Ask Leo! #354 – Computers that start themselves, what happens when you say SPAM, Meebo, Truecrypt and more…

The Ask Leo! Newsletter

*** New Articles

Why is my browser being redirected?

*

In a word: malware.

This is a fairly classic case of a browser hijacking.

There are many variations on the theme, but the idea is very simple: you try to go somewhere and you land ... somewhere else.

Continue reading: Why is my browser being redirected?
http://ask-leo.com/C2452

* * *

Why does my computer turn itself back on from standby?

*

I want to be clear: I don't have "The Answer" for this.

I do have some suspicions and some directions to look in, however, based on some of my own experiences.

Continue reading: Why does my computer turn itself back on from standby?
http://ask-leo.com/C5331

* * *

What happens when I mark something as spam?

*

There's no definitive answer on exactly what happens (for reasons that I'll explain in a moment).

However, there are definitely some general concepts that come in to play when you mark something as spam.

The first distinction is to understand whether you're marking as spam in an email program running on your machine or on a web-based interface.

Continue reading: What happens when I mark something as spam?
http://ask-leo.com/C5330

* * *

Answercast #17 - Losing important folders, booting from a rescue disc, sharing photos, IE, Meebo, paging files and more...

• What is a Meebo bar? And is it bad?

• How do you run TrueCrypt with Dropbox?

• Is there a way to run a DVD disc off my hard drive?

• How do I turn my DVD drive on to boot so I can test my rescue disk?

• Can I delete the paging file if I'm using an SSD drive with 8GB of RAM?

• Why do I get an error that says "The requested operation requires elevation"?

• Why is my important folder suddenly gone and not in the recycle bin?

• What can I do about a pop-up that says, "Internet Explorer has stopped working?"

• How do I tell if my computer is capable of having a wired internet connection?

• Is there an easy way to share photos with my family that's free?

• Has LastPass had a security breach?

Continue reading: Answercast #17 - Losing important folders, booting from a rescue disc, sharing photos, IE, Meebo, paging files and more...
http://ask-leo.com/C5332

*** Our Sponsor

Keeping Your PC Fast & Secure

PC Matic is safe and simple to use software that automates the
regular maintenance necessary to keep your PC running like new.

Developed by PC Pitstop - relied on by millions of
computer users for award winning troubleshooting tools.

Start with a Free Diagnostic Scan Today!
https://cart.pcpitstop.com/go.asp?id=500140

Advertisement. Ask Leo about advertising here.

*** Last Issue's Articles

• Can I move my old computer's hard drive to my new computer?
• How do I view full headers in Gmail?
• Should I Install Internet Explorer 8? Internet Explorer 9?
• AnswerCast #16 - Drilling a hard disk, running two monitors, selective cloning, deleting Facebook and more...

*** Word o' the Week

TLS

TLS is an acronym for Transport Layer Security.

The term TLS is commonly used interchangeably with SSL or in combination such as TLS/SSL.

TLS, like SSL, is a communications protocol intended to secure a point-to-point connection in two ways:

• Confirmation that the connection is to the intended entity
• Encryption of the data being exchanged to prevent eavesdropping

Technically TLS is based on SSL and can for the most part be considered a newer version thereof. TLS and SSL are not interoperable, but TLS does have the ability to "downgrade", if needed, to the older, slightly less secure SSL protocol.

In most cases the term SSL is still used to refer to secure connections, but in fact the underlying protocol used is most commonly TLS.

Word o' the Week features a computer term or acronym taken from the Ask Leo! Glossary. If there's a word you're not sure of and would like to see defined, click here to let me know.

*** Leo Recommends

SpinRite - Repair hard disk failures and recover your data

"Cannot read from source file or disk" is often an indication that your hard disk has a bad sector and is quite literally unable to read some, or all of the file. Another error that you might encounter is the dreaded "CRC Error" which means effectively the same thing: a problem with the data on your hard drive.

Hard disks are fairly cheap these days and replacement is often a practical solution.

However, if the data that you can't get to is important, or the time and hassle of replacing the hard disk is too daunting, SpinRite could well be the answer.

Continue reading: SpinRite - Repair hard disk failures and recover your data
http://ask-leo.com/C4316

Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

Share!:

*** Administration