Ask Leo! Category Directory

Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.

Click on any category name for the articles in that category.

Administration Various and sundry articles relating to Ask Leo! operations, policies and more.
- Community Ask Leo! in the Community
- Depreciated Articles Articles that are no longer relevant or appropriate, but remain for the sake of clarity.
- Most Popular Articles Year end summaries of the most popular articles based on traffic, along with my commentary.
- Work for Leo Are you tech-savvy? Looking for fun and interesting work? Ready to learn about internet publishing and more? Perhaps one of these jobs might be for you.
Books Overview, notes and errata pages for the books published by Ask Leo!
Ebooks and E-readers Articles covering the ins and outs of electronic books, PDFs, ebook reading applications and dedicated devices.
- Kindle Articles covering Amazon's Kindle ebook reader as well as the Kindle Reader applications and other Kindle-related topics.
Editorials More opinion than answer, these articles contain Leo's editorial commentary on various issues relating to computer, technology and more.
Email Articles covering email usage, free email accounts, email providers, email lookup, privacy and tracing, and of course general email problems.
- Email Account Management Issues around maintaining and managing your email account effectively and securely.
- Email Delivery Delivery errors, problems and other topics related to getting email messages from sender to recipient.
- Email Formatting Articles about email formatting related issues like funny characters, plain text, HTML, rich text format, and getting your mail to look the way you want.
- Email Privacy Email privacy issues including anonymous email, secure email, email encryption, email tracing and more.
- Email Programs Questions and answers related to desktop email programs like Outlook, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail and more for your PC.
  - Microsoft Outlook Answers to questions about Microsoft Office, the email component of Microsoft Office.
  - Outlook Express Outlook Express is Microsoft's free desktop email program for Windows XP that came with Internet Explorer 6 and earlier versions.
  - Thunderbird The free, open source email program from Mozilla.
  - Windows Mail Windows Mail is the desktop email program replacement for Outlook Express that is included in Windows Vista.
- Email Providers Questions and answers related to specific email services.
  - Gmail Gmail, or Google Mail, is Google's free and popular email service that includes many important features such as POP3/IMAP and SMTP, spam filtering, web access, and was the pioneer in large amounts of email storage.
  - Windows Live Hotmail Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, the free email service formerly known as MSN Hotmail and before that Hotmail. Articles covering Hotmail password and account management, Hotmail usage and related Windows Live Hotmail services.
    - Closing A Hotmail Account Closing your Hotmail account, from steps do to it, to what to do if the account has been compromised, to why it might be a very futile and pointless exercise that you may not want to do at all.
    - Hotmail Password Management Hacked, missing and lost passwords and accounts seem particularly prevalent with respect to Windows Live Hotmail accounts. These articles cover various issues relating specifically to managing your Hotmail and Windows Live password.
  - Yahoo Yahoo! is of course more than just Yahoo! Mail. This section covers Yahoo! Mail primarily, but may touch on many of the other free services offered by Yahoo!
- Email Security Keeping your email account safe, what to do to prevent hacking and other forms of abuse as well as what to do if you have been hacked.
- Email Tracing and Monitoring Where did the email go? Where did it come from? Did they read it? Did it even arrive? Questions and answers on how, and if, you can trace email.
- Phishing Phishing, examples of phishing scams, phishing vulnerabilities and how you can avoid becoming a victim.
- Spam Unsolicited commercial email, or spam, is a plague, a problem and a pain. These questions and answers cover identifying spam, where spam comes from, why it exists and what we can do about it.
- Using Email Best practices, common problems and issues, including tips and tricks to using email more effectively.
  - Recovering Deleted Email It's easy to delete an email message by mistake. Whether or not it can be recovered depends on many, many things including but not limited to the email service, your email program, how long ago the email was deleted, and even whether or not the courts are involved.
General Computing Topics that span the breath of computing concepts - from security to privacy to the definition of computing terms and practices.
- Computer Programming
- Encryption Articles covering how encryption works, what it's useful for, what its drawbacks are, when it's exactly the right solution and when it's the only solution.
- Maintenance and Backup Articles covering computer maintenance and data backup and restore.
  - Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect 5.0 A series of articles with instructions and videos demonstrating the steps required to install, backup and restore your computer using Macrium Reflect 5.0.
  - How to Backup A series of articles and videos walking through the steps to backup - and restore - your computer using Acronis TrueImage Home 2009.
  - Using Backup Programs Installing, configuring and using backup programs for a variety of tasks including, of course, backing up!
- PDF Files and Format PDF or Portable Document Format is a common and popular file format used to share documents that can be read on almost any computing device.
- Passwords and Authentication Passwords and authentication in theory and practice, including password quality, password management tools and authentication alternatives.
Hardware All things physical, from the computer to the components to the devices that you attach to it.
- Audio Hardware
- Computer Systems Major computer components, specific systems, upgrades, motherboards and more general articles covering topics of a more general computer system nature.
  - Computer Buying Guides Thoughts and comments on the things you need to take into account when purchasing a new computer, either for yourself or someone else.
- Consumer Electronics Articles about radios, mp3 players, televisions, and other gadgets and appliances for the home that aren't necessarily directly computer related.
- Disks and Mass Storage Hard disks, floppy disks, usb disks, encrypted disks, solid state disks, flash drives and more.
  - Disk Images and Imaging ISO files and other disk imaging technologies for archival, distribution and backup.
  - Disk Partitioning Discussions and instructions relating to hard disk partitioning, and when and why you might or might not need it, and how to manage it if you do.
  - External Drives External Hard Drives are not only a convenient and cost effective way to add storage to an existing computer they're also portable and easily move from one computer to another.
  - ISO files ISO files are disc images, typically representing the contents of CD, DVD or BluRay disks. Articles here explore how to open, read, write, install and generally work with iso images.
- Display Devices Questions and answers relating to your computer's display devices from CRT and LCD displays to projectors and TV hook-ups.
- Firmware Firmware typically refers to the software that is semi-permanently installed onto a device or computer.
  - BIOS Your computer's BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, is the software that initiates the computer's boot process, maintains the time while the computer is off, controls access to various hardware components, and in some cases provides a useful layer of security - all before a single byte of additional software is loaded onto the machine.
- Keyboard, Mice and Other Input Devices Articles relating to the various hardware devices and drivers that might be used to control or input data into your computer.
- Memory RAM, Flash, and computer memory in general.
- Network Equipment Networking equipment includes routers, switches and hubs as well as modems, wireless access points and just about any piece of hardware used to create or manage a network.
- Power Supplies Perhaps the single most under-appreciated component in your computer the power supply is not only responsible for providing the proper power to bring it all to life, but is also the source of various and perhaps not-so-obvious classes of failures.
- Printers Questions and answers relating to the various assortment of printers, printer drivers and printer-related issues.
- USB and 1394 Interfaces USB (Universal Serial Bus) and IEEE 1394 or "Firewire" interfaces allow for quick and easy connection of a wide variety of external devices to your computer. Here you'll find questions and answers relating to the USB and 1394 interfaces as well as the devices that implement and use them.
Instant Messaging Questions and answers relating to various IM programs and services.
- MSN Instant Messenger MSN Instant Messenger, now known as Windows Live Messenger, and also related to Windows Messenger, is perhaps the single most popular instant messaging service on the internet.
- Skype Skype is the peer-to-peer audio video and instant messaging program, now owned and operated by Microsoft.
Internet Topics relating to The Internet in general, including issues around security, usage, manners and more.
- Domains and Domain Registration Articles that cover everything from purchasing your own internet domain to managing it and the issues that come with doing so.
- IP Address Tracing and Privacy An IP address uniquely identifies your connection to the internet. These articles discuss what information that may or may not reveal about you or the person at the other end of an IP address, how much you can or cannot get, and who has the power to get it all.
- Internet Connectivity Questions and answers related specifically to connecting to the Internet.
- Internet Video Streaming or download, YouTube or other sites - questions and answers about video on the internet.
Interviewing
Linux Articles relating to the Linux operating system and using it on your PC.
- Ubuntu Perhaps the most popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu is a popular choice for those trying out Linux, those attempting to extend the life of older machines ... and even those running servers on the internet.
Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Word A component of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word is perhaps the most popular word processing program on the planet.
Networking Topics covering computer networking in general, wireless networking, home networking, networking basics and networking safety. Answers about connecting your computer to the internet and other computers.
- Firewalls Using a firewall is an important first line of defense against network-borne threats to your computer. This section covers questions and answers relating to both hardware and software firewalls, why you need one and when you might not.
- Network IP Addressing A computer's IP (Internet Protocol) address identifies it on a TCP/IP network. There's a lot of concern about what can or cannot be determined from an IP address, or even how to find an IP address. IP addresses are a critical component of network data transfer.
- Small Business and Home Networking With more and more computers in the home and in small businesses, networking them all together is both an important fact of day to day usage, and an often complex and frustrating source of problems.
- Windows Networking Networking can be complex and difficult, and the various versions of Windows, while attempting to make easier, often end up with exactly the opposite result. Windows networking is hard.
- Wireless Networking It's not quite "wireless networking for dummies" but here you'll find a wide range of questions and answers covering things from setting up a home wireless network to wireless routers, what to do at free wifi locations and everything in between.
News
- 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) News, items and reports relating to and gleaned from the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, January 6-9 in Las Vegas.
Podcasts
- 2005 Podcasts
- 2006 Podcasts
- 2007 Podcasts
- 2008 Podcasts
Privacy With increasing connectivity, access and data sharing, protecting privacy has become more of an issue than ever. Questions here range from how to keep private things private, what to do after they're not, and how to at least be aware of what is and is not private when it comes to computing and the Internet.
Quick
Recommendations Software, hardware and other products, tools or services that have earned my recommendation.
- Books
- Computer Hardware and Accessories Accessories, hardware components and other devices for your computer.
- Email Newsletters The weekly Ask Leo! newsletter provides a lot of useful information, but it's not alone. There are many good newsletters that are worth subscribing to.
- On The Web - Entertainment
- On The Web - Tech There are many resources for tech information on the internet today. These are a few of my favorites that I think may be useful to you as well.
- Podcasts and Media
- Services
- Software Utilities, programs and other software that I either use myself or specifically recommend as being worthy of your consideration.
Short Answers
Social Media Questions and Answers relating to social media sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else comes along.
- Facebook Articles relating to the popular social networking site FaceBook.
- Google+ Google+ is Google's entry into the social media and sharing arena. At http://plus.google.com one can share and see what others have shared in an ongoing online social conversation.
- MySpace
- Twitter
Video Tips
- Windows Videos
Viruses and Malware Questions and answers related to viruses, spyware, bots, rootkits and other nasties that can infect or wreak havoc with you computer.
- Malware Detection Tools, techniques, and mechanisms related to detecting malware both before and after it's reached your machine.
- Malware Prevention Tools, tips and techniques to prevent malware infections from reaching or impacting your machine.
- Spyware Spyware includes malware that truly spies on your activities like keystroke loggers and worse, as well as adware and other forms of malicious activity.
- Viruses
Web The World Wide Web, or just The Web, includes all the sites you visit and services you use on the internet.
- Browsers Questions and answers relating to the tool we all perhaps use the most: our web browsers.
  - Firefox Firefox is the free, cross-platform, open-source web browser from the Mozilla Foundation.
  - Internet Explorer Internet Explorer, or just IE, is the worlds most popular web browser. IE comes with free with every version of Microsoft Windows.
  - Javascript
- Cookies Cookies are nothing more than information a web site can save on your computer that that same web site can pick up again the next time you return. It's what some sites use cookies for that has some people concerned and why you might care about things like when cookies appear, blocking cookies, cleaning and deleting cookies, and perhaps even looking inside of them.
- Web Site Management Topics for those who own, operate or manage a web site - personal or business, large or small.
  - RSS
Webinars Notes, how-to's and general information about webinars hosted by Ask Leo!'s Leo Notenboom.
What is ...
Windows Microsoft Windows and topics that are common to all versions of Windows
- Accessibility
- Printing
- System Restore The System Restore feature of Windows periodically takes snapshots of critical system files including Windows registry so that these can be restored if necessary to recover from assorted types of problems.
- Windows 7 The successor to Windows Vista, released in late 2009.
- Windows 8 Windows 8, the successor to the popular Windows 7, looks to have some major changes. It's being hinted to release in late 2012.
- Windows 9x Issues relating to Windows 9x - including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98se and Windows Me.
- Windows Components
- Windows Configuration Articles covering the Windows registry, registry settings, Windows settings and Windows customizations as well as errors and tips relating to the various ways that Windows can be tweaked, customized and configured.
  - Virtual Memory Virtual Memory, Paging Files, pagefile.sys and other mysterious Windows configuration options relating to it's management of virtual memory.
- Windows Installation Questions and answers relating to installing or reinstalling Windows.
- Windows Oddities Tips, tricks, nuances and strange things that might be difficult enough to understand that we can only call them Windows Oddities.
- Windows Performance Looking for tips to speed up your PC? Windows is slow? Articles on various issues that can affect performance and in turn can help you improve Windows speed.
- Windows Programs Various issues relating to programs that come with Microsoft Windows, or run under it.
  - CHKDSK CHKDSK is Windows built-in disk drive consistency check and repair tool.
- Windows Update Windows Update: the web site, the application and the automatic updating facility build into Windows to keep it safe, stable and secure.
- Windows User Interface The Windows User Interface, or UI, is where we spend nearly all of our time, even when using other programs. We look at issues, tips and tricks relating to the Windows User Interface.
- Windows Vista We might like to sometimes act as if Windows Vista never happened, but as the Windows version between Windows XP and Windows 7 it has a significant installed base.

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