Change password on child's AOL (America Online) screen name?

How do I change my child's AOL (America Online) screen name password when I'm signed onto my own screen name?

Dave's Answer:

This is a good question, because there are times as a parent that you need to make adjustments and changes to your children's computer accounts, even though I'm sure your child will not be too happy about the modification. Having said that, and hoping that you have talked with your child about what you're doing and why you're doing it, here's what I can figure out...

First off, you need to log in to your "Master Screen Name" on America Online (AOL) to demonstrate to the system that you have proper permissions to make the requested change.

Once you're logged in, go to the Screen Names area by choosing Go --> Keyword and typing in "Screen Names". It looks like this:

Chose the link Learn about Parental Controls, then click on your child's screen name in the list. You're now presented with the Controls for that specific screen name.

Now here's a tip: you can't actually change their password as far as I can tell, but you can disable access to their account anyway as the Master Screen Name. Do that by clicking on Edit Time Online near the bottom of the window.

Now you'll see a Window that looks like this:

(Yes, I know that this is a Mac screenshot and the previous was from Windows. Just trying to reuse images when possible to save on disk space on my server)

The top choice is what you want: if you choose Block all online access to the AOL(R) service you will effectively disable their account.

Now if you have a situation where someone else has monkeyed with their account and you are trying to reset the password so your child can get back into the account, I think you'd need to call up and talk with a customer service representative, I'm sorry to say.

Hope this is helpful!

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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 4224, Written by Dave Taylor)
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Reader Comments To Date: 49

jerod said, on October 25, 2005 7:56 PM:

please let my kid have no parent control.

Lauren F said, on December 6, 2005 3:23 AM:

Hey there, I have a real personal question. My friend and I got into a fight and she is the type of person that goes onto my screen name and that kind of stuff. I need to know how to change my password...although!! i dont have the program AOL installed anymore, i only have AIM and aol.com

angel said, on January 7, 2006 4:47 AM:

hi my name is angela well i gave my password to my ex boyfriend because he realy wanted it and got mad at me and then he went on with it and changed my password and he never told me what is the password he changed it to..so now i cant go on wit my otha screen names and i had realy important people in there... i dont even talk to him so i could make him give it.. so i realy wanna go on with my screen names so please help me.. right now im online wit my cousin's screen name and thats bad i dont like that so please help!

Zachary said, on January 19, 2006 3:16 PM:

Could you tell me how to change my password because I forgot my password I realy want to change it realy bad. E-mail me on my mom's e-mail
address it is Harrisjoanrh@aol.com

Love, Zachary Harris

Lynae said, on February 4, 2006 6:01 PM:

Hi my name is Lynae Walls i forgot my password i want to get into my account but i cant! Help!

Rhonda said, on February 6, 2006 9:20 PM:

My Son is grown now and has finished college. He was the one who originally set up our AOL account, so there for is the master screen name on the account. (even tho I pay for it with my credit card). How do I switch our screen names, me being the master screen name now, his secondary?? When I need information on our account he must always be the one to get the information and he's not always available to do so. How do I change this situation?? Thank you

Dave Taylor said, on February 7, 2006 9:46 AM:

Rhonda, I'm pretty sure that AOL can help you with that, but I think you'll need to call someone at AOL for help. Before you do that, though, just for good luck, print out your address book or otherwise save it just in case they misunderstand and monkey things up. :-)

Kathy Bright said, on March 22, 2006 9:22 PM:

I need to access my daughters AOL account. How do I access her password without reseting all of the accounts?

Dave Taylor said, on March 22, 2006 11:19 PM:

I don't think you can do that, Kathy. Sorry!

Janine Thomas-Smith said, on April 10, 2006 7:08 PM:

I needed to get a password for my son that AOL changed, after being switched, my school password not working that Aol gave me, when I had to change my daughter and my password, printing change your childs password of about 4 pages, holding on the line for 2 minutes, with no answer I still can not confirm, change or update my son's password. Please give us a real person

Thank you,

raymond poland said, on April 19, 2006 10:43 AM:

hey how do i change my sons password AOL wont let him online they r saying his password is incorrect but its not but how do i change his password anyways

tessa said, on May 13, 2006 9:48 PM:

hey whats up my name is tessa and i have a problem will u help???????............okay look my bro knos my password for aol and i have to get on guest cuz this is my bros ex girlfriends screen name so yeah i cant change it my stupid computer shows a lil like lock think at the bottom of the page and it wont let me it says this page cannot be dispalces plz help............

sabrina said, on July 1, 2006 8:12 PM:

i need to change my pasword and i don't know how ....bcuz my stupid friend keeps going on it and i had really important ppl on it she took them off my buddy list and everything and then from her screenname she keeps IMing them plz tell me what to do how to change my password?

Angel Nasr said, on July 8, 2006 7:26 PM:

I'm trying to get bring up the old aol screen name layout but i keep getting something else, the one that you provide above is the one im looking for. Can you please help me. This is the one that keep

AOL Main Mail AIM Join AOL Get Help Search the Web
Screen Name
Your screen name is your online identity. It is your e-mail address and chat name. Your account can have up to 7 screen names, each with its own access level.
*Your primary master screen name cannot be deleted. 1 *R11j09m08 Customize
Password Settings Account Security Question Change Edit Edit
2 Cheesesteak1293 Delete
3 Jaydakiss091025 Delete
4 Kiki4lolo2 Delete
5 Moneymicmar Delete
6 Create
7 Create

Additional Options Learn More
• Restore a recently deleted screen name.
• Edit your Parental Controls
• Create a New Account for your existing screen name.
• About screen names
• Frequently Asked Questions

s coming up....

Brittany said, on July 8, 2006 11:07 PM:

hey im not sure if you can help me, but it involves myspace. someone has made a fake account & it has a pic of me on it & stuff. I have contacted myspace millions of times trying to get them to take it off. but they wont respond. idk who made the site. but i sure didnt. & its a VERY old e-mail of mine they use, & i dont have the password to the e-mail account either. so i have no way of "getting the password e-maild to me" LOl. so i was wondering if you know someway of getting into it & deleteing it or something. because i really dont want some myspace account with a pic of me on there that i didnt make. so if you have any way of helping i would be soo grateful, since the people at myspace arent even bothering to help.

Terry Weiterman said, on July 13, 2006 11:08 PM:

I cannot remember the master screen name on my account could you please help me. I will try not to forget it this time.

Thank You Very Much!
Terry Weiterman

Rachel said, on August 17, 2006 6:25 PM:

My aol account was created by my dad when i was little. i'm much older now and i have a lot of personal things that I don't want my dad to read. How can i change my own password so that he can't get on under my name? please help. i can't figure it out and I've tried for a long time. thank you!

michelle said, on August 27, 2006 8:16 PM:

please help me?!?!?!?!?!? omg pleasee please o0o please....

I 'SUPPOSEDLY' DONT KNOW MY AIM PASSWORD AND WEN I TRY AND READ MY MAIL I NEED TO ENTER A SN AND PASSWORD AND THE PROBLEM IS I DONT KNO THE PASSWORD TO THE PLACE WHERE I HAVE TO ENTER TO READ MY MAIL AND GET MY NEW PASSWORD.

PLEASE HELP ME I NEED TO GET MY BUDDY LIST N TALK TO SOME IMPORTANT PEOPLE THERE

sam said, on August 28, 2006 10:00 AM:

how do i chang my sn password

Audi said, on September 13, 2006 7:30 PM:

But like how do u change the s/n from the master's screenname...that was the question i left u..not how do disable an account!

Molly said, on October 10, 2006 3:05 PM:

Hi, I forgot my password. My mother made me change it because she thought some one was trying to tap into it. BUT.... I need to get into my acount would you please help me. MWturtles@aol.com
thank you
Molly
but please send something to her screen name at:
Cinderlew@aol.com (Mother's screen name)

joey said, on October 27, 2006 12:46 PM:

How do you change your childs password, on parental controls?

katherine said, on October 28, 2006 4:36 PM:

heyy sorry to bother, but i need to change my password for my screename, i really dont like my password and want to change it. I guess there was an upgrade on how to edit information about screenames, idk.. i used to know how to do it but it looks different now.... please help me! =)

lOve, kathyy

Solomon Bezuneh said, on December 16, 2006 9:34 AM:

I was a member of aol for two years. I switched to sbc yahoo dsl servcie since feburary, 2006. I was given a chance to keep my aol e-mail adress for free. However when I send e-mail from aol it sends the e-mail adress as my_name@aim.com. What is the reason for it? The new e-mail address confuse my friends and they block it assuming that the e-mail is a sort of junk. I want my mail to read my_name@aol.com and not my_name@aim.com. Can you please help?

isaac said, on December 23, 2006 1:02 PM:

how do i get a screen name

Brenda said, on January 3, 2007 9:56 PM:

How do you change a password if you cant get on your master screen name????

Hannah said, on January 28, 2007 12:24 PM:

Hi my child doesnt know how to change her password and she cant remember what her information is and what she put for her pets name. Is there anyway to change the password without knowing what your pinfo that you put in the sign in. E-mail me back at Hannah@swanware.net. THANKS

ariana said, on February 1, 2007 3:58 PM:

omg! I dont hav a computer so i hav 2 go on my enV and whenever i type in my password it says incorrect password and i know its right so i wanna change my password. How do i do that thoe?

jessica said, on February 2, 2007 7:04 PM:

I HAVE TO CHANE MY CHILD'S S/N

Isabel said, on February 23, 2007 8:51 PM:

My ex-bestfriend got my password an copied and pasted thins very personal e-mail about me and someone whoi lyke very much! and now if i do something bad he wil black mail me with it ! Please Help!

michelle said, on March 16, 2007 5:14 PM:

Hello pls i cant be able to change my password and i want u to give me some direction for it ok so i can be able to long on it quickly thanks

Kristin said, on March 24, 2007 9:31 PM:

Hi!

We used to have AOL but have switched to aol.com. Someone hacked into my account and is sending spam from my email address. I have tried and tried but can't figure out how to change my password through aol.com. Please help!

nick said, on March 24, 2007 10:17 PM:

how do i change my aol accounts password from aol.com

mariya said, on April 2, 2007 5:46 PM:

i need to chang my password what can i do 4 me

Michelle said, on April 7, 2007 12:47 PM:

Im still wondering how to change the child's password I dont even know the password but I know the screen name

rebecka said, on April 20, 2007 3:32 PM:

hey i forgot my aol password and i can not rember it no matter how hard i try i have to keep getting on my moms so if you will be sooooooo nice and send me my aol password on my moms aol name (which is mamahankins@aol.com) i will be the happiest girl in the world ...........
please you are all i got please =[

lorie said, on April 25, 2007 4:01 PM:

my child lost her password will you please help me find it?

Lily said, on May 27, 2007 1:44 PM:

I need help! A lot of my friends know my SN Password and I need to know how to change it becuz they are talking to my bf and other people that i odnt want them talking to!

jamie hunt said, on May 31, 2007 10:27 AM:

Ok, so my ? is how do i change my password for aol, my ex has the password and i would like to change it. I've had this account for years. everytime i try to change it it tells me their going to lock my account for 24 hours and don't do anything I would really like to change my password, can you help? Please.......

thank you very much,

Jamie Hunt

tiffany said, on September 22, 2007 10:49 AM:

how do you change your email address and also keep the same account

nikki said, on September 25, 2007 3:56 PM:

okk well i tried to change my aol password for;j1zmsonlyjawn,bcos it's like sending spam im's to everyone.but i dont remember the answer to the account security question & they keep locking my account everytime i try.so i want to delete that screenname but i dont remember the master screenname's password so i can delete it/can y0u help?????

Andres said, on September 30, 2007 9:48 PM:

Well my problem is that someone try getting into my Aim account, and well they were succesful and well i change my password n i guess try getting in. again and again and the system wouldnt let them soo i wanted to know how do i get to the "Master Screen Name" soo i can change 1 more or something cause i need to read alot of my important mail nd people i need to talk 2 on aim nd well i really dont know how 2 and is kinda hard cause i made my screename similar and stuff i wanted 2 know how i can get there?...

macee said, on February 20, 2008 9:55 AM:

how do you change your aol screename password?

Barbara said, on June 10, 2008 11:47 AM:

My daughter signed into her email account, on my computer and now she cant sign on, on her computer, i dont know how to get her screenname, off my computer, on the email, thats all i have for aol, I have tried everything, hope you can help me. Thank You, brbrugur@aol.com

MARGARET said, on January 5, 2009 5:33 PM:

HOW DO I SEND AN E-MAIL WITH THE ADDITIONAL SCREEN NAME I CREATED?

Yovannys said, on May 17, 2009 7:06 PM:

Hi my name is yovannys. i do not have a master username. I do have aol AIM and it was recently hacked into. the erson or machine hacked into my account and changed my information. i can not get access into. What do i do to regain it back. I been through everything and there is no hope. my email is ykenney07@yahoo.com. Please help me.

fred singer said, on September 24, 2009 8:23 PM:

forgot password for master screen name.how do i retrieve it or change please help

Sarah said, on October 31, 2009 11:39 PM:

PLEASE HELP!! My aol instant messenger is saying that the password i'm typing is incorrect if this is so i do not know it, i also can not remember my zip/birth date i signed up with can you help me find a way to figure out my password, my sn is lisliaer

Kelly said, on September 27, 2010 11:04 PM:

Well, that option is no longer available! I have tried to change my son's password so I can block his account for a while so he can focus on school, but when I go to "Password Reset", Change Password or Parental Controls, ALL I GET IS THE SIGN ON SCREEN! This is really damn frustrating... I can't even DELETE the account! And yes, I am signed on to my Master Screen Name..

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Change password on child's AOL (America Online) screen name?

Reader Comments To Date: 49

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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