In computer news this week:

Thanksgiving brings us turkeys, and speaking of turkeys, here's some words of my advice on the new AOL 6.0.

Anyone who has worked with pc's for awhile has learned to be wary of the first versions of new software. This includes Microsoft right down to the smallest vendor. Major software products have been released with thousands of known bugs.

AOL, the largest internet provider in the world, has a history for.non- performance and releases of new software with problems. AOL has been sued in every state, which resulted in refund credits to millions of users who couldn't sign onto the service because it was overloaded. AOL presently has class-action lawsuits filed against it on behalf of subscribers who downloaded recent new releases of AOL software, only to find that it caused computer problems or disrupted their networking.

Washington State residents have joined the growing list of litigants filing class action lawsuits. The Washington suit claims that AOL knowingly released its 5.0 software without warning that the installation would change a computer's dial-up networking properties and TCP/IP settings. The suit also claims that AOL's predatory software prohibits its customers from connecting to the Internet through other Internet service providers.

Seattle attorney Steve Berman filed the Washington suit in King County Superior Court. Renowned for his expertise in national class-action lawsuits, Berman filed suit under the Consumer Protection Act.

AOL is presently releasing a new version - 6.0 - and already technical commentators, attorneys, and users have major concerns with the new release. Some AOL beta-testers, private users who test new software for AOL, have protested the release of the product which they feel is buggy and not stable. Version 6 is available only in some parts of the county, including Spokane, and has not been released nationally on CD.

AOL spokesperson Andrew Weinstein recently declined to reveal how many complaints the company has received about AOL version 6.

The majority of AOL users are not experienced computer users, and the offer of a free new program is of course irresistable.

The new version is 28 megs in size, which means it will take hours to download and install, and hope it works for you. Most AOL users would never think to backup their computer before downloading a program like this, but you should do a backup.

I have downloaded the new version, but only because I had a client that did and I need to understand what's new. In my opinion, not much. I already have seen bugs and problems with it. I don't like the new interface, and the only thing that interested me was the new feature that you could check your email by phone. But there's an additional charge of $ 4.95 monthly for this feature, which wasn't clearly stated. I also see that a lot of new features are not available, and I was directed to order the actual Cdrom which will have them.

I now have AOL 4.0 5.0 and 6.0 on one of my computers; they all crash on me and I actually find I get better internet access by using free services like Costco, Altavista, or Juno, from which I can check my AOL mail and surf the internet. Just recently, especially this week, AOL has been even slower than usual. Will I be switching to another service soon? Yes, and I'll inform you where I go and why.

Next week part 2 of my comments on AOL 6.0,

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 Email: fdspokane@aol.com