AIM Windows Problems

Windows AIM freezes at sign on

If AIM is freezing after you sign on, first make sure that you are using the latest version of AIM, which you can download here.

If that does not fix the problem, try disabling the AIM Today feature (in Sign On/Off preferences), the News Ticker, and the Stock Ticker.

If the problem continues, take the steps below:

  1. Exit from AIM if it is running (by clicking once on the AIM icon in the "system tray" next to the system clock, and choosing the Exit menu item).
  2. Find out which directory on your hard drive is used for the AIM cache files for your affected Screen Name. Depending on your version of Windows and when you first installed AIM, it could be any of the following:

    c:\documents and settings\<Windows_Username>\Application Data\Aim\<Your Screen Name>\urlcache
    c:\documents and settings\Application Data\Aim\<Your Screen Name>urlcache
    c:\windows\application data\aim\<Your Screen Name>\urlcache
    c:\windows\aim95\<Your Screen Name>\urlcache

  3. If any of those above "urlcache" directories exist, delete them. This won't damage AIM at all. (If a lot of cache files have accumulated, it could take Windows quite a while to delete them.)

If the problem still continues, the next step is to delete your Screen Name from the AIM Sign On screen, which will remove data for that Screen Name which is not removed during an uninstall. Note that this will delete all locally-stored data for the Screen Name in question (including your stored password, Buddy Icons, and Away Messages, but not including the groups and buddies on your Buddy List). To do this, take the steps below:

  1. Get to the AIM Sign On screen and make sure that the Screen Name field has the problem Screen Name selected.
  2. Highlight the entire Screen Name and press the Delete key on your keyboard. You should now be given a confirmation dialog asking if you are sure you want to delete the Screen Name.
  3. Click on Yes. Now the Screen Name should not appear in the Screen Name dropdown list.
  4. To make sure that AIM does not remember any settings for that Screen Name, exit AIM completely and then relaunch AIM. (To completely exit AIM, you need to right-click on the AIM icon in the "system tray" next to the system clock, and choose the Exit item from the menu that appears.)
  5. Type the Screen Name back into the Screen Name field (just overwrite any Screen Name that is already there), and see if the problem is fixed.

If the problem continues, please submit a bug report.