Articles in Category: Administration

Items related to Leo, Ask Leo! and overall website and related operations and administrivia.

PPS files still don't work even after I created an association – what do I do?

PPS files seem to cause many people problems. We’ll look at how to go about configuring your system to view PPS files.

Why can't I open this file?

There are lots of reasons you might not be able to open a file. In this article we look at programs that refuse to open files marked “read-only”, and what to do.

Choosing an ISP: How do I choose a good ISP?

Choosing an ISP can be difficult. ISPs definitely vary in level of service and quality. If the internet is important to you, so is choosing the right ISP.

MWSBAR.dll – What is it, and why is it generating an error?

mwsbar.dll is a toolbar for Internet Explorer commonly part of “My Web Search”. Getting rid of mwsbar.dll, or references to it, isn’t terribly difficult.

Where's the Sent Items folder in Outlook Express?

The Sent Items folder isn’t always visible in Outlook Express. We’ll look at the options to make the Sent Items folder visible, and make sure that Sent Items are getting placed there.

Web site spam: what can I do about it?

Spam is no longer just something in email. Web site spam, or “comment spam” is on the rise. If you’ve seen website spam on your site, we’ll look at some of the things you can do.

Does Linux have a role in the home?

Linux is something more people are looking at to avoid issues they might have with Windows. Linux in the home is definitely getting closer.

How did you get my IP address?

Your IP address is the fundamental way of identifying your computer on the internet. Your IP address is available to any service you connect to.

What's this backwards P all over my email?

A backwards P is probably a paragraph mark. If you’re seeing a backwards P it’s easy to turn off, but also tells me you should change something else too.

Zone Alarm firewall: do I need it if I'm behind a NAT router?

Zone Alarm is a popular firewall you install on your machine. If you also have a NAT router you may – or may not – need a firewall such as Zone Alarm.

Links in HotMail emails: why aren't they active?

Links in HotMail emails are often disabled to protect you. I’ll look at how to enable Links in Hotmail, and how to work around it even when not enabled.

Wireless Encryption: do I need it?

Wireless Encryption is somewhat mysterious. Wireless encryption is something you likely need to keep your network, and your data, secure.

Secure Delete: what is it, and do I need it?

Secure Delete is a way to make sure that when you delete a file it cannot be recovered. Understanding Secure Delete is important to protect sensitive data properly.

Why is my mail to HotMail (or AOL, Yahoo, etc.) subscribers not being delivered?

Mail not being delivered is an unfortunately common problem. There’s no magic answer, but I’ll look at some of the reasons your mail not be delivered.

Toolbars in Internet Explorer: how do I get rid of them?

Toolbars in Internet Explorer can be handy, but each means less room for web pages. We look at steps to get rid of most toolbars in Internet Explorer.

IE's click sound: how do I turn that off?

IE (Internet Explorer) is frequently configured to make a “clicking” sound when you move from page to page. Here’s how to turn IE’s click sound off, or change it.

Messages deleted on HotMail: can I get them back somehow?

Once messages are permanently deleted on HotMail they’re gone. If you’ve lost important messages that were deleted on HotMail, or any webmail service, you need to rethink your approach to email.

Will my backup hard drive stored in my safe survive the heat of a fire?

Backup hard drives are inexpensive and a great way to save important information. Is storing your backup hard drive in your safe adding any protection?

Shovelware: What do I do with all this extra software on my new machine?

Shovelware – lots of extra software you didn’t ask for – appears on almost every new machine these days. I look at why shovelware exists, and what you might want to do about it.

Replacement hard drive: how can I copy files from a failing drive to its replacement?

Replacing a hard drive is not terribly difficult, but if you’re worried about losing data, then perhaps replacing the hard drive isn’t all you should do.

Free Downloads: are they safer if I download directly to CD or DVD?

Free downloads are a lucrative way to get games, programs, and other things at no cost. But sometimes free downloads carry a very heavy cost in the form of spyware, viruses and more.

Blurry images: why do images on some web pages start out blurry and then clear up?

Sometimes blurry images are simply an artifact of how images are encoded and downloaded. If blurry images clear up after a second or two, that’s almost certain.

Parental Monitoring Software: My child figured out how to turn it off – what can I do?

Parental Monitoring Software is a way to keep an eye on what your child is doing on-line. Until they learn to disable Parental Monitoring Software, that is.

Privacy? What Privacy?

AOL’s recent intentional, yet mistaken, release of search data shows how tenuous our privacy really is.

26 Drives? Is there a way around the 26 drive limit in Windows?

26 drives appears to be the limit within Windows, with drive letters assigned A: to Z:. There are alternatives to 26 drives that are, effectively, limitless.

How do I print just portions of an email or web page?

Printing a portion of document can be tricky. For email and web pages, printing a portion boils down to one of two approaches, depending on how close to the original you want things to look.

Outlook Express Problems: My folders are empty, corrupted or just not working – what do I do?

Outlook Express Problems, including folder corruption, can manifest in several ways. I’ve found a good article on Outlook Express folder corruption, and steps to take to avoid, and recover from it.

Auto Start: How do I run a program automatically when Windows starts?

There are several ways to auto start a program under Windows. Unfortunately, only one of the auto start methods is easy.

Security Now

Security Now is a weekly podcast covering technology and the security issues related to it. Security Now is a podcast I listen to and recommend.

Why I'm Ignoring Vista

Vista could be cool. Or not. It could be on schedule. Or not. Is it worth your time now? Probably not.

Why is my USB mouse not detected reliably?

USB device detection normally works well, albeit mysteriously. The mouse is a critical Windows component, so if your USB mouse is not detected, an error results.

Someone's created an account in my name, what are my options to stop them?

It’s easy to create an account in someone else’s name and harass people. It’s not so easy to track or punish the offenders, but it can be done.

How do I configure WinSCP for Public Key authentication?

Public Key Authentication is a powerful and secure way to manage server access. This video demonstrates configuring WinSCP for Public Key Authentication.

Newbie? Or Normal?

Those that many of us consider to be “newbies” probably reflect the majority of computer users.

HTML font size: why can't I increase it on some web pages?

The HTML font size in a page’s encoding can get in the way of things like “view larger”. There are ways to bypass this bad HTML font size setting.

Does all this talk of outsourcing mean I should choose a different career?

Outsourcing is a hot topic on both sides of the workforce. Should the larger labor pool offered by outsourcing affect your career choice? In a word: no. There’s something much more important.

Winternals is Assimilated

Winternals and SysInternals have been purchased by Microsoft; Windows developers world-wide shudder.

I'm only getting speeds of 28.8kbs, why won't it go faster?

28.8kbps is a standard speed for dialup modems, But even if your modem is rated at 56kbps, often 28.8kbps is all you’ll get. There’s one major factor that causes the actual speed to be lower than advertised.

Why might my network icon show constant activity?

When enabled, the network icon in the system tray lights up when data is sent or received. If the network icon is constantly lit when you’re not doing anything, there are several possibilities.

How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on myspace.com?

Putting a picture into the caption of a picture on MySpace sounds kind of funny, but it works. In fact, you can put a picture into the caption, and you can use other HTML as well.

Cyclic Redundancy Check: what is it, and how do I get rid of it on my newly burnt CDs and DVDs?

Cyclic Redundancy Check is an error detection mechanism to make sure that your data has been read properly. If a Cyclic Redundancy Check fails, it could mean several things.

Why am I not getting all messages sent to the mailing list I'm on?

Mailing list messages represent a conversation between members that has a natural order. It can be very confusing when some mailing list messages arrive out of order, or not at all.

What's so special about a "permalink"?

‘Permalink’ is a term that’s become more visible in recent years with the rise of blogs and blogging software. But what does ‘permalink’ really mean?

WGA: Is it spyware?

Windows Genuine Advantage has all the earmarks of spyware. What should the average user do about it?

Personal Folders: why am I seeing them listed more than once in Outlook?

Personal Folders is how Outlook Labels your PST or Personal mail STore by default. Outlook can get confused and display the same Personal Folders more than once.

Digital Signatures: what are they, and how do they protect me?

Digital Signatures use public key cryptography to validate both message sender and message contents. Digital Signatures rely on simple concepts you should know, built on top of very complex mathematics you don’t need to worry about.

Should I use Windows File Compression?

Windows File Compression automatically compresses files so that they take up less space. In the best circumstance Windows File Compression can free up a lot of space – but frequently it’s not as much as you might expect, and there is cost.

Check out Google Checkout

Google Checkout promises to be a one stop purchase processor. Where have I heard this before?