AIM, Netscape Recovering from Glitch

America Online began to reactivate thousands of instant messaging accounts Monday after it had mistakenly deleted them due to a computer glitch. The company said the error occurred during a regular purge intended to open up inactive AIM screen names to new users.

"As of today, all AIM screen names that were accidentally affected by the recent screen name refresh, as well as all corresponding AIM Buddy Lists, will be fully restored," AOL spokesperson Krista Thomas told BetaNews. AOL acknowledged some Netscape.net e-mail users were also affected by the glitch, and those screen names "will also be fully restored by the end of the day."