Jeezus- dont know what all the fuss is about AOL. I've been using the internet on and off for about 8 years, so I certainly am no newbie. I use AOL because its the best connection you can get over here in the UK (as TwoZigZag says, all others have a 2 hour usage limit) apart from ADSL/Broadband which is not available where I am.
I only actually use AOL for the connection - as soon as its fired up it gets minimised and I do all my browsing in IE, so if I get booted I still wont lose the page I was viewing as it stays open in IE - not that I ever get booted from AOL, it really is a rare occurrence.
I agree about the software being shite ( I work on tech support for a well known pc manufacturer and the amount of Windows installs AOL has killed is frankly unbelievable) and the browser is pretty much pants as well. But until adsl is more freely available over here (and cheaper) I'm stuck with it.
As for ZAnwar, if you really don't get booted from Freeserve every 2 hours you are 1 in a million. I used it for 12 months and was religiously kicked off after 2 hours of surfing (you could set your watch by it). I also have 4 mates who use it and they too get booted every 2 hours.
If there is another ISP out there in the UK that anyone knows about that doesn't kick you off every 2 hours then please, let me know, as I just cannot find 1