest answer to my serious question. I was hoping to get that kind of response, a clearly understandable one, with enough computer talk to not lose me and enough layman's terms to keep my on track.

I certainly hope they release a new version, because it sucks to be able to reply to a bunch of boards on AOL, but then have to fire up Internet Explorer just for this one site. Or maybe you guys just don't want the Furbird participating because he furred his XX like a hooligan stunter :lol:

Thanks again.

I have to agree, the "Invalid Session" is annoying. I read all me Email mainly in AOL. My Comcast Email account sucks, and I don't really like Hotmail.

Anyway, I keep the AOL account as I like the email, and the lack of pop ups. As soon as I fire up Internet Explorer and come to the forum, I'm inundated with pop-ups.

Guess I will just cope. Like alot of the other member I'm not very sophisticated when it comes to computers. Just got an MP3 player for X-mas, and can't wait to dig in, and try to finger it out. :roll:

I can help you with the pop-ups on internet explorer. I have a program called "Pop-up Stopper", and it is designed for use with internet explorer. Since I got it (it is free) I have not had a single pop-up on internet explorer. It's been out for a while, so you should have no problem finding it.

You have a spyware problem! We have no popups at all fed from this forum, no advertising links, nothing. I'd recommend downloading and running Spybot Search & Destroy.

I had a similar issue...

Another thing to do.. Go to Microsoft and make SURE you download the latest 'critical updates'...

I ran Ad-aware and it didn't find the spyware. Norton didn't work either...

Didn't try spybot...

But if spybot doesn't catch it, I pretty much assure you you had the same issue I had.

If my developer was here at the moment I'd ask him what it was, but I recall that there is a bug with IE and if you didn't keep your critical updates from microsoft up to date, your system is vulnerable to that particular hack, or spyware, or whatever it is.

So anyway... Do the updates from microsoft.. they are free... And what you have sounds like what I had.