How to remove AOL from Windows System Tray

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Question: I have an AOL Messenger icon in my System Tray during startup. I am not interested in having that capability and I am at a loss on how to find the program that is associated with placing that icon in the tray. Could you please help me erase the program from my system? – IR

Answer: There’s an easy way, which will make it disappear from your System Tray, but will leave it on your hard drive. And there’s a hard way, which will eradicate it from your hard drive like a blowtorch on a cockroach.

First, what is it?

America Online Instant Messenger is an applet installed by Netscape Communicator that allows you to conduct chat (in other words, type messages in real time) across the Internet with others with the same applet installed. It’s a competitor to a similar program called ICQ (pronounced “I Seek You” – get it?), by Israeli company Mirabilis. AOL bought Mirabilis last year, so it’s not really a competitor any more.

Netscape Communications (which was also bought by AOL) cut a deal to distribute the software as stick-it-down-your-throat ware. You have no choice. If you download Netscape Communicator 4.5, which is free, you get AIM. There’s no option not to install it.

It also shows up in your System Tray as a little orange man icon. The System Tray is that grouping of tiny icons in the bottom right hand corner of your Windows screen.

The easy way to get rid of the hard drive squatter is as follows:

Start AIM.

  1. Click on Setup.
  2. Click the Misc. tab.
  3. Uncheck Start Netscape AIM when Windows starts.
  4. Click OK.

The hard way requires expertise with munitions or a trowel and the ability to make impressive frustrated expressions. Here’s how to rid the hard drive of all traces of AIM.

Remove AIM from the Personal Bookmark folder as follows:

  1. In Netscape Navigator, go to the Communicator menu and click Bookmarks
  2. Click Edit Bookmarks and then select and delete the Instant Message reference.
  3. Delete the file launch.aim from every user profile directory on your hard drive. You’ll likely find it in c:program filesnetscapeusersyourname, where “yourname” is the name of your user profile. It’s the name you set up for yourself when you installed Netscape. Mine was in the andy directory. (Andy is my alter ego and the guy who does my laundry.)
  4. Now, close Netscape if you have it running anywhere in Windows.
  5. In Windows Explorer, find the AIM folder, likely in c:Program FilesNetscapeCommunicatorProgram.
  6. Yell “KILL! KILL! KILL!” with great conviction and then delete the AIM folder and all its contents.
  7. Run the program Regedit, by going to Start > Run and type regedit. This is a very dangerous program to use because one wrong move can blow up Windows. Proceed with caution and be sure to back up your Windows registry first. In Windows 98, you can run the registry checker (it’s in the Tools menu of the System Information applet in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools) to ensure a backup has been made. It will also restore or repair troublesome registry files. If you have Windows 95, you’ll have to back it up manually. Instructions on how to do that are on the Microsoft support site at support.microsoft.com. OK, take a pain-killer and move on.
  8. Once you’re running Regedit, in the Edit menu, click Find and type in AIM.
  9. Delete all references that are found.
  10. Also type in AOL. Remove all those references too, though AOL subscribers, should ONLY delete the “AIM” references in the registry, otherwise your access to the America Online service will go bye-bye.
  11. Now, exit Regedit and restart your computer.

If you like AOL Instant Messenger, and want to know about it, check out aim.com.