after I click on my AOL shortcut, I get a message with 'TITLE' at the top and 'TOPIC' in the body. I 'x' it down and still AOL does not come up.

I also 'right click' on the AOL shortcut icon and it still does not open. Thanks for the assist.

Try opening directly from the AOL folder

OPen windows explorer
-go to c:\program files\aol
-click on the AOL.exe file there and see if that opens

If it does, you can make a new shortcut
-Delete your AOL shortcuts that don't work
-Right click on AOL.exe and choose Send to... and sent to Desktop Shortcut

If clicking on AOL.exe does not help, may to install AOL over what is installed now to 'correct' any file issues with using AOL