Leo's Answers #65 - February 16, 2007 - Confident Computing

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

Hello!

*** Contents

This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
A Word from our Sponsor
Popular Articles from the Archives
Thoughts and Comments
Newsletter Administration

*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!

How do I fix a cyclic redundancy check error when I try to copy a file?

Outlook started acting up, so as part of my attempts to fix it I tried to copy the PST to another location. The copy failed part way through with a cyclic redundancy check error. How can I get past this and backup my data?

The cyclic redundancy check or "CRC" error indicates a bad spot on your hard drive. The fact that you're seeing it when you try to copy a file indicates that the bad spot may be within the file itself.

We need to verify that, and then we need to try to recovery your file and repair your hard drive.

Continue reading: "How do I fix a cyclic redundancy check error when I try to copy a file?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_fix_a_cyclic_redundancy_check_error_when_i_try_to_copy_a_file.html

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Can I mark my files so that they can be read, but not copied?

I want to put data on a disk only for people to read and not for them to be able to copy. I'd like to do this for email as well. How can I do this?

No, this question didn't come from the MPAA, or the RIAA, but it certainly seems like they've been asking the same question lately. How do you create content, be it MP3's, movies, or just random data for business purposes, that can be used, but not copied.

That's right, we're talking copy-protection and digital rights management here.

My opinion? It's a lost cause.

Continue reading: "Can I mark my files so that they can be read, but not copied?"
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_mark_my_files_so_that_they_can_be_read_but_not_copied.html

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How do I get a .reg file to install?

I'm trying to register a software program. The company sent me a regkey.reg file that when clicked on creates a registry item that tells the program that it's a registered application.

When I click on the regkey.reg file, it doesn't run, instead the file opens in notepad.

How do I get my software registered.

There are a few ways to accomplish this, including making the ".reg" extension do the right thing. (Though we may elect not to, for security reasons as we'll see in a minute.)

I also want to clear up a confusion that some readers may have - software registration and "the registry" are two different things.

Continue reading: "How do I get a .reg file to install?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_a_reg_file_to_install.html

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How do I get rid of the Quicktime Icon in the Windows System Tray?

Every time I turn on my computer, I get the Quicktime Icon in the system tray. I ran MS Config and unchecked the line labeled "qttask" and rebooted but in a few days it comes back. What can I do to stop it once and for all from appearing in the system tray?

I feel your pain.

This is a clear case of an application vendor thinking they know what's best for us, regardless of what we really, really want.

Continue reading: "How do I get rid of the Quicktime Icon in the Windows System Tray?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_rid_of_the_quicktime_icon_in_the_windows_system_tray.html

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Does email coming from the same IP address imply that it was the same computer?

I have Hotmail and I've been getting nasty e-mails from somebody who I do not know. I figured out how to view the headers and try trace the IP addresses. As I was doing some trial and error from the X-Originating-IP addresses from people on my list, I noticed that one of my friends has the EXACT same X-Originating-IP address from the one I've been getting my nasty e-mails from. Is my old friend sending me nasty e-mails off of the same computer but through different e-mails? If it helps, there both Hotmail accounts. Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.

Of course he could be, but the IP address doesn't prove it.

There are several reasons that a single IP address could be used by several different computers.

Continue reading: "Does email coming from the same IP address imply that it was the same computer?"
http://ask-leo.com/does_email_coming_from_the_same_ip_address_imply_that_it_was_the_same_computer.html

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Why am I getting email addressed to someone else?

I've received about six messages in my Hotmail account that actually had another person's email address in the "To" field rather than mine. All six of these account names have been fairly similar to mine (i.e. semiactualaddress@hotmail.com, rather than actualaddress@hotmail.com) My question is why did I receive these emails since they were not even sent to my actual email address? Is this something I should worry about? I've never heard of anything like it...

If you've never seen this before, consider yourself very lucky.

The good news is that it's nothing to worry about.

The bad news is that it's very common.

What you're seeing, in a word, is spam.

Continue reading: "Why am I getting email addressed to someone else?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_am_i_getting_email_addressed_to_someone_else.html

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Identity Theft of Another Form

Cyber Bullying often involves an all too common problem: a much easier form of identity theft.

Continue reading: "Identity Theft of Another Form" Article Includes Audio
http://ask-leo.com/identity_theft_of_another_form.html

*** A Word from our Sponsor

http://FaxZero.com

Send FREE FAXES from your web browser to anywhere in the US or Canada

http://FaxZero.com

Advertisement. Ask Leo about advertising here.

*** Popular Articles from the Archives

Here's one from a couple of years ago that I think we all end up asking ourselves from time to time.

Why does email bounce?

Sometimes my email bounces. Every so often I'll send a message, and a short time later I'll receive a reply saying that the email failed to go through. Why does it happen? And how do I fix it?

Well, I'm afraid that there are many reasons mail could bounce. In fact there are so many ways it could fail that sometimes I'm amazed that it works at all. But it definitely works most of the time, and one of the ways it works is that very bounce message you get.

You see, there's gold in that bounce message. It's not only telling you that your message didn't go through, but if you look a little closer, you'll see it's trying to tell you why.

Read more... Why does email bounce?
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_email_bounce.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

Another blatant plug this week, but this time it's not tech related at all. Another good friend of mine, Tim Carter, is the man behind Ask The Builder - a Q&A site, much like Ask Leo!, focused on do-it-yourself home improvement. Tim's got his own channel up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/askthebuilder. He's a fun guy to watch, and if you're into home improvement at all, he presents a wealth of information. Check it out, and subscribe to his channel while you're there!

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Speaking of friends, I'll be appearing on the February 19th episode of Anne Mitchell's podcast Three Things You Should Know. I'll be answering questions (of course!) about Internet Explorer 7. Have a listen!

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This week I was catching up on listening to the highly recommended Security Now podcast with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte ("the other Leo", as I like to call him :-). A hot topic of the last few weeks has been the new Digital Rights Management infrastructure incorporated into Windows Vista. In order to be able to play the new high definition HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVDs, Vista has had to incorporate a ton of new DRM, encryption and content protection.

It's complex, a little frightening, and very fascinating.

A lot of people will, of course, blame Microsoft - many already have. In reality, much of the complexity is mandated by the content providers. Any platform, Windows or not, will have to incorporate similar complexity if they want to play these new types of protected content. And on top of that, so will hardware manufacturers. Basically if Microsoft wants Windows Vista to be able to play this new media at all they had no choice but to implement the required security.

I mention all this because it was rather timely with respect to a question that came in, listed above Can I mark my files so that they can be read, but not copied?. That's basically the same question that the record and movie industry has been asking for years. They don't get it, yet, but the answer is "no". :-).

In fact, in an even better coincidence, news reports surfaced this week also that the complex encryption and DRM for HD-DVD and Blu-ray had already been cracked.

I'm really not surprised.

'till next time...

Leo

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The Latest:
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*** Newsletter Administration

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Leo’s Answers #65 – February 16, 2007

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