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America Online has released the first upgrade to its popular online software in nearly a year. The question now is: So what?It turns out AOL 5.0 is a subtle improvement over its predecessor (dubbed, not surprisingly, AOL 4.0). But subscribers hanging onto more elderly editions of the software will find it a seismic improvement.The centerpiece of the new AOL is You've Got Pictures. A joint effort with Eastman Kodak, the service makes it possible to have family photos delivered to your AOL mailbox and create your own online photo albums.

I have been connected to America Online for the nine months I have had my computer. I have Microsoft Outlook installed in my system and would like to know if I can use the e-mail portion with AOL. If I can, how do I get them to work together? The connection wizard seems to specify every other Internet service provider but not AOL.You can't do what you want to do because Steve Case, CEO of America Online Inc. and one of the world's most brilliant marketing whizzes, doesn't want you to do that.

WHEN AMERICA Online sued for exclusive use of its e-mail slogan, it was lucky the case was tossed out by a federal judge and not an English teacher. Otherwise, AOL might have been sentenced to hours of banging erasers.As the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie about a cyber-relationship, "You've Got Mail," became a hit, AOL sued to halt AT&T from telling its e-mail users, "You have mail."That's because AOL subscribers who receive electronic mail are alerted by a computer voice that chirps "You've got mail" as the words "You have mail" appear on the screen.

While Baltimore County officials were searching in October for a 49-year-old, Harvard-educated composer charged with abducting his children, Deputy State's Attorney Howard Merker did something he had never done before. He sent the fugitive an e-mail.While he was moving around the country with his two daughters, Christopher Yavelow, who grew up in Towson, replied three times, communicating online with Merker about his legal rights. At the same time, law enforcement authorities were tracking Yavelow's e-mails to his estranged wife and to his mother in Timonium.

Ack! I've been attacked by a killer Trojan worm!Yes, you read that right. We consumers would call it a virus. But experts in Computing Land say the correct term is either "Trojan" or "worm." (I added the "killer" part for fun!)It all started with an innocent session at the computer. I sat down, signed online and checked my e-mail.I get a lot of e-mail, and many times the messages come with attachments, such as electronic greeting cards or press releases sent as Word documents.So I wasn't surprised to see an e-mail waiting for me that carried an attached file.

I often go back over an e-mail to correct spelling or grammar. Sometimes I change a phrase. Not always -- but enough times to drive me crazy -- AOL will step in when I tap the "send" and say, "This has been revised. Do you want to save it as a text file?" I can answer yes or no. I tried no the first dozen times, and AOL cut me off and the e-mail disappeared into space. So I tried yes, and the same thing happened.I guess that this is what you get for taking time to get your e-mail just right in our supercharged world of information overload.

I started getting X-rated e-mail on AOL out of the clear blue. I can't imagine where they came from, but I need to stop them immediately. My children use this computer and e-mail.You should log on to America Online, type in Control + K for Keyword Search and type in Mail Controls. Many options are available in the windows that follow.You can order all e-mail addressed to your account shut off. Another choice lets you stipulate which e-mail senders' notes will reach you, causing all others to be rejected.

DETROIT -- A California federal court jury has just sent a mass message to the 67 million people in the country who use e-mail: Think before you click.If that e-mail you're about to send could be taken as a threat, you could go to jail.And that is exactly what the government hoped to accomplish by prosecuting Richard Machado for his menacing e-mail, Michael Gennaco, assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said yesterday."We thought that it was important to send out a statement to future perpetrators of crimes on the Internet that the federal government is going to take it seriously," he said.

You've got mail!And don't be surprised if it's from America Online.The world's largest online service today launches a campaign to carpet bomb the country with the new version of its software, AOL 4.0.AOL plans to distribute more than a million CD-ROMs a week- inside mail slots, cereal boxes, magazines, banks and even gas stations all over the country. By doing so, AOL hopes to shepherd even more middle Americans to the digital promised land. Already the service has more than 13 million subscribers.

President Clinton, our first cyber president, may also be the first president brought down by the Internet. Not the Internet used to broadcast the details of his affair and testimony to computer screens around the world. However lurid, those details do not appear to have moved the American people to wilder LTC strains of outrage or spurred a popular movement to impeach.It's the E-mail to Congress that may cook Mr. Clinton's goose.Recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans do not want the president to be impeached.

A man who police said was motivated by a dispute over his estranged wife walked into a direct-mail company Friday in eastern Baltimore County and fatally shot the owner, according to a colleague of the dead man who was a few feet away when the gunman opened fire. As employees fled through a side door, Dennis Leon McLaughlin, 45, walked out the building's main entrance, put the gun to his temple and fired, another witness said. McLaughlin was pronounced dead an hour later at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

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Beware of a spam e-mail claiming to be from FBI Director John S. Pistole. The FBI warns that the fraudulent e-mail advises recipients that they are the beneficiary of a large sum of money, which they will be permitted to access once fees are paid and personal banking information is provided. The appearance of the e-mail, which incorporates photographs of FBI officials and the FBI seal, leads a recipient to believe that it is authentic. The typical schemes using the FBI name's are lottery endorsements and inheritance notifications, but they can cover a range of scams, including threats and malicious computer program attachments to bogus online auctions.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham's Spam Data Mine is warning consumers about a new spam trend using MSNBC that attempts to trick e-mail readers into clicking on a site that will infect their computers. UAB says that since the new spam attack is based on real e-mail messages sent to MSNBC Alert subscribers, it will be nearly impossible to block the spam without also blocking legitimate MSNBC mail. Gary Warner, UAB's director of computer forensics, said that for several days last week, one of the top spam messages detected by the Spam Data Mine was "CNN Alerts: my Custom Alert," which forged a CNN e-mail.

I used to think no one in the whole world hated e-mail more than me, but that turns out to be wrong. Doctors, it seems, really hate e-mail. In fact, a new survey shows only 31 percent of doctors use e-mail to answer questions from patients outside the office. The rest still prefer the time-honored method of having a bored receptionist take your call, then calling you back days later, usually after your symptoms have subsided. According to a recent Associated Press article on the survey, there are lots of reasons doctors don't like e-mail.

Academy dean gets Defense nomination The first female commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy has been nominated for a promotion, meaning that she could be leaving Annapolis. Capt. Margaret D. Klein, commandant since 2006, has been nominated by the Department of Defense to become a rear admiral. The promotion would require confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Klein graduated from the academy in 1981 and was a member of the second class of midshipmen to include women. The post of commandant of the 4,000 midshipmen at the academy is equivalent to that of dean of students at a civilian school.

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Anouncements may be sent by mail to The Sun, 30 Corporate Center, 10440 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 820, Columbia 21044; by e-mail to howard.events@baltsun.com; or by fax to 410-715-2816.

What is your take on using "automatic replies" or "out of office" replies that would respond to the e-mail I get while away? Does it tell a spammer that they have a live e-mail address, or is it worthwhile to use? - James R. Patterson For businesses, it can be a good idea. While any reply tells a spammer that the e-mail address is legitimate, I don't think most businesses will notice a difference in the amount of spam they get. The plus is that the customer knows you are away and not ignoring them.