Late and coming to you through a YourFreedom proxy that isn’t giving out DNS errors like pretty much everything else is, and a much-delayed post squeezes through two million years later. My internets are metastising thanks to my crappy ISP and their lack of action, but my computer has been going back and forth through system restores and service pack updates. The biggest cause for this, is a well-known and yet ignored problem which affects quite a number of Vista configurations which aren’t using User Account Control. The culprit is AOL Instant Messenger, version 5.9 latest, or any other version 6.5.3.12 beta. One of the many symptoms it causes is an X over the network icon with the message “No network - Server execution failed”. One of the most popular IM clients has been screwing up Vista systems without UAC big time, and it’s been at it for an year now…
One year ago…
It was back when Vista was still RC1 that it first happened to me. AIM was working fine on the pre-release OS, but as application compatibility had turned me into an update freak it wasn’t hard to come across the fact that AIM 5 was being updated for Vista compatibility. AIM6 didn’t please me. It didn’t have file sharing. So I went ahead and installed the program. I can’t recall when, but the first issue I noticed was in Winamp, when my music stopped playing. Then I noticed a red X over the network icon with a “Server execution failed” message. From there on lots of other things went wrong. My system rating in the properties sheet was not showing, Network Center froze, and my ATI catalyst stopped running on startup. Far worse than any virus infection had ever got me…
Until I found the cause….
Took me a full reinstall and redoing the same blunder, and unnecessary Windows tech support to realize AIM was being the culprit. System Restore fixed it. I downgraded it to version 5.5 and it stopped doing it to me. It was February back then, and nobody had a clue what was going on. I posted a thread in the TechNet forum and forgot about it. and I also announced tech support as my issue was resolved. I thought I’d seen the last of it, well I was wrong.
And to the present.
January 2008. I have four separate accounts for AIM, running it alongside AIM+ so all 4 screen names are active. I’m using each to share one harddrive because sadly you cannot set it to share the whole computer from just one. But my real, fifth account which I use for IMs is separate. You may wonder why I’m not using a FTP client. Well AIM’s ability to allow direct connection and sharing of files through any firewall, if connected via HTTP, and to bypass filesize restrictions by my college firewall makes it a lot more flexible than any FTP client. Furthermore, failed downloads can be resumed from where they were interrupted. But AIM5 is getting ooooooooooold nonetheless. That annoying taskbar window whenever I set an away message and the overall feel are just… blegh. I decided to install AIM 6 for my SN. Guess what? The same havoc all over again.
It’s hip and happening.
Running a quick search through Google I was shocked to find the number of threads and places this issue was being discussed in, and that my old TechNet thread was still going?! I can’t believe the irresponsability of AOL not having fixed the issue thus far! Back then it was AIM 5.9 which did it to me, but as I found out any version over 6.5.3.12 beta will do the same. Unbelievable. Such a wide-spread program putting so many machines at its mercy, and AOL not moving a finger after one year… Apparently the issue has become quite documented now. People have found out about System Restore being able to revert the damage, but they had also uncovered some things I didn’t know. I never knew the issue is only caused when UAC is off, since I always keep it that way. Sp another way is to simply leave UAC on while installing and running AIM. Yeah, I know, that thing is actually good for something for once… And there appears to be a second fix which involves adding the Local Service to the Administrators group. Not recommended as this leaves behind a massive security hole.
Workaround?
The AIM 6.5.3.12 beta will run fine. However, it has the massive downside of nagging you every few hours with upgrade toasts. And there is no way to disable them. These popups are launched by the aolsoftware.exe process, which launches another instance of itself solely for the upgrade. Aolsoftware.exe may be safely deleted in later versions of AIM. However, in this beta it will leave you with a connecting window and never show you your buddy list, so eliminating it is out of the question. Blocking its internet access via firewall is useless, but if you have a good firewall with program control capabilities such as ZoneAlarm or Comodo you should be able to deny it the right to launch other programs, therefor stopping it from running that nagging 2nd instance of itself. You will then be able to finally use AIM 6 on your machine without worrying about anything going wrong.
Help if you can!
If you are interested in why this issue is happening and would like to help, there is a 2nd thread on the TechNet forums investigating on the problem. The very best indicator as to when Vista is actually damaged is not the network icon, nor the media players, as they can break down much later. The most immediate indication is opening the System Properties window and seeing if your Experience Index is showing. If it’s not, consider a System Restore. Combing the problem would be possible with a program control mechanism such as the ones said earlier. It would involve setting the firewall to “paranoid mode” to ask everytime a change is made to the system by the installer, and then check the System Properties sheet again. Perhaps once the problem has been precisely pointed out and enough pressure has been put on America Online they will consider fixing their flaw. Shame on you AOL. Again.
