Question:

How can I use America Online (AOL) and Netscape Navigator together? I'm running Windows 95 or 98.

Answer:

The following step-by-step instructions take you through the installation process in about ten minutes, not counting the time it will take to download any necessary files. It's very important that you follow these instructions exactly. To give yourself easier access to the instructions, you may want to print out this information (go to the File menu and select Print) or save this file to disk (your hard drive) and open it in your word processor so you can read it while you work.

Step 1: Make sure you're using version 3.0 or above of the AOL software.

You must be using version 3.0 or above of the America Online software for Windows. To check which version you have:

1. Run the America Online program
2. From the toolbar at the top of the screen, select Help
3. Click About America Online.

If the version number is less than 3.0, upgrade your software by selecting Go To, Keyword, and then type Get95 . This will allow you to download the 32-bit Windows 95 version of AOL 3.0.

Note: You will also need to know if you're running the 16-bit or the 32-bit version of AOL for Windows. To find out which you have, look at your About America Online window. If it says "America Online 3.0 for Windows", you are running the 16-bit version. If it says "America Online 3.0 for Windows 95/98", you are running the 32-bit version.

Step 2: Download and install Netscape Navigator.

1. Select Go To and then Keyword
2. Type http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html.
   • If you are using the 16-bit AOL, make sure you download the Windows 3.1 version of Netscape Navigator, NOT the Windows 95 version. The Windows 95 version of Navigator will not work with AOL's Windows 3.x software, even though you are using Windows 95.
   • If you are using the 32-bit AOL, you can download and use either the Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 version of Netscape Navigator.
   Ideally you should download this file into an empty directory, or move it to an empty directory after you download it.
3. Make a note of the directory into which you downloaded the file.
4. When you have finished downloading the file, click Cancel to return to the Netscape menu.
5. Decompress the file. To do this, open Windows Explorer, find the file, and then double-click it. The file will expand to many files.
6. Double-click the SETUP.EXE file and follow the installation instructions.

Step 3: Reboot, restart Windows, and log on to AOL.

1. Quit out of AOL and any other open programs.
2. Exit Windows 95.
3. Reboot your computer. To do this, click the Start button, choose Shut Down, select "Restart the computer" and click Yes.
4. Log onto AOL as you normally do; this should work exactly as it did before.
5. Enter a "pay area" on AOL; otherwise Netscape Navigator might not work. To see if the area you're in is a "pay area" instead of an "unlimited area", go to the AOL menu and select Go To.
   • If "Exit Unlimited Use area" is greyed out, you are in a "pay area".
   • If it is NOT greyed out, you are in an "unlimited usage" area. Starting Navigator from here may give you an error message, so go to a pay area.

Step 4: Run Netscape Navigator.

Double-click the Netscape icon, which was probably installed in a Netscape program group.

Congratulations! If all went well, you're now using Netscape Navigator with your AOL connection!

If something went wrong, please make a note of exactly where it went wrong, and also write down the exact wording of any error messages you saw. This will let a tech support analyst help you solve the problem more quickly. (One common error is "The server does not have a DNS entry"; article 960513-33 gives some possible solutions to this problem.)

Note: If you try to run Netscape Navigator before you start up your connection to AOL, you will get an error telling you "you must run "WAOL" first".

Using mail and news with Netscape Navigator through America On-Line

You can not use Netscape Navigator to read and send mail and news with America Online. In order to read and send mail and news on America Online, you must use the software which America Online provided to you. This limitation is not due to any problems in Netscape Navigator.