Why I Cringe When I Hear People Are Using ChatGPT to Look Things Up

It’s not that you use AI; it’s how.

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AI tools like ChatGPT sound smart and sure of themselves. I’ll explain why blind trust in AI answers can be risky, how its confidence can fool you, and what simple habits will keep you from being misled while still getting the most from this amazing technology.
Confidently Wrong
 (Image: ChatGPT)

Don’t get me wrong: used properly, AI is an amazing tool. I use it myself daily for everything from idea generation to image creation to summarization and more.

I also use it for search and Q&A. Mostly. Sometimes. With a great deal of trepidation and skepticism.

When I hear people “just” use AI now in place of more traditional tools and techniques, I get worried… really worried.

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Does Whole-disk Encryption Impact Computer Performance?

Theoretically, but not practically.

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Does whole-disk encryption slow your computer? You might be surprised. The bigger risk is losing access to your data if you’re not careful with your encryption keys and backups.
Padlocked disk
(Image: depositphotos.com)
Question: Does whole-disk encryption only affect performance while the computer is starting, or does it have a constant effect on the computer’s overall performance?

Neither… and both.

Encryption in general, and whole-disk encryption specifically, has come a long way since it was first introduced many years ago. One of the most striking changes is its impact on performance.

I’ll put it this way: I would not let performance concerns hold you back from using whole-disk encryption.

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Should I Buy My Next Computer in Person or Online?

Both have pros and cons.

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Buying a new computer? Whether you click Buy Now online or walk into a local store, both have perks and pitfalls. I'll help you weigh convenience, cost, and trust so you can make the best choice for your situation and know where to turn if things go wrong.
Online versus In-Store
(Image: copilot.com)
Question: Which is better, purchasing a laptop computer at a brick & mortar store or online?

There is no “better”, I’m afraid. Either can be great and either can be a nightmare.

It really depends on you, the resources you have available, and the specific stores — online or off — where you shop.

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My Two New PCs

A peek behind a geeky curtain.

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My not-really-a-NAS PC.
My NAS wannabe. (Image: askleo.com)

I recently replaced two old and very different machines with two identical, newer computers. I’ve become quite enamored with them.

They’re not for everyone, and some of the details I’ll share might be a bit geeky to digest, but if you’re about to replace a desktop computer, the upshot is that this class of PC might be worth your consideration.

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Why Don’t Anti-Malware Tools Work Better?

It’s a race.

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Ever wonder why your antivirus program didn’t catch that virus? It’s not broken. Security is a race, and the bad guys are usually ahead. Learn why security tools can’t stop everything, what that means for you, and the most important step you can take to stay safe.
Virus Detected sign
(Image: iStock)
Question: I’ve been an independent computer repair tech for over 12 years now. The question I get the most (and have the hardest time answering) is this: how come my antivirus program didn’t stop me from getting this virus? When you’re installing AVG, the program says that only 3% of today’s security problems are caused by traditional viruses. Is this true? Is it true for the other antivirus programs as well?

In other words, why don’t anti-malware tools work better? Why don’t they work the way we expect them to?

I fault AVG for the phrase “traditional viruses”. I think that puts an unrealistic spin on your expectations. Malware is malware, and that includes viruses, spyware, ransomware, rootkits, zombies, and gosh knows what else. What they mean by “traditional” is unknown, and I have no idea where the 3% figure comes from.

But there’s a kernel of truth in AVG’s statement. No matter what program you run, there’s still a chance your computer will get infected.

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I’ve Lost My Password Vault. What Do I Do?

Don’t panic.

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Lost your password vault? You’re not locked out forever. It's just an inconvenience. With some patience and the right steps, you can reset your accounts, rebuild your vault, and protect yourself from future mishap.
Password ... ?
(Image: adobe stock photos)
Question: Do you have a general technique for creating new passwords for every single site that needs them? Yes, I did the unthinkable, I lost my password vault account, and have to start over.

The technique is simple.

The technique is also time-consuming and ponderous.

Let’s review it, and what you can do to avoid this situation in the future.

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How Do I Send an Email to Many People?

Without looking like a spammer, that is.

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Want to email a big group without looking like a spammer or getting blocked? I'll show you why the usual tricks don’t work well and walk you through safer, smarter ways to send group emails, from simple groups to full newsletter services.
an individual yelling into a megaphone with hundreds of email envelopes spewing from the megaphone as a result
(Image: ChatGPT)
Question:

1: I have been working on figuring out how to send emails to a large group of people at a time. I have an organization, and would like to send weekly emails out to them. Right now, I have 1500 people, but am actively signing people up and expect to have several times more over the next couple of months.

2: When I travel, I send e-mails to a selection of friends (all of whom have explicitly asked to be on the list of recipients, and who presumably therefore do not mark them as spam). But my ISP sees multiple addressees and an overseas IP address, assumes spam, and prevents it from being sent. I have taken it up with them, and their attitude is “Your problem, not ours.”

First, thank the spammers. 🙁 Because of them, email services — the ones you use to send as well as those used by your intended recipients — have been forced to make this more difficult than it should be.

What we might do without thinking about it too hard makes us look like spammers. Hence, our messages don’t get through — either bouncing, landing in spam folders, or just disappearing entirely.

And yes, it’s our problem, not the email service’s.

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Gmail Is Removing “Check Mail From Other Accounts”

Google gives, and Google takes away.

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Gmail is taking away the handy “Check mail from other accounts” feature in 2026. If you use it to manage multiple email accounts in one place (Gmail), you’ll need an alternative approach. I'll cover what’s changing, why it matters, and the options you have left before your mail disappears.
International "no" symbol over "Check mail from other accounts" option in Gmail.
(Image: askleo.com)

I’ve recently learned that Gmail will remove the ability to check email from external accounts.

If you don’t use it, you don’t care. If you do use it, I’m guessing you’ll care deeply.

I fall into the latter category; for years, I’ve used Gmail as a one-stop collection of all my email from all my email accounts.

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What Happens If I Don’t Update to Windows 11?

An assortment of things over time.

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Thinking of skipping or delaying Windows 11? You can keep using Windows 10 safely, but changes are inevitable. From security updates to app support, here’s what happens if you stay put. Learn how long you can expect things to keep working before problems appear.
A desktop computer with a Windows 10 screen bathed in bright morning sunlight.
(Image: ChatGPT)

Staying with Windows 10 — not updating to Windows 11 — is a valid choice. I’ve written about how you can keep using Windows 10 safely after support ends.

But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? Over time, things will change. It’s important to understand what those things are and how you need to prepare.

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Why Do System Cleanup Utilities Report So Many Errors on a Supposedly Clean System?

To quote Admiral Akbar: “It’s a trap!”

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Some system cleaners cry wolf, showing scary error counts to pressure you into buying. Others disagree on what counts as “dirty.” I'll unpack the scare tactics, the lack of standards, and the risks of using these utilities, plus safer ways to keep your PC running smoothly.
Free Trial
(Image: depositphotos.com)
Question: I have a couple of good cleaning programs to protect my computer, which you’ve recommended. But occasionally, I get suckered into running a free trial of a program (like a registry cleaner). I may have just run my cleaner and been given a clean bill of health, but when I run the free trial, I invariably get hundreds of errors. Why?

What you’re experiencing leads me and many others to avoid recommending any registry or system-cleaning utility.

It’s not just a few bad apples that spoil the entire bunch; in this case, it’s often difficult to find an apple worth biting into at all.

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How Do I Boot If All I Get Is a Blue Screen?

Let’s discuss alternatives.

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A blue screen that won’t go away feels like the end, but it may not be. Learn how to boot from other media, rescue your files, and figure out if it’s Windows or hardware at fault. Most importantly, backing up now saves heartbreak later.
a computer on a desk displaying a Windows BSOD blue screen of death, and a person next to it with hands on either side of their face reminiscent of the scene in the movie Home Alone.
(Image: ChatGPT)
Question: How do I stop it from booting up and then immediately going to the blue screen of death? I’m so desperate to keep it, there are so many things on there I need to have.

This question has a lot to unpack, including why a blue screen may prevent a normal boot-up to the potential for data loss.

There are techniques to deal with the former, and I have strong opinions on the latter.

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What Are Those Numbers Labeled MD5, SHA, Etc., Listed With Downloads?

They’re about safety.

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Wonder what those strange strings of numbers labelled things like MD5 or SHA mean next to a download? They’re a way to double-check that a file is safe and complete. Here’s how checksums work, why they matter, and when you might want to use them.
Checksums for Hiren's Boot CD.
Checksums for Hiren’s Boot CD. (Screenshot: askleo.com)

When you go to a download website to download a large file, you might see a series of numbers displayed alongside the download link. These are commonly referred to as checksums or hashes and allow you to confirm that the download completed successfully.

The example above for Hiren’s Boot CD PE shows a link for what some would consider a fairly large download: over three gigabytes. (If you’re curious, Hiren’s Boot CD provides diagnostic and recovery tools that run from a bootable CD, DVD, or USB drive.) We’ll use it as an example as we look at why checksums exist and how to use them.

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Command Prompt? Power Shell? Terminal? What’s the Difference? Which Do I Want?

The evolution of command-line interfaces.

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Ever right-click the Start button and wonder why you sometimes see Command Prompt, other times PowerShell, or maybe something called Terminal? They look similar, but each has its own role.
Right-click the Start button, and you may see any one of these. (Image: askleo.com)

There’s a very good chance you’ll never need a command-line interface in Windows. However, on occasion, particularly when diagnosing or tweaking your system, there are certain things that are more easily done using one. In rare cases, a command-line interface might be the only way to accomplish some obscure tasks.

Depending on your setup, you might see one of three separate options in the alternate (right-click) Start menu:

  • Command Prompt
  • Windows PowerShell
  • Terminal

They’re all command-line interfaces, but of course, they’re different. Sort of.

Let’s examine what they are, what you can control, and which you might want to use.

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How What I Do Is Threatened by AI

I’m not alone.

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AI is rewriting the rules of the web, and sites like Ask Leo! are feeling the squeeze of fewer clicks, more bots, and uncertain futures. What does that mean for the content you rely on? I'll look at the challenge, the irony, the fear, and what you can do to help.
A human writer under a spotlight as an AI robot arm reaches for his work.
(Image: ChatGPT)

I have a love/hate relationship with AI. Hate might be too strong a word — let’s just say I have concerns. And some of those concerns relate to whether sites like Ask Leo! will survive.

AI is an existential threat. Maybe someday for humanity, I don’t know; what I do know is that the threat is real and current for websites you probably rely on for content… like answers to your technical questions.

We’re losing our reason to exist.

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Replying to Spammers to Tell Them to Stop

Don’t do it.

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Tempted to hit "reply" and tell spammers to knock it off? Don’t. Here’s why replying makes things worse, and what you can do to keep spam under control.
A garbage can overflowing with spam.
(Image: dollarphotoclub.com)
Question: 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 assume that by “BULK” you mean unsolicited email, more commonly called spam: email you never signed up for and don’t want.

Never, ever reply to spam. Period. It won’t help and will more likely make things worse.

I won’t show you how to set up an automated reply because it’s the wrong thing to do. Period.

Instead, let me explain why replying to spam — automated or manually — is a really, really bad idea.

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Can I Back Up Files to a Separate Partition on the Same Hard Disk?

You can. Don’t.

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Thinking of backing up your files to another partition on the same hard drive? Learn how this puts your data at risk and discover smarter, safer ways to back up before disaster strikes.

Hard Disk

Question: I am going to do a clean install of Windows to hopefully fix some errors, which means that I need to back up my files. The problem is that I don’t quite have the means to back up my hard drive. Can I create a new, separate partition on my existing drive (1TB), copy my files to that, and then perform a clean install on the existing Windows partition? Afterward, I would transfer the files back and delete the “backup” partition. Would that work, or am I heading in the wrong direction?

It would work, but, yes, it’s the wrong direction.

There are risks. And from what I can see, you’re running a huge risk before you even begin.

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How Do Websites Store Passwords Securely?

The good, the bad, and the really bad.

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Not all websites protect your password the same way. Some do it well, others badly, and a few dangerously poorly. I’ll walk through the good, the bad, and the ugly of password storage, and share one simple step you can take to keep your accounts safe.
Password dial set to "password"
(Image: adobestock.com)
Question: After reading your excellent article, “How Can a Hacker Try All Possible Passwords If Systems Block the Login Attempts?” I still don’t understand. Even if a hacker has stolen the user database of logins and hashes, how can they duplicate the method of hash creation used by any particular website? I would think different websites would use different hash-creation formulas.

You would think. And they should. That’s what makes it so frustrating when these attacks are successful.

The problem is that security is sometimes an afterthought. In fact, it’s often not thought of in any deep sense until after a successful attack.

The good news is that there’s something simple you can do about it.

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Still Another Way to Install Windows 11 With Only a Local Account

I call it the “local account two-step”.

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Want Windows 11 without tying it to a Microsoft account? There’s still a way. I’ll walk you through a simple but slow two-step trick. The result: a fresh Windows 11 setup with only a local account... at least until Microsoft closes the door again.
an individual about to step on a two-step step stool where the first step is labeled "Windows 10", and the next is labelled "Windows 11"
(Image: ChatGPT)

Microsoft has removed various workarounds discovered to allow Windows 11 to be installed without using a Microsoft account. Their recent justification claimed a change was to “avoid missing important parts of the setup process”.

Important for whom?

The technique I’m about to describe is simple but time-consuming. So far, my results show it works… for now. The resulting installation of Windows 11 Home has only a local account.

The process starts a little further back than you might imagine.

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How Often Should I Reset My PC?

There’s no schedule.

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Is your PC slowing down, acting odd, or just feeling old? A full reset might be the fix, but how often should you do it? I’ll share when it makes sense, when it doesn’t, and how to decide if your computer needs a fresh start.
A Reset Button
(Image: depositphotos.com)

Resetting your PC involves backing everything up, reinstalling Windows and applications from scratch, and restoring your data from the backup or elsewhere.

In years past, I advised doing a reset fairly regularly. Recommending an annual reset wasn’t uncommon for active users, including me.

These days, a reset isn’t as necessary as it once was. I’ll review why and when we would want to reset Windows.

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What Are the Internet’s Rules About Free Speech?

Probably not what you think they are.

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When people find their posts or comments removed or altered from websites they visit, sometimes they claim that their right to free speech has been violated. That's rarely the case.
Microphone
(Image: canva.com)
Question: Can you advise me on the “rules” of the internet regarding free speech? I’ve had my comments on some sites and posts deleted by the owner. Doesn’t that violate my right to free speech?

No, it doesn’t.

Free speech is an interesting concept in general, especially in today’s turbulent times. Take it to the internet, and things get even more “interesting”.

Yes, there are rules and even laws, but it’s complex.

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Can the Owner of an Open WiFi Hotspot See What Files I’m Downloading?

If they’re techie enough, maybe.

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Internet cafe owners can monitor the activity on open WiFi hotspots. Whether or not they take the time to do it is another story!
Downloading
(Image: canva.com)
Question: Just wondering if others can see what I’m downloading, say in a coffee shop or some other public place, like the administrator there? Or can they just tell that something is being downloaded? It’s a local place, so I assume they have some local provider like Comcast. I imagine it takes up their bandwidth, and they don’t like that because it makes the connection slow for others in the establishment. Please let me know.

When you’re using someone else’s WiFi — or even their wired connection — they’re providing you with internet service.

They’ve become your internet service provider, or ISP.

And ISPs are special.

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Are VPNs Safe for Online Banking?

Safe? Sure. Safer? Probably not much.

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Think a VPN makes online banking safer? Banking is already protected by strong encryption, but a VPN adds a twist. I’ll explain what’s really protected, what isn’t, and where the real risks lie when you bank on the go.
VPN
(Image: canva.com)
Question: Is it safe for me to use a VPN for online banking while I’m on the road?

Online banking these days is relatively safe to begin with. HTTPS connections, for example, mean your conversation with the bank is encrypted between your computer and the bank’s servers, regardless of whether or not you use a VPN.

There are a couple of things that a VPN kinda/sorta makes slightly safer.

Let’s examine the differences.

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USB Charging and Cables Explained: Safe and Simple

At worst, slower than it could be, but that’s fixable too.

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With USB-A and USB-C, things have gotten simpler, but not always obvious. I’ll walk you through what cables really do, how devices and chargers “talk,” and why missing charger blocks isn't a big deal.
Several USB charging bricks plugged into a power strip.
(Image: canva.com)
Question: So many devices come with only the charging cable and not the actual charger (plug/block) itself, which has the label on it stating what voltage & amperage ratings it has. I have yet to find charging cables that come with such labeling on them. So how do you know what that particular charging cable is capable of — or are they all universal charging cables whether or not they come with the plug?

USB standardization has made all of this much simpler.

For the most part, if the cables fit, your device will charge safely. Slowly, perhaps, but safely. There are exceptions, but when talking about portable devices, it’s rare.

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