Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
A Weekly
Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom
Hello!
Do you have a question for me? Don't hit reply! Head instead for the Ask Leo! home page and search the site first - seriously, around half the questions people ask are already answered there. You can also browse the archives, past newsletters and more. (The "ask a question" form is temporarily disabled while I'm on vacation. More on that below.)
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*** New Articles
How does screen resolution work?
I've not received this exact question, but rather I get a lot of questions relating to screen resolution and why things don't work as expected. I also get questions where changing the screen resolution is one possible answer, but explaining why gets ... complicated.
Screen resolution seems like a very simple thing, and most of the time it is.
The problem is sometimes it's not. And it's not in a way that let's me say "smaller is actually bigger" with a straight face.
Yes, making things smaller can make things bigger.
Told ya it'd be complicated.
Continue reading: How does screen
resolution work?
http://ask-leo.com/C4245
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Why can't I get the volume louder in Windows Vista and Windows 7?
I use Windows Vista and my volume is set to 100 % but the volume is low. This is with all applications. My driver is up to date and all speakers are working normally according to all my checks. I can remember when my volume would run you out of the room but recently it dropped down to almost a whisper. It is annoying especially when playing music. What can I do to get my volume back up and down to 45 - 50%?
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Volume control has always been a tad confusing, even back in XP.
I'm not sure if the changes in Vista (inherited by Windows 7) made things better or worse, but it's still somewhat confusing.
As I sit here listening to music, I can count no less that four volume controls that the music passes through before it reaches my ears.
Continue reading:
Why can't I get the volume louder in Windows Vista and Windows 7?
http://ask-leo.com/C4242
* * *
What's the difference between an ad and your recommendation?
For some this'll seem both obvious, and somewhat odd that I'd be addressing it at all.
For others, however, there's an extremely important lesson here that I've come to the conclusion needs some serious clarification.
And it's not just about what happens here at Ask Leo!, but rather how you view the content you see everywhere on the internet.
You need to recognize advertisements.
Continue reading:
What's the difference between an ad and your recommendation?
http://ask-leo.com/C4240
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Does having a password on my Windows login keep me secure?
I use Windows 7 on two desktops and a laptop. Up until now, I have never bothered using a password when logging on. But recently, I was cautioned to use a Windows Logon password when I bought the laptop. The shop where I purchased it said this was for security, in case someone took it. They also said the use of a password on my home PCs would prevent malware from being automatically installed should I inadvertently download something. Is this true? I ask because a year ago, I tried to close a pop under ad using the red X button and unknowingly installed malware. I now use Task Manager for such operations, but the bad guys keep changing what they do, so that solution may someday no longer work.
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I'll put it this way: the security provided by a Windows login password is highly overrated.
It doesn't protect you from many of the things that you've mentioned, and it's pretty darned easy to circumvent.
Yes, I use a password on my Windows 7 machines, but not for security reasons. I use one because it's required to make something I use frequently to work.
You should probably have one too, but just be aware of what it gets you, and especially what it doesn't.
Continue reading:
Does having a password on my Windows login keep me secure?
http://ask-leo.com/C4231
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Why am I getting spam with my email address but with a different name?
Spammers try to use many, many techniques to try to fool you into opening and reading their message.
One of the most common is playing around with the email addresses to which they send their spam.
I'll review the most common approaches, and theorize a little bit as to where they come from and why they might be used.
Continue reading:
Why am I getting spam with my email address but with a different
name?
http://ask-leo.com/C4230
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*** Comments
Will not using the keyboard fool key loggers?
Fred Husby writes:
I have been using the copy/paste method for years. Mow I am using the excellent tool Lastpass. (Can be used as freeware too) I don't think any "screen- or keylogger" has any chance to capture any information that I don't want to share
That's an extremely dangerous assumption. Just because I only talked about screen capture, doesn't mean that other things couldn't be monitored and captured by spyware or activity monitors. Capturing the techniques used by LastPass or RoboForm or other tools of that nature would actually be pretty easy for sufficiently sophisticated malware to do.
-Leo
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Will not using the keyboard fool key loggers?
Ben writes:
From what I have read here, there is no safe way to use a computer. Just today I scanned with trend micro and found nothing yet a window appears from Vista defender (whatever that is) stating that they found 25 problems including a keystroke one and an unknown software is trying to take control over my system. Now I am afraid to log into roboform to get to my emails and money accounts.
It's easy to think that, isn't it? And yet - there are so many ways that people could break into our house, or steal our wallets, or any number of bad things, and it doesn't happen to most of us. Just because something is possible doesn't mean it's likely. My concern here is that I don't want people to make false assumptions about what is safe, and then go on to assume that otherwise risky behavior is safe. We all need to know what's possible so that we can take reasonable and practical steps to stay safe.
As for me, I use my computer every day in spite of all the things that could go wrong. I take practical precautions, and get on with my work.
-Leo
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Does getting porn spam mean that you've been surfing porn sites?
D.S. Ullman writes:
Another source of spam is posting your email on an open forum. I am always baffled by the number of people who state they a problem on a support forum and then request that then answer be emailed to them. It isn't going to happen but the 'bots can harvest a known good email address.
When you posted that comment I'm sure you saw the instructions that appear that say "don't include email addresses" - and yet every day my assistant goes through and removes email addresses with "[address removed]" from several posts that blindly ignore that.
-Leo
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Why am I not getting some emails in my MSN Live Hotmail account?
Leslie writes:
I have discovered that I have been missing so many emails!!! I'm suddenly not receiving emails from business associates, clients, friends, you name it! I need help with this issue. None of the people or companies that I'm missing mail from are on my blocked list. I sent myself an email from another account yesterday and I never received it. Tried again today and I haven't received that one either! This could be costing me business and money!
The MSN help pages are very difficult to navigate around and the Windows live support page keeps timing out. I've had hotmail for at least 8 years now and I've not been aware of anything of this magnitude happening before.
I've been getting a rash of reports in recent weeks of Hotmail users not getting email that was sent to them. Since it seems to be so pervasive, I expect Microsoft to eventually improve it, but my experience is that Hotmail tends to be one of the most unreliable services for erroneously blocking incoming email. As I've said many, many times before, you should never ever rely on any free email service as the only place you keep your important email for this reason and many others.
-Leo
*** Leo Recommends
Security Now
"TechTV's Leo Laporte and [Steve Gibson] take 30 to 60 minutes near the end of each week to discuss important issues of personal computer security. Sometimes we'll discuss something that just happened. Sometimes we'll talk about long-standing problems, concerns, or solutions. Either way, every week we endeavor to produce something interesting and important for every personal computer user."
•
I subscribe to a number of podcasts, as you might imagine. There are few - very few - that get my attention nearly 100% of the time.
Security Now with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte is one of those podcasts.
And it's not because the co-host's name is also "Leo".
Continue reading...
Security Now
http://ask-leo.com/C2742
*
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
Power supplies fail surprisingly often. The problem is that the symptoms aren't always what we expect.
Could my power supply be causing memory errors?
My machine locked up sometime overnight, and when I rebooted the memory test took forever. I thought it had frozen at that point, since it wouldn't even let me into the BIOS, but eventually did boot into Windows. Prior to this I had run a memory test program, and it had, in fact, shown errors, but those went away after I re-seated the memory cards on my motherboard. Someone mentioned that the power supply might be the cause, is that possible?
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Certainly.
Most folks think a power supply failure will be catastrophic ... bright lights, flashes and smoke followed by no power; or just the sudden "no power" part without all the excitement.
The reality is often more mundane, and, for lack of a better word, at times even sneaky.
Continue reading...
Could
my power supply be causing memory errors?
http://ask-leo.com/C2974
*** Thoughts and Comments
Hey Albuquerque!
I really enjoyed meeting readers on my trip down-under and decided that given the chance I'd like to meet more of you!
I'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico in couple of weeks for a conference, so here's the plan:
Monday, April 12th, 2010
5-6 PM
Starbucks on Rio Grande Blvd just off of I-40.
(901 Rio Grande Blvd, Suite A-190).
That's about 1/2 a mile north of old town.
And I'll be bringing some friends! Randy Cassingham, the man behind This is True (http://thisistrue.com) and Tim Carter, the man behind Ask the Builder (http://askthebuilder.com) - two very good friends and mentors of mine - and some of their readers will be joining us.
So if you're in the neighborhood, I'd love to meet and say hi!
(I'll include another reminder next week, and stay tuned to my twitter feed http://twitter.com/askleo for any last minute updates, and keep an eye on Twitter hashcode #ABQ3MEET.)
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Are you a fan of Ask Leo! on Facebook? We get some interesting side conversations there, both on the Wall, and on the discussion board.
This week only on the fan page I introduced a new "staff member", discussed "beer to beer" networking, and asked my Facebook fans for their opinions on backup programs in the Discussion area.
Come join the fun on the Ask Leo! Facebook fan page: http://ask-leo.com/fan
Thanks!
'till next week...
Leo A. Notenboom
*** Administration
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Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.
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Article C4247 - March 30, 2010
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.