<P> On April 3, 2006, AOL announced it was retiring the full name America Online; the official name of the service became AOL, and the full name of the Time Warner subdivision became AOL LLC . On June 8, 2006, AOL offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor, a diagnostic tool which checked the local PC's security status, and recommended additional security software from AOL or Download.com . The program rated the computer on a variety of different areas of security and general computer health . Two months later, AOL released AOL Active Virus Shield . This software was developed by Kaspersky Lab . Active Virus Shield software was free and did not require an AOL account, only an internet email address . The ISP side of AOL UK was bought by The Carphone Warehouse in October 2006 to take advantage of their 100,000 LLU customers, making The Carphone Warehouse the biggest LLU provider in the UK . </P> <P> In August 2006, AOL announced they would give away email accounts and software previously available only to its paying customers provided the customer accessed AOL or AOL.com through a non-AOL - owned access method (otherwise known as "third party transit", "bring your own access", or "BYOA"). The move was designed to reduce costs associated with the "Walled Garden" business model by reducing usage of AOL - owned access points and shifting members with high - speed internet access from client - based usage to the more lucrative advertising provider, AOL.com . The change from paid to free was also designed to slow the rate of members canceling their accounts and defecting to Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo!, or other free email providers . The other free services included: </P> <Ul> <Li> AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) </Li> <Li> AOL Video featured professional content and allowed users to upload videos as well . </Li> <Li> AOL Local, comprising its CityGuide, Yellow Pages and Local Search services to help users find local information like restaurants, local events, and directory listings . </Li> <Li> AOL News </Li> <Li> AOL My eAddress, a custom domain name for email addresses . These email accounts could be accessed in a manner similar to other AOL and AIM email accounts . </Li> <Li> Xdrive, which was a service offered by AOL, allowed users to back up their files over the Internet . It was acquired by AOL on August 3, 2005 and closed on January 12, 2009 . It offered a free 5 GB account (free online file storage) to anyone with an AOL screenname . Xdrive also provided remote backup services and 50 GB of storage for a $9.95 per month fee . </Li> </Ul> <Li> AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) </Li>

In recent years aol has grown in size from six million subscribers to over 30 million