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Feb 20, 2008

How To: Remove Ads and Spyware from the latest AIM Client

Recently while working on a team project I found myself in need of an AOL Instant Messenger client that supported chat rooms. Personally I prefer the AIM Lite Client because it is extremely bare bones and lightweight. It is also 100% ad ware and spy ware free. But it is so bare bones that it does not support the chat room functionality of AIM, so I had to go get another client. I know there are many 3rd party AIM clients out there but for simple ease of use and compatibility I just downloaded the native AIM Client from aim.com.

Download and install. Wow the interface is a lot nicer than before but what is with all these extra services and background processes it has installed without my consent? And why is there and advertisement built into the chat window that plays annoying sounds when I rollover it with my mouse? These are the reasons I hate the native AIM Client.

So let’s fix it. I did some googling and found AIM Ad Hack it is an all-in-one downloader and patch program. It will download the latest AIM Client from aim.com, install it, and patch it. Here is a small portion of the malicious programs it will be removing from what would otherwise be installed if you did not run the hack!:

aim_remover.jpg

After you run the install and patch you will have a much less obtrusive, more efficient AIM Client that is the most compatible client out there (as opposed to 3rd party clients). Here is an example of how the actual client UI is effected by the patch:

before patch (left) | after patch (right)

aim_ads.jpg aim_noad.jpg

That’s it! If you prefer the older version of AIM you can perform a similar patch using DeadAIM to remove the ads and background services.

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  • http://www.devmorgan.com/blog Dave Morgan

    The instant I started hearing random sounds come from my AIM client (years ago), was the moment before I got a new AIM client.

    I haven’t looked back. gaim and now pidgin are my clients of choice.

    It’s such a shame AOL is using this as their business model, but I suppose since their service is free, we can’t complain too much.

  • http://www.thecollegeblognetwork.com Dan

    I agree, AIM is terrible. I was literally forced to use it merely for its chat room support.

    In my experience with gaim and other 3rd party AIM clients there are often certain features that don’t work, or that won’t work if the person you are trying to use them with is not on the same client as you; ie: if I was using AIM and you were using GAIM we might not be able to transfer files, but if we were both using AIM it would work fine.

    It’s these small inconsistencies with 3rd party clients that made me use native AIM just for compatibility purposes (and it was 3am in the morning).

    But I agree, as far as pure IM’ing goes I prefer ANY other client, gaim, laim, miranda IM, pidgin (I’ll have to check this out) there are lots of 3rd party AIM clients, all of which are more effective than standard AIM.

    It is sad that the AOL model is putting so much advertising into the AIM platform but like you said since it’s free I can’t really complain. You should checkout AIM Lite- its produced by AOL but lacks all the AOL advertisements and background services, and it is also very lightweight and efficient (uses very little processor) ;)

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