I’m not entirely sure what is going on with your AOL Instant Messenger, so I’m going to give my answer in stages.
Removing Groups in AIM
The standard method for removing groups from your Buddy list in AIM is:
- Click Setup in the Buddy List window.
- Select the Buddy or Group name. If you are removing a group, it will remove all screen names that are associated with that group.
- Click the Remove Buddy button.
- Click Yes to confirm.
Viruses in AIM
If this doesn’t work, then you probably have a virus or Trojan on your machine. Is “Underground” a group you added, or did it just appear? If it just appeared and you can’t delete it, that is the sign of a virus problem. Although I didn’t find any instances of this particular problem in the AOL forums, there have been widespread AOL viruses that add messages to your mailbox or send emails with links included. They also set up things in AIM that you can’t remove. You may be getting an error message that reads something like: SSIE Exception - Error removing group from list.
Fixing the Virus or Trojan
The first thing you should do is to make sure you’ve downloaded the latest Microsoft updates. You can do that here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Search.aspx?displaylang=en .
Once you have done that, AOL has a security article that can give you step by step directions for removing a Trojan or virus from the system. This article includes very specific steps for fixing your system, so I’m linking to it here rather than transcribing the steps: http://www.aim.com/help_faq/security/trojan.adp
Downloadable Fixes
Several programmers have come up with downloads that should identify and clean viruses from your system. They will delete problem files and remove registry keys. One to try is AIM Fix: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2007/03/02/fix-aol-instant-messenger-related-viruses-with-aimfix/
You can also try standard downloads that identify and remove viruses from your system. Try Trend Micro Housecall: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ , and Paretologic Antivirus: http://filetonic.com/tools/company/paretologic-products/antivirus-plus/ .
Hopefully, finding and clearing out any viruses will let you delete this group permanently. In the future, to avoid viruses, make sure that you:
- Run good virus software often.
- Install any Windows updates as they come out.
- Use a good firewall.
- Run an adware and spyware program for protection.
- Be careful clicking on links that you aren’t sure are safe. Many viruses appear to come from people on your Buddy list. You will get an email that says “Check this out!” or something similar. By clicking on this email, you will be directed to a website that will download a Trojan or virus onto your machine. From there, it can easily infect everyone on your Buddy list.
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