Articles in Category: ask-leo.com
These are articles that have been migrated from the old “ask-leo.com” site but have NOT yet been cleaned up or otherwise updated. They’re here primarily as a reference. We’ll be updating the more important and popular ones over time.
A brief overview of Faststone Image Viewer
Faststone is my image viewing program of choice and another of the utilities that I install first when I set up a machine. I’ll show you a few of its features.
How do I get rid of these questionable entries in my Hotmail auto-complete?
If you’re finding unrecognized and adult entries in Hotmail’s auto-complete, there’s a good chance that you have Messenger invitations that you don’t know about.
Macrium Reflect 7: Restoring a File from an Image Backup
Image backups contain every file on the drive that they image. Fortunately, if you need only some files, you don’t need to restore the whole thing.
Macrium Reflect 6: Restoring an Image
Hopefully, you’ll never need it, but should your machine become malware-ridden or suffer a hardware failure, it’ll be time to restore from a backup image.
Macrium Reflect 5: Scheduling Backups
Scheduling backups to happen automatically is perhaps the most important and often overlooked part of a backup strategy. I’ll show you how in Reflect.
Macrium Reflect 4: Creating an Incremental Backup Image
Incremental backups are the true backbone of any backup system. Incremental backups build on the initial full backup by saving files that have changed.
Macrium Reflect 3: Creating a Backup Image
The most basic and perhaps most important type of backup is the system image. I’ll walk through creating an image backup in Macrium Reflect.
Macrium Reflect 2: Creating Rescue Media
The first step after installing any backup software is to create bootable rescue media. I’ll show you how to do that with Macrium Reflect.
Macrium Reflect 1: Downloading and Installing
Macrium Reflect 5.0 is available as a downloadable application. I’ll walk you through the process of downloading and installing the program.
How do I print a .prn file?
If you’ve saved a document in .prn format using print-to-file your options to actually print that file are severely limited. As in slim to none.
How do I disable Internet Explorer add-ons?
Internet Explorer add-ons are a common cause of problems that are incorrectly blamed on IE itself. I’ll show you how to disable IE add-ons.
How do I share files on my Windows 7 machine with my Windows XP machine?
Windows networking is difficult, to put it mildly. I’ll walk through setting up a share and connecting to it, and explain why it’s not terribly secure.
Webinar #7 – Your Questions
Webinar #7 – Your Questions – Sunday, December 11th, 2011
Where did my volume icon go?
Windows tries to manage the taskbar icons for you in a way that sometimes causes some to go missing.
A Brief Overview of Snagit Screen Capture Utility
Snagit is a one of the utilities that I install first on any new machine. I’ll walk through installing it and show a few of its features.
Will you help fix my account? My username and password are …
In a desperate move to resolve account access issues, people are frequently trusting people they shouldn’t and providing too much private information.
Can I remove Internet Explorer if I never use it?
It’s not uncommon to use a web browser other than Internet Explorer. What you may not realize is that you’re still using IE for other things.
How do I tell what program is slowing down my machine?
When your machine slows down, it can sometimes be traced to a single misbehaving program. We’ll use Process Explorer to try to identify which one.
Should I turn off my wireless access point if I don't use it?
Wireless routers contain both a router and a wireless access point. I’ll review your options if you’re not planning on using the wireless component.
How do I get Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) to work – at all?
IE9 takes advantage of your graphics card to draw on the screen more quickly. It’s nifty when it works and frustrating when it doesn’t. We’ll turn it off.
The Spam Primer – Learn about and deal with spam
Spam is a an internet plague that affects us all. The Spam Primer is a one-stop site for learning about and dealing with spam.
How do I get Foxit Reader to let me click on links?
PDF readers are implementing security measures to protect you from malicious PDFs. I’ll look at what to do when that interferes with a PDF’s content.
A Brief Overview of Dropbox
Dropbox is a file sharing tool that can make keeping files on multiple machines and sharing them with others very easy. I’ll show some of its features.
I Installed Microsoft Security Essentials and Now Things Are Worse! How Do I Recover?
When installing anti-malware tools on your machine makes things worse, it’s one hint that there may already be a deeper problem.
Why is my BRAND NEW domain immediately getting spammed?
Purchasing a domain can sometimes cause you to inherit things, like spam directed at the domain’s previous users.
Webinar #6 – Tools Sampler Continued
Webinar #6 – Tools Sampler Continued – Sunday, November 13th, 2011.
What's the difference between RAW and JPG image formats?
Many digital cameras can save in either a “raw” or “jpg” format. I’ll look at the difference between the two and offer guidelines on which to use.
How do I recover from a bad virus infection?
Recovering from a bad virus infection isn’t always easy, but there are some things to try before drastic measures need to be taken.
A brief overview of Evernote
Evernote is a data collection, organization, and retrieval tool that is both simple and powerful. I’ll take a quick run through its features.
How do I delete someone from my Hotmail address book?
Windows Live Hotmail maintains an address book for you as part of your account – they just don’t call it an address book.
How Do I Install an ISO File that Contains Software?
Some software is distributed as .iso files. I’ll look at a couple of ways to install .iso files, or rather, install the software that they contain.
How do I get "Send To" to work with Hotmail? Or Gmail? Or some other web-based email?
In the past, it was possible to configure web-based email services like Hotmail or Gmail as the default email program. From what I can see, that’s no more.
How do I remove a partition in Windows 7?
Windows 7 added basic partition management tools that make operations, such as removing a partition and extending another to use the space, very easy.
How do I sign in to Windows 7 automatically?
If you’re willing to take the risk, configuring Windows 7 to sign in automatically is pretty easy; I’ll walk through the steps and show you in video.
Questions and Answers about Backup
During a recent webinar, there were several good questions about backing up that I’ve collected into a single video & transcript.
Why would one disk defragmenting program take so much more time than another?
Disk defragmenting can take minutes or hours; I’ll look at why that might be and what I recommend for regular defragmenting.
Why is it so easy and quick to accidentally move a file when copying takes so much longer?
Accidentally dropping a file where you didn’t intend to is easy in Windows Explorer. I’ll look at how to recover it and why the error is so darned quick.
Three ways to find Outlook's PST file
Outlook keeps all of your information in a PST or Personal STorage file. It’s often important to be able to locate it, and I’ll show you how.
A brief overview of Macrium Reflect Backup
Macrium Reflect is a full featured backup program. I’ll show a quick tour of the product and its basic features.
Why is it so bad to leave the email addresses in an email I forward?
By forwarding email that includes previously-forwarded email addresses, you’re exposing all of those people to a couple of risks and annoyances.
How do I run an anti-virus scan if I can't boot?
It’s hard to run an anti-virus scan if you can’t boot from the hard drive. To run an anti-virus or other scan, you’ll need to take some special steps to boot from something else.
How do I repair a corrupt .pst file?
.pst files are Microsoft Outlook’s email and data storage containers. They can occasionally be damaged, but Microsoft Office includes a repair tool.
A brief overview of Windows 7 Backup
Windows 7 includes an improved backup utility, but I find it confusing and difficult to understand compared to other alternatives.
How can I recover my encrypted data from my flash memory device?
Data recovery from flash drives is problematic enough, but recovering encrypted data from a failing flash drive might be nearly impossible.
What does a gigabyte limit on my internet plan really mean?
Data transfer limits are becoming more common. I’ll look at what that really means in terms of how you use the internet.
How can I prevent a Word document from being copied or printed?
It’s not possible to completely prevent files from being copied or printed, although you can make it more difficult. I’ll look at why.
A brief overview of Paragon Backup and Recovery
Paragon Backup and Recovery has both free and paid versions that can perform well for may backup tasks.
I accidentally deleted everything on my hard drive, how do I get it all back?
Deleting large amounts of data from a hard drive by accident can be devastating. Recovery can be hard to impossible. Or easy, if you’re prepared.
Webinar #5 – Tools Sampler
Webinar #5, Sunday, October 16th – Tools Sampler
Should I try Windows 8?
Windows 8 may be tempting, but it’s nowhere near ready for average consumers. Those who can’t resist must assume the worst.
