Leo's Answers #40 – August 25, 2006

Leo's Answers
A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

*** Contents

*** New Articles of Note on Ask Leo!

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

Links are not active when I receive an e-mail in Hotmail. How can I unsubscribe to a mailing when the "click here" does not work?

HotMail's trying to protect you.

As you know, there's a lot of bogus email out there that includes links to questionable, if not downright harmful, content. HotMail disables links from senders that it doesn't recognize.

So, the trick of course, is to help HotMail recognize the senders you trust.

Or, if you want to live life on the edge, disable the feature completely.

Continue reading: "Links in HotMail emails: why aren't they active?"
http://ask-leo.com/links_in_hotmail_emails_why_arent_they_active.html

* * *

Wireless Encryption: do I need it?

I recently installed a wireless network so I can use my laptop in other areas of my house. I'm a little confused regarding its security. Should I enable encryption or is my firewall enough? I understand from what I have read that encryption will slow down the network.

There are some exceptions, but more often than not, yes, you need encryption.

A firewall gives you certain type of very important protection - but not against the types of issues that a wireless network opens up.

Continue reading: "Wireless Encryption: do I need it?"
http://ask-leo.com/wireless_encryption_do_i_need_it.html

* * *

Where's the podcast?

The Ask Leo! podcast is taking a break.

Continue reading: "Where's the podcast?" Article Includes Audio
http://ask-leo.com/wheres_the_podcast.html

* * *

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

Although there are many software utilities that claim to be able to delete data files from hard drives securely and thoroughly, can you accomplish the same thing simply by overwriting sensitive files with large, non-sensitive ones.

To be honest, it depends on your level of paranoia. I suppose that also depend on the level of sensitivity of your data.

But you are correct in the implication that a plain old "delete" isn't nearly enough.

Let's look at that, and how far you might need to go.

Continue reading: "Secure Delete: what is it, and do I need it?"
http://ask-leo.com/secure_delete_what_is_it_and_do_i_need_it.html

* * *

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

Whenever I send e-mail to Hotmail subscribers, they never receive it and it never bounces back. I'm sending mail from my domain-based e-mail address through my Netscape 7.2 e-mail client. In other words, it's not a Netscape account. Netscape is just the e-mail client, and I can receive and send other mail perfectly. I only have problems with Hotmail. Everyone else seems to receive my mail this way. This is driving me crazy.

Me too.

I'm one of the admins for a fairly large mailing list and we face this type of problem frequently. Last week it was HotMail subscribers, but only those that were signed up for the "digest" version of our mailing list. A couple of months ago it was AOL users, but only some, and not always the same ones.

Our email infrastructure has become frighteningly fragile.

And it's all because of spam.

Continue reading: "Why is my mail to HotMail (or AOL, Yahoo, etc.) subscribers not being delivered?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_is_my_mail_to_hotmail_or_aol_yahoo_etc_subscribers_not_being_delivered.html

* * *

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

I have two extra tool bars on my computer when I go out on the internet, one is Google and one is Yahoo. I don't know how exactly they were put up but they take up too much of my screen room. Can you tell me how to get them taken off?

Naturally it depends on just what you mean by "taken off".

And of course, it also depends on the specific toolbar.

Yahoo and Google's toolbars are pretty well behaved, so let's look at your options.

Continue reading: "Toolbars in Internet Explorer: how do I get rid of them?"
http://ask-leo.com/toolbars_in_internet_explorer_how_do_i_get_rid_of_them.html

* * *

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

Every time I change to another page in IE6 SP2, whether by using the back and forward buttons, clicking on a link, or typing a URL, there's a sound that plays. It sounds like a muffled explosion and it's annoying as hell. I checked all the assigned sounds in the control panel and there's no entry for IE at all, so there are none assigned to it through there. Where else can I look? I'd like to get rid of it, but even substituting a simple beep would be a big improvement.

Actually you were looking in the right place - Control Panel, Sounds - it's just that it's totally not obvious which item you want to change.

Continue reading: "IE's click sound: how do I turn that off?"
http://ask-leo.com/ies_click_sound_how_do_i_turn_that_off.html

* * *

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

I forgot to login to my HotMail account for a while, and today when I logged in it was suspended for lack of use. I re-opened it, but this means I've lost all my previous mails which included some really important ones.

Is there any way to get them back? In particular there was a folder which contained very important mails.

No.

I know of no way to get your messages (or any contacts) back once they have been permanently deleted from HotMail. Whether it's you deleting them accidentally, or HotMail clearing the account for lack of use, permanent is permanent. The messages are gone.

Here's what I recommend you do ...

Continue reading: "Messages deleted on HotMail: can I get them back somehow?"
http://ask-leo.com/messages_deleted_on_hotmail_can_i_get_them_back_somehow.html

* * *

Audio CDs - what format should I use to burn my Audio CDs?

When I download music and then burn it to a CD it comes out just fine. However I can not play the CD in my car CD player. The music is most always MP3. Is there a way I can convert the MP3 to play in my car? And what format are store bought CD's done in?

CDs you use on your computer, and CDs that you use in a standard CD player such as the one in your car are formatted quite differently. And while you can play those store-bought audio CDs in your computer, your computer's CDs are most likely not going to work in your car stereo or other audio CD player.

In a nutshell, the problem can be over-simplified this way: most car stereo players are not computers.

So what do you do?

Continue reading: "Audio CDs - what format should I use to burn my Audio CDs?"
http://ask-leo.com/audio_cds_what_format_should_i_use_to_burn_my_audio_cds.html

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*** Popular Articles from the Archives

Last week we looked at why you might not be receiving email that you've signed up for. This week's article from the archive looks at the problem from the sender's point of view.

Why is my mail to this person not getting through?

Spam is a real problem. With some people getting literally hundreds of unwanted messages per day a lot of internet service providers, as well as some individuals, are taking drastic steps to reduce the amount of junk mail in their inboxes. One of the largest is AOL.

The problem with many of these anti-spam measures is that they can block legitimate email as well. Assuming that your email to other places is working, it's quite possible that that's what you're seeing.

Read more... Why is my mail to this person not getting through?
http://ask-leo.com/why_is_my_mail_to_this_person_not_getting_through.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

You'll notice that my podcast isn't really a podcast this week - it's more of an announcement that the podcast is on hiatus for the next 8 weeks or so. I do plan to resume it, it's just that life has gotten "extra full" for the next two months.

Biggest item is that my wife and I are moving her doll shop. For those of you that don't know, my wife operates a collectible doll shop, Dolls and Friends. It's a retail storefront in Bellevue, Washington, with of course a healthy internet presence at dollsandfriends.com. After 12 years in our current location, we're moving about a mile down the road to slightly smaller, and less expensive, retail space. The internet has become a larger portion of our business, and the new location is not only cheaper, but allows us significantly more flexible hours.

Now, add to that the fact that we're also traveling to a collectible doll show in Austin TX in the middle of September, and things get interesting.

But there's more! The "downsizing" of the retail space has been in the works for some time. So, as expected, two of our three employees have elected to retire. What was unexpected was that they would choose to do so before the move. And the third is traveling and then off to school.

So things are getting interesting. I've mentioned before that one of my jobs at the shop is to "lift heavy things". But with all the changes and the departures, I find myself spending a lot more time at the shop these days doing just about everything else involved in retail as well these days.

In fact one deep dark secret is that a couple of this weeks answers were, in fact, written while I was "on duty." Selling dolls. :-)

I do plan to keep posting answers to Ask Leo!, but if the pace slows a little bit, now you know why. It may be in between selling dolls, and lifting heavy things.

'till next week...

Leo

* * *

The Latest:
Forwarded Funnies: "Honda"
Taming Email: "Don't Ask for Spam"
Leo's MovableType Tips: "Get creative with Templates"

*** Newsletter Administration

Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Newsletter subscribers can drop me a line at leo <at> ask-leo.com. (I only give that email address to newsletter subscribers, so I'll know it's from one of my loyal readers.) If you like, you can make sure you get past any spam filters by simply posting your question or comment using the Ask Leo! question form: http://ask-leo.com/askleo.html.

I'll be honest: I'll try to respond, but I get a lot of questions every day - I just can't answer everyone. Rest assured, though, that even if you don't hear from me directly, I read every email I get.

Leo's Answers Newsletter is a weekly publication of Ask Leo! and Leo A. Notenboom. It's also available as an RSS feed at this URL: http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.xml?UD=nl. Archives of previous newsletter issues can be found on the Ask Leo! web site, http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.html.

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Newsletter contents Copyright © 2006, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.

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Posted: August 25, 2006 in: 2006
Shortlink: https://newsletter.askleo.com/2770
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I'm Leo Notenboom and I've been playing with computers since I took a required programming class in 1976. I spent over 18 years as a software engineer at Microsoft, and after "retiring" in 2001 I started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place to help you find answers and become more confident using this amazing technology at our fingertips. More about Leo.

3 comments on “Leo&apos;s Answers #40 – August 25, 2006”

  1. Leo please help me!
    I just came back from my vacation and I realise through hotmail stuff message that my e-mail account was canceled because of not using my address more than 30 days!?
    What I can do now to see again my e- mail messages in folders I kept there? Are they lost forever or not?
    Please help!

  2. Hello are there any in car CD players that recognize MP3 Folders so you can have say 5 or 6 Albums in seperate folders like you do on a computer.
    Thank you.

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