Leo's Answers #112 - January 18, 2008 - 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
This Week's Most Popular Articles
Popular Articles from the Archives
Thoughts and Comments
Newsletter Administration

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

Is C: sacred?

I just added new hard drive to a tower. I moved the old drive with windows on it to slave and installed XP pro on the new drive. Everything looks dandy but the new boot drive is labeled F: and the old drive C:. Is this going to cause troubles for me later on, and can I or should I bother to change it? You did a version of this before, but I wasn't sure if C was sacred, or if new software that needs to monkey with Windows can figure things out like that by itself.

Well, there's actually two answers to this: yes "C:" is sacred, and no, it's not.

I know, that wasn't very helpful.

But I do have some practical advice and some bad news about changing what you have.

Continue reading: "Is C: sacred?"
http://ask-leo.com/is_c_sacred.html

* * *

How do I stay safe in an internet cafe?

I've read your articles about how a secure home wireless network is important. But lets say I'm in a cafe, and I'm connected to their public wireless, is all my privacy compromised? I have a firewall and I suppose that will block any attacks into my laptop, but what about the information I send out such as online banking and the like on that public wireless?

You are absolutely right to be concerned.

There are steps that you need to take to ensure your both your security and your privacy.

Continue reading: "How do I stay safe in an internet cafe?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_stay_safe_in_an_internet_cafe.html

* * *

What does "the USB device can perform faster" mean?

I think I saw this once but maybe I was dreaming. I got a system message about my USB connection to the effect that I would get faster results if I moved to the faster USB port. On my machine there are two near the top and two more nearer to the bottom. Are they all equal or are some faster than others because of their location?

You weren't dreaming. Smile

Windows does occasionally notify you that "The USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a High Speed USB 2.0 port."

When, why, and what to do about it vary depending on your system and the USB device you have in hand.

Continue reading: "What does "the USB device can perform faster" mean?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_does_the_usb_device_can_perform_faster_mean.html

* * *

Should I maintain my external drive the same way I do my internal?

Should I treat my external drive (used for backups) just like I do my internal drive which is subject to regular maintenance tasks like Disk Cleanup, Defragging and so on?

As with so many things, "it depends".

Whether or not, or how, you need to maintain your external drive depends on exactly how you use it.

Understanding what each of those maintenance tasks really do should help you decide.

Continue reading: "Should I maintain my external drive the same way I do my internal?"
http://ask-leo.com/should_i_maintain_my_external_drive_the_same_way_i_do_my_internal.html

* * *

Pages I visit open in a tiny window, how do I make it bigger?

When I open a page it comes up in a little box, but then I click the square it will open up all the way. Why is it doing this? It's just a little oblong box in one corner then it has a little square box where i click to make it open all the way.

It sounds like you're seeing something like this:

A VERY small window

This happens to people surprisingly often, and if you're not really familiar with adjusting windows to your liking, it can be very perplexing.

So, it's time to cover a few fundamentals.

Continue reading: "Pages I visit open in a tiny window, how do I make it bigger?"
http://ask-leo.com/pages_i_visit_open_in_a_tiny_window_how_do_i_make_it_bigger.html

* * *

On the Likelihood of Changing Others

Some people don't treat technology they way you would want them to. Should you try and "fix" them?

Continue reading: "On the Likelihood of Changing Others" Article Includes Audio
http://ask-leo.com/on_the_likelihood_of_changing_others.html

*** A Word from our Sponsor

Keep that new PC in like-new condition!

jv16 PowerTools
Helps you to optimize, clean and fix your computer with ease.
Over 20 tools, yet still lightweight and un-bloated.
Macecraft.com

"If I'm going to use a registry cleaner, jv16 is the one I reach for." --Leo Notenboom

Advertisement. Ask Leo about advertising here.

*** This Week's Most Popular

The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!

*** Popular Articles from the Archives

How many times have you asked yourself this one?

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.

Continue reading...
Why does email bounce?
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_email_bounce.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

Thanks for the reading suggestions I asked for last week! Got several good suggestions, including a couple I'd already read. I'm still looking, so if you have more ideas, don't hesitate to pass 'em on.

•

Some of you may recall that I have an Macbook Pro. It doesn't get used much (I've got too many dependencies on software that's available for Windows only). This week Apple announced the new Macbook Air and once again Apple shows some incredible design innovation. It's amazingly thin and light and if I didn't already have my Mac, I'd be seriously tempted. Heck I'm seriously tempted anyway. :-)

•

As always, if you appreciate this newsletter or the site, one of the best ways you can say "Thank You!" is simply to tell a friend or colleague. Just send people to askleo.net.

'till next time...

Leo

* * *

The Latest: at Forwarded Funnies: "Go Fly A Kite"

Some of Leo's other sites: The Ask Leo! Store, Leo's Online Business Card, Taming Email, MovableType Tips, Leo's Blog, Buy Leo a Latte (or a Beer), A Letter To Myself, Dolls and Friends, Corgwn.com

*** Newsletter Administration

Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Newsletter subscribers can visit http://ask-leo.com/askleosubscriber.html to submit your comments and questions. That page is only mentioned here, so I'll know it's from someone who's taken the time to read this far!

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, every email gets read.

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. Archives of previous newsletter issues can be found on the Ask Leo! web site, http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.html.

You're quite welcome to forward this email in its entirety, but you should probably delete your unsubscribe link below, so your friends don't unsubscribe you by accident. You may forward individual articles from this newsletter only if you include all and only the text of that article as found in this newsletter, including any links therein. You may not copy full articles from the Ask Leo! website - more on that in my section on copyright: http://ask-leo.com/terms.html#copyright.

I'd sure appreciate it if regular readers got a subscription of their own. You can sign up at http://newsletter.ask-leo.com.

Interested in advertising on Ask Leo! or in this newsletter? Advertising details here.

]]>