From the readme: AIM Ad Remover (or pecifically, it could be called a patch or crack) will replace the ads on the AIM software with nothing. This is very convenient for many users, and will result in AIM running faster and looking nicer. The ads themselves download approximately every 5-15 minutes, so the strain on the connection is removed and the ugly conglomerate Sales attempts of AOL and their 'free' software are stifled. What's more, this only needs to be run once on Win95/98/ME systems and the ads will be permanently removed.