While Gold looks and works similarly to the original AOL Desktop, it lacks some of the latter's major features, most notably AOL Instant Messenger, which was shuttered by the company in late 2017. Why is that?Ī: In 2017, AOL opted to shut down its self-contained AOL Desktop program for a more streamlined version of it, called 'AOL Desktop Gold.'Īccording to AOL ( ), the new version is 'more secure and faster' than previous versions of the product, contains a two-step verification process for sign in and setup, houses an updated web browser and more. However, all my friends who use AOL said they did not receive this message and that they are still using the free version without issue. Well, that’s exactly what happened, so I signed up with them. Some months ago I received a message from AOL saying that if I did not move to their new AOL Desktop Gold product (for $4.99 a month), then I would be dropped from their service.
Then I was told that a free version was available, and I switched to that - and I kept using that version for years. In the beginning I was paying $40 a month to use the service. Q: I have been an AOL user since I acquired my first computer in the '90s.
