Articles in Category: Administration
Items related to Leo, Ask Leo! and overall website and related operations and administrivia.
Why do I get an I/O device error when I try to create a system image?
The error message is literally telling you exactly what’s wrong: there was
an input/output error on the device.
How Do I Display the Full List of Recipients in My Sent Email?
Exactly how you go about displaying recipients depends dramatically on
what specific email service you happen to be using.
How do I get IE8 to remember my email password?
Instead of your browser, what I suggest that you use is a program like LastPass to remember your passwords for you.
How do I properly secure a mobile broadband hotspot?
Mobile security is important. There are several things you’ll want to do to secure your hotspot.
Can my mobile phone calls be listened to?
While it’s possible that cellular calls can be listened in on, it’s one of those things where somebody would really have to go out of their way for it to happen.
Why does a file grow dramatically after I add only a small amount?
To me, the problem sounds like Fast Save, a feature of the program that you’re using to edit the file; it’s a feature that is easily turned off.
Why does only half of my email scroll?
Sometimes, video drivers have issues that can manifest in this type of unwritten screen. We’ll check for drivers and upgrades.
Should I partition my external drive?
Partitioning creates an artificial restriction on the disk that you must choose
to begin with. There is a better way to organize a drive.
How do I disable https?
You don’t want to eliminate https. That’s eliminating the security that you
want. There are better ways to deal with website security warnings.
Can I create a true factory fresh image without even the initial customizations?
This requires backup software with rescue media (a boot DVD or CD) that allows you
to perform not only a restore, but an actual backup.
Who is it safe to give my passwords to?
When we talk about not giving your password out to others, you should remember to keep it private, keep it safe, keep it secret, and keep it secure.
What is the IP address 127.0.0.1 and why is it called localhost?
The local host address is a quick way to fool browsers into connecting to
software running on your local machine, instead of some remote software.
Is there a way to ask people to let me know they’ve seen my message?
This falls into the bucket of etiquette rather than technology. Any technology-based solution is doomed to failure because of spammers.
Why can’t I send email via my MiFi?
The problem here is that many ISPs specifically block email transmission to
anything other than their own email servers.
Why is all my email downloading again after reinstalling Outlook?
A problem like this really depends on how Outlook was originally configured, whether you are using POP3 or IMAP, and how the email server is set.
How do I retrieve pictures from a machine that won’t boot?
If I were in your shoes, I would open the box, take out the hard drive, and
put it in an external USB enclosure.
Does DBAN really erase everything?
Technological nit-picking aside, I feel very confident that running DBan erases the hard drive, but it’s important to use DBan properly and make sure it erases the entire hard drive.
Why don’t toolbars installed in IE show up in Chrome?
Adding a browser after toolbars have been installed can cause some unusual
behavior that is tricky to diagnose.
I’m told that IE8 is using too much memory. What do I do?
I don’t have a specific solution for this memory problem, but I will
describe a couple of different things that may be contributing.
Why do some ISPs disallow special characters in passwords?
Aside from historical reasons, there really is no good excuse for not allowing lots of special characters and long passwords as an option for users.
Should I combine my data onto CD/DVDs or flash drives?
It depends on how long you want to keep them. If you’re simply combining out
of convenience either will probably do.
Why do some emails that I forward get stuck in my outbox?
My guess is that your email provider has some kind of a size limit that is
preventing large emails from being sent.
How do I find out what’s filling up my external drive?
Two things to try are to analyze your backup program and the allocation of your disk
space.
What do you recommend for storing the many addresses we all have?
By and large, there really isn’t a strong and specific recommendation that I
have for everybody. Google and desktop email clients both have good contact
management systems.
How do I confirm that a file has been copied correctly?
In the long run, I wouldn’t really worry. Trying to verify that the
file is copied correctly takes more time than simply keeping regular
backups.
Chrome won’t load my home page on the first attempt, but will on the second. Why?
There are several steps to try, including clearing the cache and then
restarting the browser.
How can someone create a fake account in my daughter’s name?
It’s unfortunate, but people can go out and create email accounts using what
ever name they might want to.
Someone’s sending email that looks like it’s coming from my domain. What can I do?
The problem is that the from address on an email is incredibly easy to
spoof. Fortunately, that spam has nothing to do with your servers.
My power options include an active or passive CPU setting. Which do I want?
It depends so much on how you use your computer and what your own personal
preference is for things like heat versus noise.
Why can’t my recipients open the documents I email them?
There’s a simple reason why a computer or an email program, out of the box, can’t read every possible file format.
How do I replace my hard disk while preserving the old contents?
The approach that I’m going to suggest is quite practical and I think it kills
two birds with one stone.
Will Windows 8 have Outlook Express?
Outlook Express was a wonderful email program and I understand people’s
reluctance to move to something else, but Microsoft stopped supporting it a
long time ago.
What is svchost, and why is there more than one copy running?
Svchost.exe, or just “svchost” is a Windows component. It’s quite normal to have more than one copy running. Unfortunately, it’s also the target of malware and often shows up in malware-related problems.
What’s this file that ends in “.dll” or “.exe”?
When given just a file name, it’s often difficult to know exactly where it came from or what it does. I’ll look at a few approaches to identifying .exe and .dll files.
Do YouTube downloads slow internet loading?
I think the fact that you downloaded these videos is probably coincidental, unrelated
to something else going on with your machine.
Can I determine whether two IP addresses come from the same source?
There’s really no way for the average person to determine the end location
of an IP addresses.
Do network communications have different channels or only one?
When it comes to network segments, there’s really one pipe that carries all of the information from all of the computers. And the information is colliding all the time.
Why do I get “write protected” when I copy a file to an external destination?
It depends on what external device you’re talking about when you’re talking
about the destination for your file, but the error messages give us a clue.
Why does an https certificate work under one browser but not another?
Many browsers don’t install the full set of root certificates when you
install a browser. That can result in these errors.
Why don’t you partition your hard disk so that programs are on C and data is on D?
Ultimately, the reason why I don’t talk about partitioning drives for software
management is because it’s not something that I believe in.
How do I transfer my email stored in Gmail to another online email service?
I believe the only reasonable way to transfer a large bulk of email from one
email service to another is to use IMAP and a desktop program as the middle
man.
Can I take the hard drive with Windows installed on my Toshiba laptop and have it work on my HP laptop?
This is usually a bad idea. Even when it appears to work, you’re never
really certain that everything’s been fixed up properly.
Why is my laptop hot and why does it eventually crash?
Some laptops don’t have the proper ventilation to handle a high CPU load for
a length of time, which causes them to protectively shut down or crash.
If VPNs can be blocked by ISPs how do people in firewalled countries get out?
Standard VPNs certainly will be blocked, but there are some that are designed
specifically to circumvent this kind of blocking, although they can only
circumvent it for a short period of time.
A friend got email that looked like it was from me, but with the wrong email address. What do I do?
This is clearly something you were able to track down to a Facebook-specific
relationship. But all it really is… is spam.
How do I get .zip attachments out of the .eml files that I get mailed to me?
Whoever is sending this email message to you seems to be doing it in a way
that is making this unnecessarily difficult.
Is Thunderbird more secure than Outlook 2010?
I’m not sure what additional security you’re looking for in Thunderbird. A
secure connection is something that can be done in either program.
Dban didn’t erase my hard disk and neither did Windows 7 setup. How do I wipe the drive?
There are choices that you can make when booting from CD that will tell Windows
to not just install Windows, but actually format the entire hard disk first.
Is it OK to install this software that an online streaming service says I need?
These software codecs are probably OK, although you should always be cautious when
an application is asking you to install something.
Can a keylogger record keystrokes pasted in by my password utility?
Regardless of what techniques a password utility might
use, it is possible that it could still be logged, even if it bypasses the keyboard.
