I have had the same thing for the last couple of days, never used to do it.
I am certainly no expert, but I just contacted AOL Australia, and they claim not to have affected any settings in upgrades?
Their only advice, which I guess is what you have tried? was.
Right click the AOL icon on bottom right tool bar, select auto launch options, then use " do not use auto launch" If still no good, click START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL, INTERNET OPTIONS, PROGRAMS TAB, and click on RESET WEB SETTINGS.
Regards,
"lame"