Ask Leo!: 2010 Newsletters

Leo's Answers #263 - December 28, 2010

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

Do you have a tech question? Ask it here. Newsletter questions? Check the newsletter administration page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email.

*** New Articles

My contact list is getting spam from me, what do I do?

My contact lists has been compromised and tons of emails have been sent in my name. How do I fix it?

This is sadly very common of late.

Hackers are gaining access to real email accounts and then simply using those email accounts to send spam. They may not even bother to change the password, but they may change a few other things to make it easier for them to hack back in.

Here's a quick list of things I would do.

Continue reading: My contact list is getting spam from me, what do I do?
http://ask-leo.com/C4690

* * *

The First 8 Things You Should Do With Your New Computer

Congratulations! You've received a new computer!

There are some things you'll want to do to it before you start using it.

These are things that, later, when all heck breaks lose and the machine dies, the software crashes or you get a massive malware infection, will save you lots and lots of grief.

Every day people lose data, precious memories and valuable time because they didn't take a few simple steps along the way to prepare.

And by far the best time to prepare is at the very beginning.

Continue reading: The First 8 Things You Should Do With Your New Computer
http://ask-leo.com/C4689

* * *

How do I change my Hotmail alternate email address?

The email address I used for recovery is no longer valid. I can't figure out how to change my alternate email address.

Your alternate email address is a critical bit of information that you'll need if you ever lose your password, or if your account ever gets hacked.

It's good of you to note that your current one is invalid - if you no longer have access to your alternate email address then it's just as bad as, perhaps even worse than, not having set up an alternate email address at all.

I'll show you how to change it.

Continue reading: How do I change my Hotmail alternate email address?
http://ask-leo.com/C4688

* * *

Would temporarily unplugging from the internet protect me while I work on something sensitive?

I have a file on a USB which contains my bank details. Presently I switch off the router and load this file from the USB, work on it, disconnect the USB and switch on the router.

This is a bit tiresome. I have Avira and Threatfire protection.

If I leave the file on the computer itself, will the software listed above and the router protect me from anyone on the Internet entering my computer and reading my files?

There are really two questions here:

1) Does disconnecting help?

2) Do you have enough protection against malware?

The answers are: not really, and maybe - maybe not.

I think there may also be a misconception about how malware works.

Continue reading: Would temporarily unplugging from the internet protect me while I work on something sensitive?
http://ask-leo.com/C4687

* * *

How do I remove a virus if it prevents me from download or installing anything?

I am trying to fix a computer that is running XP pro. It has adware that is preventing me from getting into regedit, task manager. It will not let me boot into safe mode. It will not let me install any antispyware or antivirus soft ware. Not sure where to go from here. It has stopped me from doing much of anything to get the malware off the computer. Any suggestions? I am not sure what the malware is but I think its one of the Antispyware 2010 or something like that. I keep getting alerts that I am infected and when you click it it opens a browser window and tries to take you to a website.

Sadly, this is all too common. Malware is getting pretty nasty. At best it may extort money from you for a real repair - at worst it'll extort money from you and do nothing.

I'll save the "prevention is so much easier than the cure" missive for another day. We just want this fixed.

There are things we can try, but there are no guarantees.

Continue reading: How do I remove a virus if it prevents me from download or installing anything?
http://ask-leo.com/C4686

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*** Comments

How do I keep my USB device from becoming infected?

Steven Lewis writes:

USB infections and download (bittorrent,etc) trojans have been two big disease vectors in our extended family in the last several years.

But since denying auto-run on the windows pcs, the USB-carried infections have died down. That, combined with stressing that everyone scan any usb stick, ipod, camera card, etc, right away whenever they connect it to their pc.

Also, I've impressed on all to be aware that plugging these cards, USBs, etc into "foreign" pcs is always risky. Do it only when absolutely needed.

Together, these practices have worked well enough to make it a non-issue over the last year or so....fingers crossed!

None of our current devices have write protection, nor have I seen it, but I'll certainly look for that feature in the future, thanks.

Is it possible to wipe my hard drive and start over myself?

Jim de Graff writes:

I would add one more step. After you finish rebuilding, reinstalling all your applications and applying all updates (windows, anti-virus, etc), make a system image. At some point down the road you will decide that it is time for another rebuild. Perhaps it is because you have installed/removed many applications that left pieces of themselves behind; perhaps you got infected with a virus or maybe your hard drive died. No matter the reason, it takes only a few minutes to restore an image compared with the hours it takes to rebuild from scratch.

And another thing, when you restore that image months from now, apply all outstanding updates and take another image.

What is the Event Viewer, and should I care?

Donald Dantice writes:

Leo: Thank you and all the others who left comments. Today 12-17-10 I was working on my computer at home when the phone rang. When answered the party identified themselves as member of the microsoft team and they were detecting a lot errors coming from my computer. When I ask them which one they could not answer. At the time I had three computers running. They kind of caught me off guard because I was having problems with one of them. They referred everything to the event viewer. The really weird thing was they called on my home phone which I never use on the internet and is even unlisted so that was my first clue. I asked them for a call back number which they told me they could not give me until I had performed a certain action. I told them if they could not provide a call back number we had nothing to discuss. They promptly backed out. Seeing that others are having some of the same issues and your great response reassured me. Thank you all

Is it possible to wipe my hard drive and start over myself?

Don Mitchell writes:

Hi Leo,i just read your answer to, ( is it possible to wipe my hard drive and start over ? ), as always, your response was great but i have one complaint, its hard to remember all the things one needs to do in order to follow your instructions. It would be a BIG help if you had a (PRINT) button on your help page. Thanks, Don M.

Just use the Print function in your web browser. You'll find that the articles print pretty cleanly. (No ads, no menus, etc.)

-Leo

*** Leo Recommends

Seagate FreeAgent Go - Portable USB External Harddrive

I currently own five of these.

If that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is.

One of the problems with recommending a specific disk drive is that drives change, capacities increase and what I might tell you about today may not even be available next year. The external drive I recommended some years ago is no longer even being made.

With that having been said, today the FreeAgent Go is an incredibly handy and valuable device.

The version I use has a capacity of 500 Gigabytes, all in a package that's smaller than a paperback book.

Seagate FreeAgent Go - Portable USB External Harddrive
http://ask-leo.com/C3834

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles

I wish, wish, wish, WISH that Microsoft would stop choosing names that only confuse. It amazes me that no one there sees this as the huge issue it remains today.

What's the difference between Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and MSN Hotmail?

What's the difference between Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and MSN Hotmail? I keep getting them confused. And aren't some of them the same thing?

•

You're confused? You and the rest of the world.

And no, with another case of brilliant naming, all four of those things are all quite different.

I wish Microsoft would have learned from the mess that resulted from all the different names for something called messenger or the two unrelated email programs with the word Outlook in their name, but no. Here we are, Again.

Continue reading...
What's the difference between Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Hotmail and MSN Hotmail?
http://ask-leo.com/C3242

*** Thoughts and Comments

This weeks recommendation is sitting next to me right now.

One of my FreeAgent Go drives is sitting next to me having just restored an (Acronis 2010 created) backup image to a newly replaced hard disk in my laptop. The whole process went as smooth as you might want it to - for having a dead hard drive that is.

That was my laptop's Christmas gift to me - a big fat warning that its hard disk was on the verge of death. I took the hint, ordered a new drive (next business day delivery for only $4? Thanks Amazon!) which arrived yesterday. A replace and a restore and my laptop's back in business. The new drive seems quieter too.

I can't really say I'm surprised. My laptop has many miles on it. Among several other trips, it accompanied me to Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. The old hard drive served me well.

I hope you have a happy and safe New Year's celebration, and a prosperous and trouble-free 2011.

'till next ~~week~~year...

Leo A. Notenboom

*** Administration

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Ask Leo! is a registered trademark ® of Puget Sound Software, LLC

Leo's Answers #262 - December 21, 2010

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

Do you have a tech question? Ask it here. Newsletter questions? Check the newsletter administration page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email.

*** New Articles

How do I get data off the hard drive in my dead computer?

My computer has died on me. I can't get it to boot up. I need to take the hard drive out and pull my files off from it. How do I retrieve the files off my hard drive? Thanks for any help you can give me.

This isn't too uncommon a scenario. Depending on what caused the computer's demise, there's a pretty good chance you can retrieve the information off that hard drive.

Of course, if it's the drive that caused the failure things get a little more interesting.

There are several approaches to this problem, so I'll outline my favorite.

Continue reading: How do I get data off the hard drive in my dead computer?
http://ask-leo.com/C4684

* * *

How can I automatically reply to spammers telling them to stop and that I'm not reading their junk?

Can I set up an automatic email reply to all the [BULK...] emails I get telling them that such are not being received at my email address? Would it be advisable to do so; I get few if any that inform or provide any useful info. Or perhaps I need to ask "what is the best way to deal with [Bulk...] emails other than one-by-one?"

I'm going to assume that by "BULK" you mean unsolicited email - aka spam. Email that you never signed up for and that you simply don't want.

Yes, you can set up an automated reply, but that's not what I'm going to show you.

Why?

Because you should never, ever reply to spam.

It won't make things any better, and might well make things worse.

Let me explain why...

Continue reading: How can I automatically reply to spammers telling them to stop and that I'm not reading their junk?
http://ask-leo.com/C4683

* * *

Why is my closed email account still sending spam?

I have closed an e-mail account that has been hacked into with a virus and has been sending to people and crashing their computers, why is this happening? I have closed the account. HELP PLEASE!

Most likely because it's not closed.

People frequently come to me asking how to close an email account that has been hacked into. Quite often they're particularly desperate and insistent that the account must be closed, and immediately.

This question illustrates why my recommendation is: don't waste your time.

Closing the account, in all likelihood, won't help; the damage has already been done.

Continue reading: Why is my closed email account still sending spam?
http://ask-leo.com/C4682

* * *

How do I change my Windows Live Hotmail password?

I cannot get into the account summary page or options of my Windows Live Hotmail account. I needed to change my password.

This is something that changes from time to time as Windows Live Hotmail updates. As I've said before, if you use Windows Live Hotmail, you should expect change. Sometimes small change, sometimes dramatic change, but change nonetheless.

Including the steps to change your Windows Live Hotmail password.

I'll walk through the steps to change your password in the current (as of this writing) design.

Continue reading: How do I change my Windows Live Hotmail password?
http://ask-leo.com/C3582

* * *

How do I secure my router?

I'd like to know how to clear the history of my Linksys Cisco router. I'd also like to know how I can protect it from hacking and who else besides the people that know my router's WPA code can view browsing history.

There are a couple of misconceptions in your question, which I'll clear up in a second.

The more general topic is an important one: how do you make sure that your router is secure? After all, as your firewall it is your first line of defense against malware trying to get at your computer from the internet.

You'll want to make sure there aren't big gaping holes.

And sadly, by default, there are.

Continue reading: How do I secure my router?
http://ask-leo.com/C3669

* * *

How to I control Windows Live Hotmail's auto-complete?

How do I get Hotmail Live to stop auto completing a sent to name when I type in just the first letter and NEVER added that name to my contacts?

I don't use Hotmail that often, but in researching this a little I can see that it could get pretty annoying pretty fast. Especially if you correspond with a lot of people who aren't in your address book.

Fortunately, there's a setting for that.

We can't turn it off, but we can turn it down a notch.

Continue reading: How to I control Windows Live Hotmail's auto-complete?
http://ask-leo.com/C4681

*** Our Sponsor

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Merry Christmas!

Whatever you may (or may not) be celebrating right now
as we begin the transition into a new year my hope for you is a happy
holiday season and as wonderful a new year as you could possibly imagine.

Free of computer problems, of course.

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*** Comments

How do I keep my USB device from becoming infected?

Ravi Agrawal writes:

Create a folder named autorun.inf on the root of the USB drive. Set its properties to hidden & system & read-only.

This way any infected machine will not be able to create / replace any autorun.inf file on your USB stick thus offering good protection. This approach has always worked for me.

Ravi.

I like this. While it doesn't protect against every possible way a USB device could be infected, it certainly prevents one of the most common ways it propagates to fail.

-Leo

How do I get rid of the "Welcome to IE8" screen every time I start Internet Explorer?

Dave Markley writes:

Being a PC repair tech, I am constantly running into this problem, as well as "some Adobe thing keeps popping up wanting updated", and other equally annoying questions. My question is 'Why wouldn't you want to update to IE8?'. Internet Explorer 7 was to browsers what Vista was to operating systems. (In my opinion, garbage) Microsoft had so many problems with IE 7 that it actually made a program which would stop Windows Update from automatically installing IE7! IE8 is a vast improvement, not to mention it is much more pleasing to the eye than previous versions and was the first version of IE to use 'tabbed' browsing. It's simple to just click 'next' and install it, so why not? Just follow the simple prompts, keeping your settings as they were, and you are done, no more 'pop up'. If you use IE regularly, I'm sure you will be happier with IE8.

Also, keep in mind that 'InPrivate' and similar settings in other browsers are only a small measure toward privacy. Anything you do online is still tracked (unintentionally or not) by your ISP, etc. There really is no such thing as 'private' browsing.

Someone's sending email that looks like it's from me to my contacts, what can I do?

Scott writes:

I have had my email 'hacked' and emails sent to my contacts. I got pretty annoyed by this and decided to close my account. Even after I closed my account emails were still being sent to my contacts with my email address, that I closed, as the sender.

One of the reasons that I advise against spending a lot of time trying to "close" an account is that a hacker who's setup the right information in the account can frequently reopen it almost instantly. Best to simply tell all your contacts that you've been hacked and move on to a new account.

-Leo

Is changing my password enough?

Michael Horowitz writes:

There is yet another problem.

A bad guy could set up a forwarding rule such that all your email is forwarded to him. No need for passwords after that. You still get your email and the bad guy never needs to logon to your account again, after the first time.

Probably a good idea, after a webmail password is stolen, to review ALL the account settings.

This is one thing, at least, that Hotmail is good at - if a forwarding rule has been set there's a big notification at the top of your inbox that tells you so. I'm sure that varies from provider to provider. Next time I update this article I'll include your point - thanks.

-Leo

*** Leo Recommends

TrueCrypt - Free Open Source Industrial Strength Encryption

TrueCrypt comes up frequently in Ask Leo! answers. Many people are concerned about things like privacy, identity and data theft, particularly on computers or on portable devices where they might not always have total physical control of the media.

Someone might gain access to sensitive data stored on your computer.

Encrypting your data renders that access useless, even when your computer or your thumbdrive falls into the wrong hands.

And TrueCrypt makes it not only easy, but nearly un-crackable.

TrueCrypt - Free Open Source Industrial Strength Encryption
http://ask-leo.com/C3444

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles

Windows 7 has made this a little better, but it's still a common - and important - issue.

Why do I get "device ... cannot be stopped right now" trying to safely remove my USB drive?

Whenever I plug in a flash drive or my external hard drive (Western Digital My Book), I cannot safely remove when I click on the icon. I keep getting the message that the drive is currently in use -- try again later. But, no matter how many times I try, I keep getting the same message. I end up having to shut down my computer to remove the device.

•

Well, windows certainly thinks that some program is attempting to access the USB drive. Since it's not guaranteed to be safe to remove a drive while it's in use, Windows tells you that you can't. The "wait until later" part is all about waiting until that program, whatever it is, is done with the drive.

What program?

Figuring that out is the trick...

Continue reading...
Why do I get "device ... cannot be stopped right now" trying to safely remove my USB drive?
http://ask-leo.com/C3227

*** Thoughts and Comments

The webinar I mentioned last week is now full - folks on the book list filled it up mostly, with a few seats left over for the Facebook fans.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Were you impacted by the Gawker account hack?

If you were you might have received email from one or more other services suggesting that it might be wise to change your password.

The problem is that so many people use the same username and password on so many different services. Hackers know this, so that when one service gets hacked they immediately start trying the usernames and passwords they've found from hacking service A on service B, C, D and others. Chances are that for many of the usernames and passwords that they've acquired those same usernames and passwords will work.

As I understand it that was one of the reasons for a huge increase in Twitter spam after the Gawker hack. The services are unrelated, but enough people used the same username and password on both sites that getting one gave the hackers access to the other.

It's a difficult problem to balance security, memory, and complexity to come up with a good solution. I know I'm just as guilty as many, and found myself changing passwords on a number of sites.

With this example in front of us you might to consider your own approach to password security and assess just how at-risk you might be should one of the services you use get hacked.

'till next week...

Leo A. Notenboom

*** Administration

Need more help with or have questions about the newsletter? Check out the newsletter administration page.

Newsletter contents Copyright © 2010,
Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.
Ask Leo! is a registered trademark ® of Puget Sound Software, LLC

Leo's Answers #261 - December 14, 2010

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

Do you have a tech question? Ask it here. Newsletter questions? Check the newsletter administration page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email.

*** New Articles

Does a router stop viruses?

I have FIOS which includes an Action Tec router/switch combo device. The router's security is at factory defaults. Is it possible for a virus/spyware to jump across the switch? I just found exceptions that other programs put there without my knowledge. Like Skype and Google earth. I do not remember these programs asking me to make the exceptions. I just turned all exceptions off. An IT guy thinks so, I always thought the answer was no.

The short answer is: yes.

The longer answer is more involved, and involves the differences between a router and a switch, how a router protects you, software that's makes changes to your router without asking, and ultimately different kinds of viruses and malware and which a router can and cannot protect you against.

Continue reading: Does a router stop viruses?
http://ask-leo.com/C4679

* * *

How do I create a filter in Gmail?

I know I can use Gmail filters to automatically mark everything from a specific email address as spam, but I looked at the filter but couldn't figure out how to use it.

Gmail's actually got a pretty powerful filtering utility, however it seems that the one thing you cannot do is set up a filter to automatically mark it as spam. If actually marking it as spam is important, then you'll have to keep doing that manually.

However, a slightly related filter might serve your purposes just as well: "if it's from this email address delete it" is a fairly easy filter to create.

Continue reading: How do I create a filter in Gmail?
http://ask-leo.com/C4678

* * *

What is 'whois' protection, and do I need it?

I'm part way through purchasing a domain and I've been offered something called "whois protection". What is "whois" and why would I need protection from it?

As the owner of an internet domain (I'll use "somerandomservice.com" as my example here), there are certain requirements that information about you be published.

Publicly.

Now, if you don't mind having your name, address, email address and phone number published publicly, then you can stop reading now. You don't need whois protection or any of the alternatives.

I expect most of you are still reading.

Let me explain and outline an alternative as well.

Continue reading: What is 'whois' protection, and do I need it?
http://ask-leo.com/C4677

* * *

Is it possible to wipe my hard drive and start over myself?

I have an Asus laptop running Vista Home Premium (32 bit) and I would like to know if it is possible for me to wipe my hard drive and reinstall everything myself, without having to take my laptop to a shop and have to pay to have it done. I would like to make my computer like it was when I first had it because I have had it for about 5 years now and the hard drive is almost full. There is nothing wrong with it as it is, but would like to start over so that I can carry on using it as I like it very much. Please let me know if this is possible and how do I do it?

Yes, most people certainly can do exactly what you describe. It's not a terribly difficult process, but does require care and caution along the way so as not to lose anything that you have now and consider important.

It also requires that you collect a few things to prepare, and I'll go over that.

Continue reading: Is it possible to wipe my hard drive and start over myself?
http://ask-leo.com/C4676

* * *

My hard disk is filling up, what should I do?

I've had a laptop running Vista for about 5 years now and the hard drive is almost full. What should I do?

Sometimes it definitely feels like the longer you use your computer the less space is left on the hard drive.

That shouldn't really happen, but as a practical matter it does - or at least it feels like it does.

I'll throw out a few quick steps you can take to alleviate, or at least understand, the problem.

Continue reading: My hard disk is filling up, what should I do?
http://ask-leo.com/C4675

* * *

Can I just use my cellular service for all my internet needs?

I do not believe that I need both an internet service at my house and a cellphone data service for on the road. When I am not at home, my computer and internet sit idle. I would like to explore an iPhone option. However, it is very costly to have both a service for a cellphone data plan and an internet plan at home. Can I hook my laptop to a cellphone data plan and get rid of home internet? what is your advice?

My advice is to be careful and read the fine print.

While what you're proposing sounds lucrative, and may indeed be appropriate for some people, there are a few drawbacks you should consider before taking the plunge into cellular-only internet.

Continue reading: Can I just use my cellular service for all my internet needs?
http://ask-leo.com/C4674

*** Our Sponsor

Advertisement. Ask Leo about advertising here.

*** Comments

Should I unsubscribe from things I've signed up for to avoid spam?

Sandra writes:

If a company with whom I have legitimately done business sends me email, and I later unsubscribe using their unsubscribe link, and they continue to send me their email, I consider that spam. Likewise, if their unsubscribe link doesn't work or takes me to a page that requires me to complete a bunch of personal information just to unsubscribe (rather than simply requiring my email address), that's also spam in my opinion.

I agree. I also strongly dislike those that say "it may take up to 14 days to process your unsubscribe". No. There's no reason in this day and age for an unsubscribe not to be immediate. Once I unsubscribe any further email from that source is spam (I may give them a grace period of an hour or two, since I, too, run servers and know that there can be occasional delays - just not 14 day ones).

-Leo

How do I remove a document stuck in my printer's queue?

Paul Gesellchen writes:

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wrestled with this issue for several hours before I found this site. I followed your instructions exactly and it solved my problem immediately! I really appreciate you putting down these instructions in such a clear fashion. Thanks again.

How do I keep my USB device from becoming infected?

NewDimTech writes:

As a bench tech, I use my USB drive on just about every machine that gets to our bench. The only machine I trust is my own. I have a program on it called DFC (Dummy File Creator), and it does just that. After the occasional update of the software I carry, I use DFC to create a dummy file to fill the remaining unused space on the drive. Instant drive protection, if there's no free space, it can't be written on by anything. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.

I like it. (Except for viruses that modify files in place, though. Not sure how prevalent that is in USB-payloads.)

-Leo

What are my Lost Hotmail Account and Password Recovery Options?

Mohamed Zaghloul writes:

You have an article named "I've forgotten the answer to my MSN Hotmail secret question, and my password, what do I do?". I have a question, what if i know my password, but from unknown reasons it didn't work when i input it and my account was blocked, and i don't have alternate e-mail and i forgot the answer to secret question....but i know the password, i was using it everyday. I have followed the steps for recovery and submitted the form with information, but were not enough, so it was rejected, because i don't remember most of the data i input when i created my account years ago. All i need is my account to be unblocked, i repeat, i know the password, i just don't know the other details, and i know is my fault i never paid attention to all those, but is too late now to change that

99 out of 100 people who swear to me that they KNOW THE CORRECT PASSWORD - don't. It's not because they were wrong, but it's because the account has been hacked and the password changed. If you can't provide the backup information that Hotmail (or any email service) requests then there's no way that they have to know you're not trying to scam them into gaining access to someone else's account. They MUST have some kind of reasonable proof that you really are the account holder. If not, you're just not going to get the account back. Sorry.

-Leo

*** Leo Recommends

SimpleURL
Inexpensive Domain Registration ... with Service

As of yesterday, I own 69 70 78 internet domains. I've registered them all through SimpleURL, a service of Simple Online Solutions.

It's easy to get wrapped up around pricing when looking to register a domain. SimpleURL's prices are quite inexpensive, but certainly not the absolute lowest that you'll find around. You might be able to save a buck or two by going elsewhere.

But in my experience - it'll cost ya.

SimpleURL - Inexpensive Domain Registration ... with Service
http://ask-leo.com/C23926

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles

A common question.

What is disk partitioning?

What is disk partitioning and how do I use it?

•

Most folks actually never need to worry about disk partitioning. Your machine will have come pre-configured and that configuration is probably just fine for most uses.

There are some times when it might make sense to revisit how your hard disk is used at the lowest level, and that's where partitioning comes in.

Continue reading...
What is disk partitioning?
http://ask-leo.com/C3227

*** Thoughts and Comments

My friend Cathy Stucker who runs Blogger LinkUp, a service that matches bloggers writing guest posts with blogs that need them, began her Monday email stating "My Name is Cathy... and I am a domain-aholic."

Yes. Well.

It appears she and I attend the same meetings.

I own 78 domains right now. In some circles that makes me a lightweight, but in others I'm the "why would anyone need that many domains?" guy. (They're all registered at today's recommended service, by the way: SimpleURL.)

Some are variations of ask-leo.com, others are other projects in various stages of development or planning, others are personal domains, and there's a set of domains relating to my wife's former doll business. It adds up. It's also made my server moves ... interesting.

And for the record, those meetings? They're not recovery groups - more like acceptance groups. I end up buying most of my domains because of ideas generated there.

You see, I don't really have a problem.

My Windows XP webinar is scheduled for the Wednesday 29-Dec-2010 at 9AM (US) Pacific time. As I said last week, no matter what time I choose it'll be bad for someone, so I chose a time that works for me (and during which the dogs stand a chance of being quiet. )

Invites will go out to the XP Book list in the next day or so, and then if there are spots remaining I'll post on Facebook as well.

'till next week...

Leo A. Notenboom

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Leo's Answers #260 - December 7, 2010

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

Do you have a tech question? Ask it here. Newsletter questions? Check the newsletter administration page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email.

*** New Articles

How do I change my computer's name in Windows 7?

I purchased a new computer June 2010 and it was named owner already. How do I change it to the name I want?

Yes, computers have names.

We're not talking "HAL", or "Colossus" or anything like that (though you could choose those if you like), just a name that allows computers to be uniquely identified when they're connected together on a network.

If your computer came pre-named (and many do), and you want to change it, I'll show you where and how.

Continue reading: How do I change my computer's name in Windows 7?
http://ask-leo.com/C4672

* * *

How do I get rid of the "Welcome to IE8" screen every time I start Internet Explorer?

I recently downloaded IE8, and it keeps displaying the "Welcome to IE8" instructions. How can I stop it from doing this?

It's annoying, and I believe it's gone in IE9 (I could be wrong, or that could change since at this writing IE9 is still in Beta).

It took me a moment to figure it out as well.

In a bit of draconian thinking ... you will submit.

Continue reading: How do I get rid of the "Welcome to IE8" screen every time I start Internet Explorer?
http://ask-leo.com/C4671

* * *

Can my IP address be linked to an illegal site without my knowledge?

Can my IP address be linked to an illegal site without my knowledge?

It really depends on what you mean by "linked to".

If you mean "identified as a visitor to that site?" then there definitely are scenarios that you need to be careful of.

If you mean "identified as the site", meaning your IP is somehow identified as being the illegal site, or hosting that illegal site's contents ... well, believe it or not there are some scenarios there too.

The good news is regardless of what you mean, there's a common villain.

Continue reading: Can my IP address be linked to an illegal site without my knowledge?
http://ask-leo.com/C4669

* * *

How does a VPN protect me?

I use a VPN - how and what are the protections of this versus just connecting through my ISP? What limitations does this have? Can they "see" what I'm doing (like using a Bit Torrent), and that it is coming from my account?

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is an approach to safely connecting to a remote resource. Depending on the VPN that privacy can extend from one end of the connection to the other, or it can protect you only for a certain portion.

I'll describe the different scenarios and how you are, and perhaps are not, protected by a VPN.

Continue reading: How does a VPN protect me?
http://ask-leo.com/C4668

* * *

How do I keep my USB device from becoming infected?

I put my USB device in many computers, XP, Vista and Win7 on a daily basis. What are some options to protect it from becoming infected and/or transmitting malware from one computer to another?

With the recent rash of malware that travels by infecting removable devices like USB devices, you're right to be concerned.

There are several approaches, but they depend on just what kind of control you have over the various computers you're using.

Continue reading: How do I keep my USB device from becoming infected?
http://ask-leo.com/C4667

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*** Comments

Someone's stolen my email account and is scamming my contacts for money, what do I do?

ladybugs064 writes:

I am presently trying to deal with the Hotmail people with regards to our hotmail account being compromised. Our account has been scammed to our contacts with the message of my husband being held up in Spain, requesting 2500 Euros, please send money to satisfy the hotel bill. I am presently feeling that the scammer has got more rights than me as I am having one hec of a time trying to regain access to close it down. I need to gain access to close it but they will not give me access until I validate all the information which I am not 100% sure of and can only go my memory. What a nightmare! A lesson well learned. I would never rely on any free accounts for business. I have presently set up a new account to communicate with them. Yes, I have a thread going back and forth with them but the confidence is just not there that I will get my problem resolved.

What are (and how do I get rid of) "Antivirus 2010" and "Vista Spyware 2010"?

AdoAnnie writes:

AntiVirus "Suite" 2010 has evolved. I had read about this on Ask Leo and knew what not to do, but my husband came in late from work a few nights ago, tired and bleary, just wanted to read his email and the next thing I hear him yelling and screaming at the computer. I glanced over his shoulder and knew what had happened. In his tiredness he'd simply clicked the wrong button and within seconds 2010 was full blown. Several of the comments above and Leo say to download a program from the net - no way, this latest iteration simply will not let you go to the net without redirecting you to its site to buy and download its malware. We simply closed down his computer. Next AM after he'd left for work I called the company tech center and we walked a landmine route two steps forward, one step back till we could get to a point where he could take over the computer. Thank goodness they have a program in place for this horror show, but it took literally hours (multiple scan searches to detect and then to make sure everything was clear) to clean this thing off my husband's computer and restore settings. Leo, you might want to make a comment that this malware is getting more malevolent.

My Windows Live Hotmail account won't close, what do I do?

Concerned email user writes:

I get the impression that people really aren't getting the help they've come for. I don't want to 'stop using my account' or 'ignore it', I want it closed. It should not be this hard to close an account. I've attempted canceling my Microsoft account, per the instructions that I got once trying to close my hotmail account. I'm getting taken in circles and I don't want to just 'not check' my hotmail account. It was compromised and people are receiving emails from 'me'. I've changed my password, I've deleted all of my contacts, to no avail. I just want the account closed.

Your account was compromised? You must (MUST) have control of an account in order to close it. This article, already on Ask Leo, discusses recovery options for the various ways that Hotmail accounts can be lost or compromised: What are my Lost Hotmail Account and Password Recovery Options? - Personally I don't believe closing an account helps, since eventually the email address is returned to the available pool and someone can then create a new account with the same email address. All the machinations to close it simply aren't worth the effort. Tell all your contacts to ignore email coming from the old account and move on.

-Leo

*** Leo Recommends

Word Tips - Microsoft Word Tips, Tricks and Answers

I don't know everything. I know that's a shock to maybe one or two of you, but it's the truth. One of the techniques I use to make it look like I know more than I really do is to know where to look for information.

Allen Wyatt's Word Tips is one of these places. Yes, I've used Microsoft Word for many, many years and know it very well ... but Word Tips has more answers and more suggestions than I could ever hope to have.

Continue reading: Word Tips - Microsoft Word Tips, Tricks and Answers
http://ask-leo.com/C3514

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles

This is actually one of my more popular answers even three years later.

What are iso files, and how do I open them?

I have a disc which contains some information. I want to open it but I apparently don't have the right program installed on my computer. The file type is ".iso". How can I open it?

•

An "iso" file is just a disk image.

There are two ways to deal with a disk image: put it on a disk, or make it look like you put it on a disk.

Continue reading...
What are iso files, and how do I open them?
http://ask-leo.com/C3228

*** Thoughts and Comments

I hope you weren't one of the users of the AVG security suite who got burned by their bad update last week. I believe it applied only to users of 64bit systems, but still - that's a lot of you.

This is, I think, the second time that AVG has had an issue like this and it's quite disconcerting. If there's one thing you want to be able to rely on it's the security software on your computer.

I winced when I saw the initial reports because not only do I use AVG on a few systems here at home, fortunately all 32bit systems, but I also include it as one of my recommendations for security software. While I primarily recommend Microsoft Security Essentials, I list both AVG and Avira (free editions) as viable alternatives for anti-virus tools.

I might end up making that list shorter. We'll see.

If you're not yet a fan of Ask Leo! on Facebook you might want to consider it. In the next week or so I'll be scheduling my first live webinar - and I'll be announcing it there, as well as to the (very patient) folks who've been helping me with ideas on my Windows XP Cleanup book.

And for the record, "first live webinar" is pretty equivalent to meaning "a test that could work really, really well, or go horribly, horribly wrong". Either way, I suspect it might be entertaining to watch.

'till next week...

Leo A. Notenboom

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Leo's Answers #259 - November 30, 2010

leo@pugetsoundsoftware (Leo A. Notenboom) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:00:00 -08:00

A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

Do you have a tech question? Ask it here. Newsletter questions? Check the newsletter administration page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email.

*** New Articles

What is a "broken digital signature", and is it a problem? If so, why?

My (free version) AVG software is warning me of several "broken digital signature(s)" on my computer. Why are these a problem?

They may not be.

I've seen several people wondering about this error that apparently started with a recent update to AVG.

It's possible that it's a false positive - an error that's not really an error.

It's also possible that AVG is checking something new that most anti-malware programs don't check and discovering something - something that might be true, but still not necessarily a problem.

Continue reading: What is a "broken digital signature", and is it a problem? If so, why?
http://ask-leo.com/C4665

* * *

Why are electronic greeting cards a bad idea?

I recently sent a friend of mine an electronic greeting card. He replied that I shouldn't have. He said that because of my good intentions, he'd now be getting even more spam than ever. Is he right? Did I just screw up?

Electronic greeting cards seem like such a good idea. A quick point and click at a e-card service and you can send a cute virtual "card" via email. Quite often they're even animated, and with sounds or music in the background.

Unfortunately, all too often they have a hidden agenda.

You may be "giving" more than you think.

Continue reading: Why are electronic greeting cards a bad idea?
http://ask-leo.com/C2435

* * *

How does what I do on my computer use bandwidth?

Not being too knowledgeable about bandwidths etc, I thought that all the massive movie streaming, TV catchups etc. that were being urged to watch (and my wife does due to the hours she works) would use more bandwidth than just downloading file-sharing material or am I wrong? I have music playing on the internet all day, am I being greedy? What's an acceptable limit for daily use? Why don't ISPs give us programs and guides to let us monitor our usage? Why don't ISPs limit the amount of customers they take on if there's not enough to go around?? Getting back to the original question, I think I read somewhere that they can only track what we upload and not download, or am I wrong. It's all so confusing.

I agree it is confusing.

Fortunately bandwidth itself is pretty simple.

But the different ways that bandwidth can be used, and how it all adds up and how our ISPs limit and possibly monitor it is anything but.

I'll see if I can clarify a few things.

Continue reading: How does what I do on my computer use bandwidth?
http://ask-leo.com/C4627

* * *

How do I get my menu and toolbar back in Internet Explorer?

I have lost my internet toolbar which allows me to go to my tools, file, internet options, etc. What do I do about this?

From your description, I'm going to assume you mean that all this is happening within Internet Explorer.

There turn out to be a couple of things that make it easy to hide things, and as a result make things difficult to find.

I'll examine those, and show you how to get your toolbar, menu or whatever it is that you're missing, back.

Continue reading: How do I get my menu and toolbar back in Internet Explorer?
http://ask-leo.com/C4626

* * *

How do I change my email address in Facebook?

My email address has changed; how do I change my email address in Facebook?

Changing your Facebook email address is pretty easy, it's just ... different ... than most email and other services out there.

To truly change your email is three step process.

However, it's possible you may not need all three; Facebook allows you to add email addresses to your account without removing the old unless you want to.

Continue reading: How do I change my email address in Facebook?
http://ask-leo.com/C4625

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*** Comments

How can I tell what program is crashing my machine at night?

Peter writes:

Hello Leo,

From time to time I also encounter problems with the Black Screen of Death. For that I use the free program 'BluescreenView' of Nirsoft (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html). It scans all the minidump files created during 'blue screen of death' crashes, and displays the information about all crashes in one table. It marks the drivers that their addresses found in the crash stack, so you can locate the suspected drivers that possibly caused the crash.
It's not a solution for every problem but at least it gives you a clue which driver could be suspicious. Peter

I got burned by Windows Update, should I just avoid it?

Alex writes:

Wow. These people who refuse to apply Windows Updates are the reason so much malware is being written! Refusing to apply updates when they come out, especially with "zero day" exploits is just plain crazy! I have had computers running Windows since 1998, and have religiously updated. The only things I have ever been "burned" by are viruses and junk I picked up on my own.

Micro$oft normally doesn't release an update until it has been checked out thoroughly. Running a Windows computer without updating is like riding a motorcycle at high speeds over rough terrain without a helmet. You will probably be OK for a while, but...!

What are iso files, and how do I open them?

saikumar writes:

hello, i have downloaded a book, which is in .iso format. i had extracted by WINRAR and then I got the setup.exe file and some more files. then, I have installed the book, while opening the book, it is asking me that " it can't be opened without the original CD placed in the disk. please give me the solution to open the book.

thanking you

saikumar

If you've received an ISO file and not an actual CD I can only assume you've obtained the book illegally. In either case, contact the publisher either for assistance if this is how they sold it, or purchase the book and get the CD and you'll be fine.

-Leo

Password Recovery Questions; how do they work and can I make up my own?

Andrew O'Thinny writes:

"The single biggest failure? Forgetting the answers. - By far. - This surprises me too"

Why does it surprise you? I think you're missing the point. I don't forget the answer because I entered a nonsense answer, but because the question was a nonsense question - one that simply doesn't have a unique or memorable answer for me.

Favourite pet? Didn't have one. First teacher? Can't remember. Favourite movie? I have lots, but in a few weeks time I'm not going to remember which particular one I chose as my favourite today.

Unless there is an opportunity to define your own question, the system is deeply flawed.

My surprise comes from the fact that it's so important, and people apparently don't understand just how important it is or they would pick something that they would make absolutely sure they could remember - regardless of whether it made sense or not.

-Leo

*** Leo Recommends

What Security Software do you recommend?

What anti-virus software should I use? How about a firewall? And what about spyware? Should I use one of the all-in-one packages that claim to do everything? Anything else I need?

•

As you might imagine, I get these questions in various forms all the time. As a result, I do have recommendations in various articles all over Ask Leo!.

Here's the short version that sums it all up.

Continue reading: What Security Software do you recommend?
http://ask-leo.com/C3517

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles

Yeah, I'm a Windows guy. But perhaps surprisingly, quite often the answer to this next one is ... yes.

Should I convert to Linux?

I gave my eleven year old son my old laptop to surf with but it's too slow with a 1 gigahertz CPU, 384 megabytes of RAM (maxed out)and running Windows XP. With 1 PC and 3 laptops in the household upgrading isn't really an option, and besides, it's a great laptop.

What do you think about converting it over to Linux, or am I wasting my time? What applications and utilities are compatible ie. browsers, anti spyware, virus protection etc.. How would you go about setting the computer up. I have moderate experience, utilizing forums and sites like yours when encountering major problems.

•

Linux is a great way to extend the life of older computers, simply because the resource requirements of many Linux distributions are so much less than that of Windows.

There are naturally a few "gotcha's" along the way.

But before we even go there, we need to make sure that we're solving the right problem.

Continue reading...
Should I convert to Linux?
http://ask-leo.com/C3216

*** Thoughts and Comments

For the past couple of weeks I've been moving servers, and probably will still be at it until the end of the year. Without getting into all the geeky details I'm switching from two dedicated servers that host Ask Leo! and all my other sites, to five, maybe six, virtual private servers. All together the results should be a faster more flexible setup, and at about half the total monthly cost to boot.

But moving's a pain, so I'm taking it slow and easy.

A site I just moved yesterday is one you might not know about: Leo's Mailbag. It's been in the site search results for a long time, so you might already have stumbled onto one or two of its pages.

I get somewhere between 50-100 questions and comments a day, on average, but post only about 5 new articles each week. I wish I could do more, but there are only so many hours in the day. However I do answer many questions directly via email - again, not all, but way more than five a week.

That's where the mailbag comes in - many of the questions that I answer directly via email are also automatically posted there. In fact, I recently updated my question processing system to make it easier to make things appear there.

Visually it may not be much to look at (it mimics the look of plain text email after all), but a lot of answers end up getting posted there now. As I write this it looks like about 50 responses got "cc'ed" there in the last week.

As always, the best way to use Ask Leo! is to use the search bar at the top of every page. Mailbag answers are included in the search.

But in case you ever wondered what those funky looking pages were, now you know - just me trying to make more answers available to more people.

'till next week...

Leo A. Notenboom

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