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
Are computers simply too unsafe to use?
I've received a bit of feedback in recent weeks, that boil down to "how can you say it's ok to do X when you just described that X remains fundamentally unsafe? Doesn't that mean that there's no hope? How can you remain online or hope to ever use a computer safely?".
The comments arose mostly in reaction to two articles: one that stated that avoiding the keyboard does not necessarily avoid keystroke loggers, and the other that says simply that there's simply no way to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your computer is not infected.
I'll readily admit that out of context those are two fairly disturbing statements - accurate, but disturbing.
They're not meant to make you stop using your computer - far from it.
They're meant to make you more mindful of exactly how you use your computer.
They're meant to make you think.
Continue reading: Are computers
simply too unsafe to use?
http://ask-leo.com/C4257
* * *
Do I want to let my browser automatically detect settings?
I'm on Firefox 3.6 in Windows XP Home Edition service pack 3. I experience a lot of "server not found" when opening Firefox. Should i have proxy settings checked - "no proxy" or "auto-detect proxy settings for this network". I really don't know about proxy.
*
This is actually a very simple answer: unless you know you're using a proxy, select no proxy.
Even better, for IE and Firefox users alike, "auto detect", while intended to make life easier is - fundamentally evil.
Not for any malicious reasons, it just gets in the way. I'll explain why.
Continue reading:
Do I want to let my browser automatically detect settings?
http://ask-leo.com/C4256
* * *
Do I want 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?
Recently, I switched from XP to Windows 7. During loading it asked me if I wanted 32-bit or 64-bit. I think I made a mistake when I requested 32bit. I wasn't sure if my machine was 32-bit or 64-bit. How would I know? I built this machine about two years ago. Is there any way to change it to 64-bit?
Which do I want?
*
32 versus 64 has a number of people confused - it's a question I get often. In fact, it's probably the most common "in person" question I get from friends and acquaintances.
I won't spend too much time on the actual differences between the two, but focus instead on the two key issues:
Will your machine even support 64-bit processing, and if it does, do you want it?
Continue reading: Do I want 32-bit or
64-bit Windows?
http://ask-leo.com/C4255
* * *
How can I tell if my computer is infected?
How can I tell if my computer is infected? I picked up a bunch of malware from face book. I have run several programs and erased about 15 trojans. AVG says I'm protected. Is there a program I can run to make sure I'm clean? Computer appears to be running fine.
*
No one's going to like this answer. Not at all.
I'll start by putting it a slightly different way: while there are many ways that you'll notice some ... many ... perhaps even most infections, there is no way to prove that your machine does not have malware.
You cannot prove that your machine is clean.
Sounds scary, and I guess it is. So I'll also discuss why I'm still using my computers every day while still sleeping soundly at night.
Continue reading: How can I
tell if my computer is infected?
http://ask-leo.com/C4254
* * *
Why are those "retype the word" tests so twisted, faded and blurred?
I fully understand the theory behind using "gotcha" symbols for many online processes. But if the gotcha is a picture of numbers and letters, then WHY must they make them so difficult to read? I have to regenerate these things over and over to get one that is readable. If it's a photo, then why make the symbols all twisty, blurred, and faded?
*
While it might feel like a "gotcha", they're actually called a CAPTCHA, which is an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart".
Yep, it's a "prove you're human" test.
And all that twisty, blurry, faded stuff you're complaining about? That's actually kinda the point.
That's the test.
Continue reading:
Why are those "retype the word" tests so twisted, faded and blurred?
http://ask-leo.com/C4253
* * *
How can I archive email that uses remote content?
I use Thunderbird e-mail. To see everything in the e-mail, I must press "Show Remote Content". Sometimes, I want to save this e-mail indefinitely. If I go back to look at it months later, the embedded images are gone, as well as the "Show Remote Content" button. How can I save the e-mail with the embedded images so that I don't run into this problem?
*
While we often like to think of everything remaining on the internet forever (and in fact should assume so for anything we post about ourselves), the reality is actually somewhat different.
Stuff disappears.
Most commonly web pages, but also the elements that an email might use as well.
I'll look at why that is, and how I deal with it.
Continue reading: How
can I archive email that uses remote content?
http://ask-leo.com/C4252
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*** Comments
How did you backup while on your trip?
A J Peabody writes:
Sometimes the camera or a flash memory card from a camera gets lost and found. I want mine back!
So the first photo on every card of mine is a shot of my home computer monitor with a large type document giving my name, contact info, and address, and "Reward for Return" in a prominent font.
If the card (or the camera and card) is going to get back to me, some one has to know where to send it. Don't encrypt this photo!
AJ
I also starting putting a "readme.txt" on my memory cards with that information as well. But an additional photograph wouldn't hurt too :-).
-Leo
*
What are the pros and cons of web-based email over desktop email?
Roger writes:
Leo,
I use a strategy similar to yours, but have a niggling concern that if my
webmail account is hacked, the hacker then has access to wealth of information
that might be useful for identity theft, e.g. online order confirmations. How
do you get round this? Do you filter what you keep in your webmail account?
A valid concern, but in reality it's just as true for almost all accounts. Replace "hacked webmail" with "infected PC" and we have pretty much the same risks. Given the sensitive information we all tend to keep in our email accounts - accessed via web or PC - it's critical that we all understand and hold to strong security practices across the board.
-Leo
*
If I let my neighbor share my WiFi, can they see my network traffic?
Jennifer writes:
So as long as the neighbors are not using hacker tools, it sounds like the data going through that shared network may be safe from them. But what if they don't have an anti-virus, or bother up-keeping it, and pick up viruses and trojans while surfing the net? Does having computers logging into your secured wifi but NOT your domain pose a security risk if they contain malware? This may be an aspect that the person asking the initial question may not have considered; it's also something I'm wondering about as I work for a school and we are currently letting students - with who-knows-what kind of security on their laptops - access our secured encrypted wifi. They cannot access our domain with their laptops as it requires an admin logon and is protected by various layers of policies. But can the wifi access alone be an open door to the system from an unprotected laptop?
Any time you allow an un-trusted computer to connect to your network - be it via Wifi, encrypted or not, or by a hardwired connection - you are putting every computer on your network at risk. Malware can indeed propagate to other machines on your network.
-Leo
*
How do I contact Windows Live Hotmail customer service?
K Houchaymi writes:
I got an email from the following address asking for my email password and date
of birth. stating that because of congestion on email addresses they have to
cancel some of the addresses. Of course I didn't give them. I am sending the
address so if you can do some thing about it.
[email address removed]
If you send me your email I will forward the email to you
Thanks
Khaled
I don't need to see it, and there's nowhere to report it to that would do any good. It's a SCAM, pure and simple. See this article: Is Windows Live Hotmail about to close my account?
-Leo
*
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
Timely, given that the day before putting this newsletter together, my hard disk ... broke.
Hardware Can Break
Computer professionals take a lot of things for granted that we simply shouldn't. I know I'm often guilty of it, but reading through the stream of incoming questions is typically quite the wakeup call.
For example: did you know that many people seem to assume that hardware doesn't break.
To anyone who's used computers for any length of time, it seems like an incredibly odd assumption to make. We've all experienced various types of failures.
I get it most commonly in two forms: keyboard issues, and boot time issues.
Continue reading...
Hardware Can
Break
http://ask-leo.com/C2988
*** Thoughts and Comments
Hey Albuquerque!
Just a reminder that I'll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico next week. So this coming Monday April 12th, 2010 from 5 to 6PM I'll be at the Starbucks on Rio Grande Blvd just off of I-40. (901 Rio Grande Blvd, Suite A-190). I'll have my friends Randy Cassingham, the man behind This is True (http://thisistrue.com) and Tim Carter, the man behind Ask the Builder (http://askthebuilder.com) with me.
If you're in the neighborhood, I'd love to meet and say hi! (Stay tuned to my twitter feed http://twitter.com/askleo for any last minute updates, and keep an eye on Twitter hashcode #ABQ3MEET.)
•
I mentioned last week that out on the discussion area in my Facebook Fan Page I asked for opinions on backup programs. Even though I've had good luck with it, enough people have had issues with my recommended Acronis, and I'm looking for a good alternative.
It's timely, as I'll shortly be putting Acronis to the test again. My primary hard disk on my primary machine has a bad sector that apparently cannot be repaired or recover by any of my favorite tools - so I'm replacing it. As soon as the replacement arrives I'll be restoring from - you guessed it - my most recent Acronis-created backup image, taken the night before the failure.
Even if it fails completely I've not lost any data (as you probably know, I backup redundantly), but this'll be a good test to see if my old standby still does what I need at what is perhaps the most critical point of need.
Of course, I'll keep you posted.
Thanks!
'till next week...
Leo A. Notenboom
*** Administration
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Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.
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Article C4258 - April 6, 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.