Yes, you can still go back to Windows 10 from Windows 11. It just may not be easy.
Even though as I write this we’re only a year and a half away from Windows 10’s end-of-support date, I’m still hearing from folks who tried Windows 11 and want to go back to Windows 10.
While I generally don’t recommend it, it’s certainly possible and might be the solution for situations where you just can’t tolerate something about Windows 11.
There are three approaches: the easy way, the sort-of-easy way, and the hard way.
Gmail labels are similar to folders, but there are a couple of important differences to know if you use a desktop email program to access Gmail.
Google Mail, or Gmail to most, is a wildly popular free email service. It’s fast, easy to use, and sports one of the best spam filters around.
What most people don’t realize is that Gmail looks at the world a little differently than other email services. In doing so, it leverages something else that Google has a strong track record with: search.
Gmail labels aren’t what most people think they are. Normally, that’s not an issue, but when accessing Gmail using a desktop email program via IMAP, it can cause a lot of confusion.
Free-space wiping prevents the recovery of deleted files. Whether you need to do it, or how often, depends on how interesting your data is.
Question: I read your article about CCleaner’s file deletion overwrite, which I tried. Mine took about three hours to do. My question is how often should I use this file deletion in general? Once per month? I am really clueless about that. I am referring to the CCleaner’s wipe section.
Well, let me put it this way… never is what works for me. I never run it.
With that said, let’s look at why you might want to run it. From there, we can come up with how often you might want to do it.
It's not uncommon for email to bounce in ways that imply you might be spamming. I'll look at what may or may not be happening.
Question:
I’ve been wrongly labeled as a spammer. What can I do about it?
I have used the same email address (me@mydomain.co.uk) for about 10 years. I am the author of a newsletter which goes to about 150 people, ALL of whom have ASKED to be included in my list, and I send and receive about 30 emails/day, mainly business. I never have and do not currently use my ID for any spamming to anyone, nor do I forward any of the dozens of spam emails I receive from “friends.”
When I sent an email to two different local contacts recently, I received the same message by return: “This message was undeliverable due to the following reason: Your message was not delivered because the return address was refused. The return address was “<me@mydomain.co.uk>” Please reply to <Postmaster@ispmail.ntl.com> if you feel this message to be in error.”
I DO consider this message to be SERIOUSLY in error. I have written to them several times, but I have been ignored. What do I do now, please?
Very little you haven’t already done.
You’re assuming the message means the remote system thinks you’re a spammer. While I suspect that is likely, it’s not always true.
Even if it is, it’s important to realize this isn’t some global database where everyone in the world now thinks you’re a spammer.
On the contrary; it’s likely to be this one email system you’re having trouble with — and perhaps only a couple of users.
Google search used to be the winner by far, but recent decreases in its trustworthiness and the improved offerings of other search engines make switching a pragmatic choice.
In the past, Google’s search engine was the best. I would regularly try searches in some of its competitors, and I always came back. Google’s results were more accurate and gave me what I needed more often than not.
In recent months, that’s flipped. Google’s results are disappointing at best and misleading at worst.
Browser problems can be caused by any number of things that may or may not include the browser itself. I'll review common troubleshooting techniques.
Question: I haven’t seen you mention Firefox problems. I’ve been using it for internet but it goes into “not responding” mode, particularly when I click on a link in a news email.
Actually, I talk about browser problems all the time. Particularly since people encounter browser problems all the time.
The problem is that it’s never as simple as telling you, “Well, here’s what you do to stop ‘not responding’ problems.” There are so many possible causes there’s no way to know which one applies to your situation.
What I use instead is a more general approach to dealing with internet web browser problems that applies to all popular browsers — not only FireFox but Chrome, Edge, and others.
What action to take on breach and exposure notifications depends on how much information you get.
Question: I got notices from several services that my username/email and password are on the dark web. Since I have two-factor identification on, I have not had any issues with anybody breaking into any of my accounts. I have also had issues with Microsoft sending me notifications of two-factor notification numbers even though I never requested them. The problem is that I don’t know which websites are affected, so I cannot change the website password. Can you tell me how to identify the affected website to change my passwords?
There are two separate items raised by this question I want to address:
What to do if you’re told your information is on the dark web.
What to do if you get unsolicited two-factor notices.
They’re separate issues, but sometimes they’re related.
Use the Windows 10 and 11 Out-of-Box Experience to reset a variety of items associated with initial computer setup.
You may or may not remember setting up Windows 10 the first time you used it. You were walked through a process of questions and answers and options and waiting — probably lots of waiting — while Windows set up your machine.
It’s called the Out-of-Box Experience, or OOBE.
It turns out you can revisit the experience at any time.
My background is most assuredly not journalism. I bring something else entirely to the table: experience.
In recent months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the news media and journalism in general.
It dawned on me that while Ask Leo! looks kind of like a news site, it’s not. It also occurred to me that several sites and other tech-support options that operate similarly to Ask Leo! are written and run by actual journalists while hobbyists run others.
None of that is a bad thing. A variety of experiences and opinions is a valuable thing.
A very common scam has people supposedly from Microsoft, your ISP, or other authorities calling to help you with computer problems. Don't fall for it.
Question:
A family member got scammed by a telephone call from someone saying that they were from Microsoft and calling because of PC error reports. Unfortunately, remote access was given. What should be done to prevent further compromise of the PC data? Help!
Note: MS scanner and a Norton scan were done and showed no problems. Remote access software files were removed manually from PC. Could the scammer again access the PC data? Data is backed up to the external drive (not plugged in at the time of the scam). Can the same files/data be safely loaded onto a new HD/computer?
As you point out, it’s a scam. Microsoft doesn’t call people because of errors on their computers. Neither do ISPs, security companies, or pretty much anyone else who might have some role of internet authority.
In recent years (yes, years) I’ve received many reports of this scam and its variants. Fortunately, many people are rightfully suspicious and cut it off before it goes too far. Unfortunately, your family member having fallen for the scam puts you in a difficult and dangerous position.
Let’s not hook up that external hard drive just yet.
To back up your email, you first have to figure out where it lives. It might be on your computer, or it might be on the internet.
Question: I’m currently preparing to back up my computer for the first time and I’m unsure of the answer to the following question. If I do either a system image or a regular backup of my Windows computer, will my Outlook emails also be included in the backup, or do I have to first back up the emails to a PST file, do the backup, and then import the emails back if I ever need to restore the system? In checking the Microsoft site and two other searches, the only answers I find are “…..will backup all files, programs, etc….” and no mention of emails. I hate to assume that the emails will be backed up only to find that they aren’t after spending the time to do it.
Great question. Unfortunately, you may find the answer somewhat frustrating.
Your email may or may not be backed up. It depends on where your email lives. Once we know that, then we can make some more helpful suggestions.
An Internal Server Error happens within the server attempting to show you a webpage. It's usually a server-side problem out of your control.
Question: I’m trying to download software from a specific site. No matter what I try to download, I get this error message:
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator webmaster@******.com and inform them of the time the error occurred and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
How is this resolved?
I’m very familiar with this error. Too familiar. I see it all the time when setting up or making changes to websites.
The good news? It’s not your fault.
The bad news? There’s probably nothing you can do.
Recovering individual files from a Cryptomator encrypted vault can be tricky. I'll discuss why and how to protect your access to those files.
Question: As files are encrypted by Cryptomator, how can I identify a file to recover a previous version? I can’t even see where I’d find version history.
The short answer is that you can’t. Not directly. I’ll explain why in a moment.
Cryptomator is a free program built to encrypt files before they’re uploaded to cloud storage. To access those files, you must have both Cryptomator and your passphrase. Even with the information, if you want to recover just a single encrypted file, things get challenging.
I’ll address how to protect yourself from scenarios like this. One approach relies on something I’ve been suggesting you do for a long time.
When it comes to technology, it seems like there's a whole 'nother language to learn. Using the right terminology is important to being understood and getting your problems resolved.
Computers and technology, much like medicine, automobiles, and many more disciplines, has its own set of words, buzzwords, and terminology.
And just like when you go to the doctor or take your car to a mechanic, it’s important that you be able to communicate clearly what you want them to look at.
The more accurately you use terminology, the more likely you’ll get the correct and desired outcome.
Zetabytes? Petaflops? Gigahertz? Confusing terms for the ever-increasing capacity and speed of our computers.
Question: I feel like I’ve just crawled out from under a rock or something. Apparently, Seagate has come out with new drives with… zetabytes of storage? There are terabytes, which I know, this is how I store stuff, but now there are petabytes and zetabytes? In communications with someone at Seagate, they are telling me that the CIA has a computer with petaflops of processing power. I know what GHZ is, but what is a petaflop, or more importantly, how many gigahertz is a petaflop? Can you even buy this stuff, or is this reserved for large companies? If you could clear some of this up, I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.
The only unchanging thing in the computer industry is change itself. Today’s topic is storage: specifically, how much and what we call it.
Let’s review some size-related and speed-related terms for good measure.
Occasionally, Microsoft Office becomes damaged. Fortunately, you can repair it.
Question: When I want to open a file in Excel, a dialog box appears: “PROGRAM ERROR: EXCEL.EXE has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.” How do I fix this?
That was the question that spawned this article some 12(!) years ago, but I’m revisiting it for a simple reason.
It’s happening to me. Right now.
No error messages; Excel just goes away after a few seconds when I open a spreadsheet.
I need to explain one of those approaches in a little more detail, since it targets perhaps the most popular form of 2FA: the one-time password. If you’re not wary, you could fall victim.
The good news is that this attack requires your participation. The bad news is that you might not realize it until too late.
I know less than you think I do, but I make up for it with a very important skill -- a skill anyone can benefit from improving.
Once I answered a question from a reader, and they responded to the answer by saying, “So easy when you know how.”
I don’t know if they were making an honest observation or a snarky comment (I suspect the former), but I started thinking about what I’ll call my deep, dark secret.
I didn’t know how. In fact, I often have absolutely no clue.
Unfortunately, that turns you into, yes... a spammer! There are many, many problems with this idea. I'll explain a few.
I received a rather lengthy question mentioning a specific service claiming to turn the tables on spammers either by spamming them back or by using the content of their messages to harm them in some way… or at least annoy the heck out of them.
However, as much as spam angers us, besides ultimately being ineffective, vigilante justice isn’t the answer. Here’s why.
Facebook Marketplace scams are on the rise. Here are three red flags that should tell you something's not right.
As Facebook Marketplace gets more use, it also gets more scams. It’s a popular place to buy and sell, which makes it more profitable to scam there as well.
There are several things to look for, but in this article, I’m going to focus on the concept of accountability and what scammers do to avoid it.
You can associate multiple email addresses with your Microsoft account. Who knew?
Every so often, I get a request that boils down to someone wanting to change the email address associated with their Microsoft account. I’ve maintained that you couldn’t — that your email address is your Microsoft account, and vice versa. No change was possible.
Turns out I was wrong.
Not only can you change the email address, but you can have multiple email addresses, and you can sign in with any one of them you like.