Ask Leo! #360 - Has your email been hacked? The 7 things you need to do next... - Confident Computing

The Ask Leo! Newsletter

*** Featured Articles

Email Hacked? 7 Things You Need to do NOW

It seems like not a day goes by where I don't get a question from someone that boils down to their email account having been hacked.

Someone, somewhere has gained access to their account and has started using it to send spam. Sometimes passwords are changed, sometimes not. Sometimes traces are left, sometimes not. Sometimes everything in the account is erased, both contacts and saved email, and sometimes not.

But the one thing that all of these events share is that suddenly several people, usually those on your contact list, start getting email from "you" that you didn't send at all.

Your email account has been hacked.

Here's what you need to do next...

Continue reading: Email Hacked? 7 Things You Need to do NOW
http://ask-leo.com/C5415

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*** Answercast

Answercast #23 - Double disk drives, partition madness, missing passwords, dropping a hard drive, student coders and more...

Is it possible to squeeze two disks into one, or backup a larger partition into a smaller one? Is there any hope after dropping a hard drive? What should you do if Outlook Express calls and much more.

Continue reading: Answercast #23 - Double disk drives, partition madness, missing passwords, dropping a hard drive, student coders and more...
http://ask-leo.com/C5416

Should I let my son just focus on coding in school?
Coding is not just about coding. To function well in the work world, a student also needs to learn the many other skills taught at school. Yes, there are a few things I would have done differently.
Continue reading: Should I let my son just focus on coding in school?
http://ask-leo.com/C5417

Can I combine two hard disk drives into a single logical drive?
It is possible, but the result has a hidden danger to consider. In this case, it's best to go with the supported option.
Continue reading: Can I combine two hard disk drives into a single logical drive?
http://ask-leo.com/C5418

Do I need updated drivers for my camera that stopped working after installing Windows 7?
This sounds like a driver problem. Pre-installed Windows comes with drivers for all the equipment on your machine; an upgrade often may not.
Continue reading: Do I need updated drivers for my camera that stopped working after installing Windows 7?
http://ask-leo.com/C5419

How do I restore my passwords after replacing my motherboard?
A motherboard does not remember passwords. Missing passwords must be caused by something else that happened while you switched the motherboard out.
Continue reading: How do I restore my passwords after replacing my motherboard?
http://ask-leo.com/C5420

How can I hook up my desktop computer in my basement wirelessly to a router on a floor above?
Hooking into a wireless from a basement apartment can be tricky depending on construction of the house and distance from the router. You also need the right equipment.
Continue reading: How can I hook up my desktop computer in my basement wirelessly to a router on a floor above?
http://ask-leo.com/C5421

Someone from Outlook Express offered to clean my machine, should I let them?
Outlook Express is a program, it can't pick up the phone and give you a call! Find out why I think this is a scam.
Continue reading: Someone from Outlook Express offered to clean my machine, should I let them?
http://ask-leo.com/C5422

Can I restore a backup to a partition smaller than it was when backed up?
Depending on the way your imaging software is written this could be a difficult to impossible task. There are a couple of hoops you may have to jump through to get it to work. But that's not the real problem!
Continue reading: Can I restore a backup to a partition smaller than it was when backed up?
http://ask-leo.com/C5423

I dropped my external hard disk, how do I recover the data?
Backed up means your data is in more than one place... then a broken drive won't matter as much. There are a few options to try.
Continue reading: I dropped my external hard disk, how do I recover the data?
http://ask-leo.com/C5424

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*** Last Issue's Articles

*** Word o' the Week

hack

Hack has two distinct, and as it turns out, opposite meanings.

A hack was originally a clever or unique way of solving a particularly complex computer problem. Typically a hack is an inelegant shortcut that might elicit the comment "it's not pretty, but it works".

Hack has, more recently, come to be seen as an general term for breaking into protected computing resources via technical means.

It makes some small amount of sense that the second definition might follow from the first, since break-in attempts are often inelegant and crafty shortcuts - hacks - that bypass or compromise the target's design.

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

CutePDF Writer - Create PDFs from any application that can print.

Some time ago, I decided to go as paperless as I could. My recommendation of the ScanSnap document scanner was a big part of that and it allowed me to completely empty three drawers of my four-drawer file cabinet, saving documents digitally instead.

Once you're in the habit of creating PDFs from paper documents, the ease with which PDFs can be used, saved, searched, and, perhaps most importantly, backed up becomes readily apparent.

As a result, I've also cut down on the amount of actual printing that I do by changing my default printer to the free Cute PDF Writer virtual printer.

It's not at all uncommon to want to save something, say a sales receipt from an on-line purchase, by printing it. But it's rare that you actually need to save it on paper. Instead, I print to the Cute PDF Writer printer which creates a PDF of the printed output that I save on my computer. If I need to actually print it to paper, either now or sometime in the future, I can simply load up that PDF in a viewer, such as Acrobat or Foxit, and print to my real printer from there.

Continue reading: CutePDF Writer - Create PDFs from any application that can print.
http://ask-leo.com/C4831

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?

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