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How do I replace my laptop keyboard?
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:05:00 -0600
I get a lot of questions about stuck or broken keys in keyboards.
Occasionally it's a software issue, but more often than not it's a
physically broken key. On desktop machines that's not an issue,
replacement keyboards are readily available, and easy to replace.
Laptops, however, are a different matter.
Sure enough, over the past few months my wife's laptop started
having issues with the space bar and no amount of compressed air or
other cleaning techniques would fix it. It was time to replace it.
I brought my camera along so I could show you what it took.
Continue reading
How do I replace my laptop keyboard?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
Leo's Answers #160 - January 6, 2009
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:00:00 -0600
Leo's Answers
A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
-John
Hello!
If you're having problems with the formatting of this newsletter in
email it's always available on the web here: http://ask-leo.com/currentnewsletter.html
Share Me!
Do you know someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Forward
it to them! (See below for details.)
Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe to get
Leo's Answers in your own inbox every week.
*** Contents
This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
A Word from our Sponsor
Featured Comments
This Week's Most Popular Articles
Leo Recommends
Popular Articles from the Archives
Thoughts and Comments
Newsletter Administration
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
Why shouldn't I include my email address in a Twitter post
or 'tweet'?
I included my email address in a 'tweet' on Twitter, and someone
told me I shouldn't. Why?
I made that question up, because I noticed today that masses of
people are doing exactly that: including their email addresses within
posts they make on Twitter.
You really, really, really don't want to
do that.
The reason is an old answer: spam.
Continue reading:
"Why shouldn't I include my email address in a Twitter post or
'tweet'?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_shouldnt_i_include_my_email_address_in_a_twitter_post_or_tweet.html
* * *
I spilled water into my laptop, how do I get it working
again?
While I was asleep, my cat must have tipped over a part full cup of
water on my new laptop computer. The computer lid was closed and the AC
power cord was connected when my daughter tried to turn it on in the
morning. It did not turn on (and it hasn't ever since, even after
leaving it to dry out for a couple of weeks). There was also a small
pool of water under the computer (about 5cm in diameter) and drips of
water come from the keyboard when tipped over. What should I do to
maximize my chances of getting it working?
I'm going to recommend an obscure long shot as something to try.
I'm also going to ask for help.
Continue reading:
"I spilled water into my laptop, how do I get it working
again?"
http://ask-leo.com/i_spilled_water_into_my_laptop_how_do_i_get_it_working_again.html
* * *
What's the risk of connecting to the internet without
protection?
I remember reading not too long ago about virus programs that are
computer generated and that conduct a random search for unprotected IP
address' to download to. I was recently talking to some friends who
also shut off their PC when not in use but leave the cable modem
running and connected to speed up the startup process.
The question is are there such virus programs and if they exist what
is the risk factor of being connected for even a brief period of time
without operational protection?
I vaguely recall the worst case scenario that you're referring to:
an unpatched and unprotected version of either Windows 2000 or an early
version of Windows XP lasted about 30 seconds after connecting to the
internet before it was infected with a virus.
30 seconds.
Things are better today, but you still want protection. And turning
your machine off isn't really helping.
Continue reading:
"What's the risk of connecting to the internet without
protection?"
http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_risk_of_connecting_to_the_internet_without_protection.html
* * *
How do I get Windows Explorer to show folder names in its
taskbar buttons?
I just got a new computer.
On the old one, the taskbar shows open folders correctly: "Folder
Name". It makes it easy to see which one you want to click on to get
the desired folder up front.
On the new computer, the tab on the taskbar shows the folder name as
"C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Desktop\Folder Name" -- and since
all that doesn't FIT on the little tab, they ALL read "C:\Docume...",
which means they're quite useless labels. How do I get it to just show
the end folder name?
It's actually another of Windows buried and somewhat obscure
settings.
In fact, I didn't even connect what this setting was for until I got
this question.
Continue reading:
"How do I get Windows Explorer to show folder names in its taskbar
buttons?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_windows_explorer_to_show_folder_names_in_its_taskbar_buttons.html
* * *
Why does my anti-malware software say a link is suspected
phishing?
My AT&T web mail says this is a suspected phishing site in
regards to your newsletter. I still open and read it. Why would they
suspect a forged address?
Unfortunately, there's a very legitimate way to craft links that
also happens to be easily confused with a technique used by phishing
attempts.
It's a difficult position for both the publisher, such as myself,
who wants to gather information, and the anti-malware software that
doesn't want to inadvertently miss an actual phishing attempt. By
erring on the side of paranoia, the anti-malware software often reports
"false positives" - links that are "suspected" of being phishing
attempts, but really aren't.
Let's look at this in more detail, and how you can tell the
difference.
Continue reading:
"Why does my anti-malware software say a link is suspected
phishing?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_antimalware_software_say_a_link_is_suspected_phishing.html
*** A Word from our Sponsor
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Ask Leo about advertising
here.
*** Featured Comments
A sampling of some of the comments that have been posted recently on
Ask Leo!
* * *
Why don't PDF's print at the same size as the original?
Mary Ann writes:
Thanks for the answer to,"Why Don't PDF's Print At Same Size As
Original?" It's a real aggravation to print from A PDF and the print
comes out so small you can barely read it. I just rescaled my page to
"none" and it worked beautifully. We struggle with these little things
and it doesn't occur to us sometimes to just "Ask Leo!" Mary Ann
*
How do I connect my desktop to the nearby wireless internet WiFi
hotspot?
Ken writes:
This for those who use others "wi-fi" hotspots. Here where I live in
Florida it is totally ILLEGAL to use someone else's hot spot. I
personally do not have WiFi myself, but my laptop tries to connect (
and sometimes does ) to my neighbors. Recently they arrested a number
of people who were doing this. It can be traced, and at least here. It
can land you in the pokey!
Wow. I'd not heard of arrests (or jail time, for that matter)
before, but I suppose it was only a matter of time. Illegal or not,
depending on where you are, it's at least unethical.
-Leo
*
My anti-virus performed a virus removal but I still have a symptom, how
do I get rid of it?
Narc writes:
There is one further point to make, and it is this: even if you have
been backing up and have a complete image of the system that you can
roll back to, you cannot be sure it was made prior to the infection
unless it was made immediately after installing the operating system,
and before connecting the computer to a network (local network or the
Internet). So, for truly paranoid people like myself, reformatting and
reinstalling is still required. The backup therefore just gives you the
ability to selectively restore data you've created, as long as proper
precautions are taken.
Furthermore, there are any number of possible infections that are
not obvious, or even apparent to even the most technical users (I'm
thinking spambot trojans, which survive longer if they can hide from
the computer operator). It's a truly terrifying world out there for us
paranoid people.
*** This Week's Most Popular
The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!
How
do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it
back?
My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it
back?
How
do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
How do I
delete my Hotmail account?
Can I send text messages between a computer and a cell phone?
How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on
myspace.com?
What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook
Express?
How do I move my Outlook Express folders to my new machine?
*** Leo Recommends
ImgBurn
Free CD/DVD Burning Tool
There are many CD burning tools out there, including several popular
free ones as well as several commercial. In fact, there's a good chance
you might have a trial version of on of the commercial products on your
machine right now - they're often included in the pre-installed
software.
I use ImgBurn: it's free, it's lightweight, it does more than
I'd ever need, and it's relatively easy to use.
I say that it's "relatively" easy to use, because its interface can
be just a tad intimidating to the first time user. To overcome that,
let me show you how to do a few common operations using ImgBurn.
Continue reading: "ImgBurn -
Free CD/DVD Burning Tool"
http://ask-leo.com/imgburn_free_cddvd_burning_tool.html
•
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 from the Archives
I just want support that works, I don't
care where it comes from:
Outsourcing Tech Support - Good, or Evil?
Over here, or overseas, incompetence knows no boundaries.
If you call the tech support lines for many major companies these
days, you can't really be sure that the person you're talking to isn't
a few miles away or on the other side of the planet. We've all heard of
technical supporting being outsourced to overseas companies, often in
India, to reduce costs. The current state of technology allows us to
communicate anywhere on the planet cheaply and instantaneously, so it
does make a certain amount of sense that, all else being equal,
companies would be foolish not to consider it.
But is it evil? Many think so.
I don't.
Continue reading...
Outsourcing
Tech Support - Good, or Evil?
http://ask-leo.com/outsourcing_tech_support_good_or_evil.html
*** Thoughts and Comments
As many of you may, or may not know I post on Twitter a few times
pretty much very day these days. You can follow me on LeoOnTwitter.com - you'll
get occasional comments, pointers to particularly relevant articles
I've stumbled on, notifications when I upload a new photo to Flickr,
and so on. I also "tweet" (post) when I post most new articles, so it's
also a quick way to stay on top of what's happening out here at Ask
Leo! as well.
This weekend Twitter suffered from a major phishing attack that
apparently caught a lot of people, and tricked them into providing
their Twitter account information to a third party. In discussing it
with some friends, I was pointed at this great video: Phishing in Plain
English. If you've never quite understood what phishing is, or even
if you do, have a look. It's very nicely done.
Another Twitter-related topic that came up resulted from a search I
did on search.twitter.com,
which searches all the public posts across all of Twitter's users. I
searched for "hotmail", and what did I get? Tweet after tweet with
bare-naked email addresses that spammers can just harvest and know that
they're good. That's the reason I wrote
"Why shouldn't I include my email address in a Twitter post or
'tweet'?", but it really applies to any publicly visible site or
social media service. If anyone can see the email address you just
posted, then spammers can see the email address you just posted. Expect
more spam as a result.
Unless you want more spam, don't do that.
'till next time...
Leo A. Notenboom
* * *
A selection of Leo's articles are available for free re-use at
http://articlesbyleo.com.
You can also subscribe to Ask Leo! on your Kindle.
Perhaps you'd like some Ask Leo! Stickers?
Some of Leo's other sites: The Ask Leo! Store, Leo's Online Business Card, Forwarded
Funnies, Taming Email,
MovableType Tips, Leo's Blog, Buy Leo a Latte (or a Beer), A Letter To Myself, Corgwn.com
*** Newsletter Administration
Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Visit http://ask-leo.com/ask to submit your
questions.
I'll be honest: I'll try to respond, but I get a
lot of questions every day - I just can't answer everyone.
Rest assured, though, that even if you don't hear from me directly,
every email gets read.
Leo's Answers Newsletter is a weekly publication of
Ask Leo! and Leo A. Notenboom. It's
also available as an RSS feed at this URL: http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.xml.
Archives of previous newsletter issues can be found on the Ask Leo! web
site, http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.html.
Forward Me! You're quite welcome to forward this
email in its entirety; it's a great way to help Ask Leo! grow.
But you should probably delete your unsubscribe link below, so your
friends don't unsubscribe you by accident.
You may forward individual articles from this newsletter
only if you include all and only the text of that
article as found in this newsletter, including any links therein. You
may not copy full articles from the Ask Leo! website - more on
that in my section on copyright: http://ask-leo.com/terms.html#copyright.
I'd sure appreciate it if regular readers got a subscription of
their own. You can sign up at http://newsletter.ask-leo.com.
Interested in advertising on Ask Leo! or in this newsletter?
Advertising
details here.
Newsletter contents
Copyright © 2009, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software,
LLC.
Continue reading
Leo's Answers #160 - January 6, 2009
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
ImgBurn - Free CD/DVD Burning Tool
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:24:00 -0600
There are many CD burning tools out there, including several popular
free ones as well as several commercial. In fact, there's a good chance
you might have a trial version of on of the commercial products on your
machine right now - they're often included in the pre-installed
software.
I use ImgBurn: it's free, it's lightweight, it does more than
I'd ever need, and it's relatively easy to use.
I say that it's "relatively" easy to use, because its interface can
be just a tad intimidating to the first time user. To overcome that,
let me show you how to do a few common operations using ImgBurn.
Continue reading
ImgBurn - Free CD/DVD Burning Tool
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
Why shouldn't I include my email address in a Twitter post or 'tweet'?
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:13:00 -0600
I included my email address in a 'tweet' on Twitter, and someone
told me I shouldn't. Why?
I made that question up, because I noticed today that masses of
people are doing exactly that: including their email addresses within
posts they make on Twitter.
You really, really, really don't want to do that.
The reason is an old answer: spam.
Continue reading
Why shouldn't I include my email address in a Twitter post or 'tweet'?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
I spilled water into my laptop, how do I get it working again?
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:59:00 -0600
While I was asleep, my cat must have tipped over a part full cup of
water on my new laptop computer. The computer lid was closed and the AC
power cord was connected when my daughter tried to turn it on in the
morning. It did not turn on (and it hasn't ever since, even after
leaving it to dry out for a couple of weeks). There was also a small
pool of water under the computer (about 5cm in diameter) and drips of
water come from the keyboard when tipped over. What should I do to
maximize my chances of getting it working?
I'm going to recommend an obscure long shot as something to try.
I'm also going to ask for help.
Continue reading
I spilled water into my laptop, how do I get it working again?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
What's the risk of connecting to the internet without protection?
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:27:00 -0600
I remember reading not too long ago about virus programs that are
computer generated and that conduct a random search for unprotected IP
address' to download to. I was recently talking to some friends who
also shut off their PC when not in use but leave the cable modem
running and connected to speed up the startup process.
The question is are there such virus programs and if they exist what
is the risk factor of being connected for even a brief period of time
without operational protection?
I vaguely recall the worst case scenario that you're referring to:
an unpatched and unprotected version of either Windows 2000 or an early
version of Windows XP lasted about 30 seconds after connecting to the
internet before it was infected with a virus.
30 seconds.
Things are better today, but you still want protection. And turning
your machine off isn't really helping.
Continue reading
What's the risk of connecting to the internet without protection?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
How do I get Windows Explorer to show folder names in its taskbar buttons?
Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:54:00 -0600
I just got a new computer.
On the old one, the taskbar shows open folders correctly: "Folder
Name". It makes it easy to see which one you want to click on to get
the desired folder up front.
On the new computer, the tab on the taskbar shows the folder name as
"C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Desktop\Folder Name" -- and since
all that doesn't FIT on the little tab, they ALL read "C:\Docume...",
which means they're quite useless labels. How do I get it to just show
the end folder name?
It's actually another of Windows buried and somewhat obscure
settings.
In fact, I didn't even connect what this setting was for until I got
this question.
Continue reading
How do I get Windows Explorer to show folder names in its taskbar buttons?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
Why does my anti-malware software say a link is suspected phishing?
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:34:00 -0600
My AT&T web mail says this is a suspected phishing site in
regards to your newsletter. I still open and read it. Why would they
suspect a forged address?
Unfortunately, there's a very legitimate way to craft links that also
happens to be easily confused with a technique used by phishing
attempts.
It's a difficult position for both the publisher, such as myself,
who wants to gather information, and the anti-malware software that
doesn't want to inadvertently miss an actual phishing attempt. By
erring on the side of paranoia, the anti-malware software often reports
"false positives" - links that are "suspected" of being phishing
attempts, but really aren't.
Let's look at this in more detail, and how you can tell the
difference.
Continue reading
Why does my anti-malware software say a link is suspected phishing?
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
Leo's Answers #159 - December 30, 2008
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0600
Leo's Answers
A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom
I am so pleased to find your site.
-Ken
Hello!
If you're having problems with the formatting of this newsletter in
email it's always available on the web here: http://ask-leo.com/currentnewsletter.html
Share Me!
Do you know someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Forward
it to them! (See below for details.)
Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe to get
Leo's Answers in your own inbox every week.
*** Contents
This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
A Word from our Sponsor
Featured Comments
This Week's Most Popular Articles
Leo Recommends
Popular Articles from the Archives
Thoughts and Comments
Newsletter Administration
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
Why don't PDF's print at the same size as the
original?
Why do my PDF's print out smaller than the original copy?
I'm going to assume you mean slightly smaller, since that's
a very, very common scenario. I see it myself all the time.
The answer, in a word, is margins. And depending on the PDF document
and the capabilities of your printer, you may, or may not, be able to
work around it.
Continue reading:
"Why don't PDF's print at the same size as the original?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_dont_pdfs_print_at_the_same_size_as_the_original.html
* * *
Can I delete pagefile.sys? What is it?
How to delete pagefile.sys. Is it safe to delete?
Sure, you can delete it. It takes some special steps, but it's not
really all that difficult.
The problem is that you probably don't want to.
Continue reading: "Can I
delete pagefile.sys? What is it?"
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_delete_pagefilesys_what_is_it.html
* * *
Does accessing my computer's hard disk over the network
impact the computer's performance?
Whenever I am doing processor intensive tasks on my main computer
(i.e. burning a disc, encoding a movie, etc.), I will leave my computer
alone and not do anything else on it until the task is finished (I will
even go as far as shutting off my screen saver). I do this so that as
much processor power as possible can be devoted to performing the task,
and the task can be completed as quickly as possible--not to mention
that I hope to avoid introducing any errors into whatever task is being
performed.
I will, however, work on another computer in my house. If I need a
file from my main computer, I will access it over the network from a
mapped drive I have set up.
A friend has told me that accessing files through the network,
though not as intensive, is almost as bad as performing it directly on
my main computer while it is performing the burning or encoding. I
disagree, thinking that by accessing these files over a network, I am
using only the main computer NIC card and hard drive (and perhaps very
minimal processor power).
Can you please tell me which of us is correct?
Sure! You both are.
You see, it really depends on exactly what you're doing. Some of
your scenario leads me to believe that you are right, and other
portions of your scenario have me siding with your friend.
I'll give you the slight edge here because I can't see your friend's
"almost as bad" comment really coming into play.
Continue reading:
"Does accessing my computer's hard disk over the network impact the
computer's performance?"
http://ask-leo.com/does_accessing_my_computers_hard_disk_over_the_network_impact_the_computers_performance.html
* * *
My anti-virus performed a virus removal but I still have a
symptom, how do I get rid of it?
My machine was recently infected by a worm called _____. My
anti-virus removed it, but I am still getting _____. How do I fix that
last left-over symptom?
That's a composite question since I get many variations of it on a
regular basis.
The scenario is simple: you've been infected with a virus of some
sort, and your anti-virus program reports, much to your great relief,
that it has cleaned it out for you. And yet, there's some nagging
leftover specific symptom.
The solution isn't nearly as simple as the scenario.
Continue reading:
"My anti-virus performed a virus removal but I still have a symptom,
how do I get rid of it?"
http://ask-leo.com/my_antivirus_performed_a_virus_removal_but_i_still_have_a_symptom_how_do_i_get_rid_of_it.html
* * *
How do I get wireless internet?
We have dial-up at our house and I'm sick of it. I can get on the
internet from my iPod at the edge of my property but I want internet on
my desktop IN my house. What do I need to connect up?
I want to use this question to clear up a misconception that appears
to be surprisingly common.
Wireless internet is not just "out there" for you to connect up to.
You need to take steps, whether it's setting something up, paying for
something, or at a minimum, asking for permission.
It's definitely not the case that you can just grab
a wireless card and suddenly be connected anywhere you want. The
wireless capabilities of your computer are only half of what's
needed.
Continue reading: "How do I get
wireless internet?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_wireless_internet.html
*** A Word from our Sponsor
Free Printable 2009
Calendars
Free 2009 calendars that you can download, customize, and print.
Calendars are available in PDF and Microsoft Word formats.
www.Printable2009Calendar.net
Advertisement.
Ask Leo about advertising
here.
*** Featured Comments
A sampling of some of the comments that have been posted recently on
Ask Leo!
* * *
How do I add a signature with a picture to my emails?
Steve writes:
Form a business standpoint - HTML formatted emails make no sense to
me. HTML formatting only increases the chances of some SPAM filter
stopping your email. HTML emails are much larger in file size than
plain text and thus take longer to send, longer to process, longer to
traverse the net and longer to receive. Plain Text with a concise
signature stating contact information is a courtesy to your
recipients.
I tend to agree. Some time ago I wrote about this in more detail on
my "Taming
Email" site: Use Plain Format - Substance Over Style.
-Leo
*
Can
my computer get a virus from my camera?
Bob Conlin writes:
What about inserting a camera card in the card machine at Wal-Mart
to make prints? Can I pick up a virus by doing that? I use Wal-Mart
because I can't print on my own computer for anywhere near their cost,
for paper and ink alone.
I don't know. I would assume that those dedicated single-purpose
devices are not prone to infection, and I've not heard of it happening,
but ... it seems like it could if the particular device is poorly
architected or configured. Right now I consider the risk very low, but
would be interested to hear from others if they've heard of or
experienced an infection from a photo-printing kiosk.
-Leo
*
When
do I actually need to run a virus scan?
Asif Dange writes:
Hi Leo,
I have a small query. I have an antivirus on my machine. The Real
time scan is always ON. But when i do a manual scan i find some of my
files were infected with virus which the Real Time scan didn't find
out. Can u suggest me what was the possible problem as to why The Real
Time Scan didn't notice about the virus?????????
I have only one Antivirus running on my machine.
It's difficult to say without knowing exactly what anti-virus
program you're using. Some "real time" scans only scan what's coming in
over your internet connection, for example. If a file arrives some
other way, say through windows networking, it might not be caught.
Similarly some programs don't real-time scan everything even on the
internet - they scan browser activity and email, but might skip
peer-to-peer file sharing applications or other apps. As you've seen, a
periodic full scan is an important step in addition to real-time.
-Leo
*** This Week's Most Popular
The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!
How
do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it
back?
How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it
back?
How
do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
Can I send text messages between a computer and a cell phone?
How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on
myspace.com?
How do I
delete my Hotmail account?
What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook
Express?
Svchost and Svchost.exe - Crashs, CPU maximization, viruses, exploits
and more.
*** Leo Recommends
Recuva
A free, easy to use undelete and file recover tool
As you might expect, I have a small collection of useful tools that
I keep available for assorted system maintenance and troubleshooting
tasks. However, for the longest time I haven't really carried a file
un-delete utility with me. Not because there aren't some good ones out
there, but more because I never really got comfortable with any of the
one's I'd tried. Certainly not comfortable enough to recommend.
I recently discovered Recuva, which I just added to my toolkit. It's free, it's
easy to use, and it's from the same people that bring you CCleaner,
which gives added credibility.
When you delete a file the contents of that file are not necessarily
immediately overwritten or removed. Instead the space used by that file
is marked as "available" so that it can be used the next time data is
written to the disk. As long as that doesn't happen and the old data is
not overwritten by something new, there's a chance you can recover the
file.
This is where utilities like Recuva come in. They scan the available space and
the control information on the hard disk to identify files that might
be recoverable.
Recuva
starts with a Wizard that allows you to specify what drives to scan,
and what classes of files to look for. Say you just deleted a picture
on your flash drive by mistake, you can tell Recuva to scan all the
removable media for pictures, and it'll do exactly that. Or, you can
dive right into the programs advanced interface and have it scan a
specific drive you specify, and then filter the results based on type
or name.
Continue reading:
"Recuva - A free, easy to use undelete and file recover tool"
http://ask-leo.com/recuva_a_free_easy_to_use_undelete_and_file_recover_tool.html
•
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 from the Archives
I get lots of questions that I can't
answer simply because they're not questions, they're impossible to
understand, they don't have the information I need, the email addresses
are wrong, and so on. As I'm prioritizing what questions I'm going to
spend my time on, there are things you can do to stack the deck in your
favor. Understanding why I might not answer (or even ever see) your
question is a start:
Why didn't you answer my question?
It's a fair question. I don't answer all the questions I get, and I
also don't respond to all the comments that are posted.
It's not that I don't want do. I can't. There are simply too many
questions coming in every day for me to address each and every one.
But I can give you some tips that'll help increase the odds.
Continue reading...
Why
didn't you answer my question?
http://ask-leo.com/why_didnt_you_answer_my_question.html
*** Bonus Article
Resolve to Do the One Thing That Can Save You From Almost
Any Computer Disaster
There's one thing that you can do that almost guarantees you'll
never face the catastrophic loss of your important computer files
including photos, documents, emails and more. That simple thing is
backing up. A good backup can allow you to recover from almost any
computer related disaster. Backups don't have to be confusing and
complicated, and for the home and small business can be downright
simple.
Read the Full Article.
(This bonus article is posted at http://articlesbyleo.com and is available for
free republication courtesy of EzineArticles.)
*** Thoughts and Comments
This week's bonus article, a first, I might add, serves two
purposes:
It's an important reminder. If you're making New
Years resolutions, add backing up to the list. It's the closest thing
to a magic elixir / silver bullet for recovering from problems that
you'll ever find.
It content that you can republish. I do get
asked from time to time if people can publish my articles in their
newsletters, newspapers and blog. In general the answer is no, but the
articles at http://articlesbyleo.com are available for exactly that
purpose for free. Follow a few simple terms of service guidelines, and
you're on your way. It's a great way to spread the word about technical
issues, and about Ask Leo!.
•
I never thought I'd be so happy to see rain. Lovely, wet, grey,
miserable Seattle rain.
We rarely get snow here, and when we do it's an inch or two at most,
maybe every other year. This year was different. This year I measured
21 1/2 inches of snow in my back yard at its peak. (You can see some
pictures out at LeoOnFlickr.com.) Given that this area has no
infrastructure to deal with that much snow (we never need it!), that
left us mostly house bound for the last week. Thankfully the power and
internet connection stayed on for the most part, or we would have had
some "interesting" times.
On Saturday we did take a rather harrowing trip to the grocery store
which also convinced us that Sunday was another good day to stay home.
Not until Monday did I venture out again for some routine errands.
Here's hoping your 2009 is a happy and healthy one, and that you
only get the weather you and your local community always know how to
handle.
'till next time year...
Leo A. Notenboom
* * *
A selection of Leo's articles are available for free re-use at
http://articlesbyleo.com.
You can also subscribe to Ask Leo! on your Kindle.
Perhaps you'd like some Ask Leo! Stickers?
Some of Leo's other sites: The Ask Leo! Store, Leo's Online Business Card, Forwarded
Funnies, Taming Email,
MovableType Tips, Leo's Blog, Buy Leo a Latte (or a Beer), A Letter To Myself, Corgwn.com
*** Newsletter Administration
Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Visit http://ask-leo.com/ask to submit your
questions.
I'll be honest: I'll try to respond, but I get a
lot of questions every day - I just can't answer everyone.
Rest assured, though, that even if you don't hear from me directly,
every email gets read.
Leo's Answers Newsletter is a weekly publication of
Ask Leo! and Leo A. Notenboom. It's
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But you should probably delete your unsubscribe link below, so your
friends don't unsubscribe you by accident.
You may forward individual articles from this newsletter
only if you include all and only the text of that
article as found in this newsletter, including any links therein. You
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Newsletter contents
Copyright © 2008, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software,
LLC.
Continue reading
Leo's Answers #159 - December 30, 2008
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
Recuva - A free, easy to use undelete and file recover tool
Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:22:00 -0600
As you might expect, I have a small collection of useful tools that
I keep available for assorted system maintenance and troubleshooting
tasks. However, for the longest time I haven't really carried a file
un-delete utility with me. Not because there aren't some good ones out
there, but more because I never really got comfortable with any of the
ones I had tried. I certainly was not comfortable enough to recommend any.
I recently discovered Recuva, which I just added to my toolkit. It's free, it's
easy to use, and it's from the same people that bring you CCleaner,
which gives added credibility.
When you delete a file, the contents of that file are not necessarily
immediately overwritten or removed. Instead, the space used by that file
is marked as "available" so that it can be used the next time data is
written to the disk. As long as that doesn't happen and the old data is
not overwritten by something new, there's a chance you can recover the
file.
This is where utilities like Recuva come in. They scan the available space and
the control information on the hard disk to identify files that might
be recoverable.
Recuva
starts with a Wizard that allows you to specify what drives to scan,
and what classes of files to look for. Let's say you just deleted a picture
on your flash drive by mistake, you can tell Recuva to scan all the
removable media for pictures, and it'll do exactly that. Or, you can
dive right into the programs advanced interface and have it scan a
specific drive you specify, and then filter the results based on type
or name.
Continue reading
Recuva - A free, easy to use undelete and file recover tool
Tech Questions?
Get Answers! -
Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter -
Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.
|
|