The Ask Leo! Newsletter
*** Featured
Is Microsoft Shutting Down Hotmail?
Last week, Microsoft announced "Outlook.com" - "Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes", as they said.
With that announcement came rumblings of an end to Microsoft's popular Hotmail email service. It appears that Outlook.com effectively replaces Hotmail.com as Microsoft's free email offering.
And it probably will ... eventually.
But Microsoft's lack of clarity for it's long term plans for Hotmail are leading many people to jump to a conclusion that I think is flat out wrong.
Let's clear that up first.
Continue reading: Is Microsoft
Shutting Down Hotmail?
http://ask-leo.com/C5656
* * *
*** Answercast
Answercast #41 - Dangerous rootkits, dirty drives, dropping Wifi, recovering unsaved data and more...
Do you have a WiFi signal that suddenly drops, or lots of update files listed on your computer? Wonder how to see what's downloading on your machine, or if you can recover unsaved data? That and more in this Answercast from Ask Leo!
Continue reading:
Answercast #41 - Dangerous rootkits, dirty drives, dropping Wifi, recovering
unsaved data and more...
http://ask-leo.com/C5657
Are all rootkits dangerous?
Rootkits are definitely dangerous and immediate steps need to be taken to clean
this machine.
Continue reading: Are all rootkits
dangerous?
http://ask-leo.com/C5658
How can I send a document to someone securely?
Email is architected as a fairly unsecure media. That means that there are many
things that can go wrong when email gets delivered and protecting yourself can
be difficult.
Continue reading: How can
I send a document to someone securely?
http://ask-leo.com/C5659
Can I delete what appears to be redundant entries in the updates
list?
The rule of thumb is to not delete things from your system unless you are
certain what they are. If you do, back up first!
Continue reading:
Can I delete what appears to be redundant entries in the updates
list?
http://ask-leo.com/C5660
How can I tell what program has begun to download megabytes of data
without being asked?
There are several tools that can help you analyze the data coming into your
computer and control the activity.
Continue reading:
How can I tell what program has begun to download megabytes of data without
being asked?
http://ask-leo.com/C5661
How do I make my C: drive 'not dirty'?
A dirty machine is the result of improper shut downs. There are ways to clean
it up, but getting control of your shut down process is important.
Continue reading: How do I make my
C: drive 'not dirty'?
http://ask-leo.com/C5662
Is it possible to get Microsoft to add features to Windows
Explorer?
It's unlikely that custom features will be added to Windows Explorer, but there
are other programs available.
Continue reading:
Is it possible to get Microsoft to add features to Windows Explorer?
http://ask-leo.com/C5663
If I don't save my Excel work, can the data still be recovered after
I close?
There are several processes running on your computer that may be saving copies
of data in various places on your machine. They are not easy to recover!
Continue reading:
If I don't save my Excel work, can the data still be recovered after I
close?
http://ask-leo.com/C5664
Why does my laptop WiFi sometimes drop and then work well when I
manually reconnect?
Dropped WiFi connections are a pain, and hard to diagnose. I look at a few
steps to take to solve the problem.
Continue reading:
Why does my laptop WiFi sometimes drop and then work well when I manually
reconnect?
http://ask-leo.com/C5665
Can I install a program to an external hard disk and have it be
portable?
Most programs need to install on a computer in order run and cannot be burnt to
a portable disc or thumbdrive.
Continue reading:
Can I install a program to an external hard disk and have it be
portable?
http://ask-leo.com/C5666
Will my backup program recreate partitions when a restore is
needed?
A good backup program will back up literally everything if that is what you
choose in your backup settings.
Continue reading:
Will my backup program recreate partitions when a restore is needed?
http://ask-leo.com/C5667
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*** Last Issue's Articles
- Ask Leo! #377 - Why do people forget their passwords? Downgrading Windows 7, whether computer experts exist, and more...
- Is it possible to recover web pages accessed by a computer on a specific date?
- Could I be getting more spam after my friend's email account was compromised?
- Is there a safe way to follow a link in spam?
- Are there really any computer experts?
- Why are there so many of this particular model of machine on the refurbished market?
- How many full backups should I keep?
- How do I get rid of 'Adware Games PUP'?
- Why does my cloned drive report as failing genuine validation?
- Why does Facebook tell me that cookies are blocked?
- Why do so many people forget their password? (And how do I avoid becoming one of them?)
- How do I downgrade from Windows 7 Enterprise Edition to the Home Edition?
- Answercast #40 - Keeping backups, following spam links, downgrading, finding history, cloned drives and more...
*** Word o' the Week
A rootkit is a virus that uses specific techniques to infiltrate your computer's operating system to make it nearly impossible to find. For example, a rootkit virus may exist as a file on your system, but it specifically fools all of the file listing services in the operating system so as to remove itself from the listing of files.
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.
*** Thoughts and Comments
What's Next!
It's been kinda busy around here (see below) so I haven't had a chance to
update the price on Maintaining Windows 7 - Backing Up yet. You have a
few more minutes. 
Last week I asked you what volume I should do next, and the results were once again surprising, and clear.
The next volume of the Maintaining Windows 7 series will be about: "Keeping Up - Detailing the 'routine maintenance' and other tweaks to keep an otherwise working Windows 7 installation running at its peak."
The actual title is TBD. I'm not really enamored with "Keeping Up" ... while it follows the "Backing Up" volume nicely, I'm not sure it captures what I want. I must say that I like the "Giving Up" title for the reformat/reinstall book, even though it was semi-facetious.
Look for that in about three or four months, and available in Kindle, PDF and epub formats all at once.
A big thank you to everyone who responded to the survey.
•
Very off topic: Corgis!
I mentioned above that things have been kind of busy around here ...
Hopefully you saw the Corgis play their part in the Olympic opening ceremony last week. (Yes, they were the Queens and not "stunt-Corgis".) Well, this last Saturday we hosted the annual "Pacific Northwest Corgi Picnic" for the 11th time and ended up with an estimated 120 of 'em running around our back yard!
It was a lot of fun (and a lot of work), but a great time was had by all.
If you're wondering what chaos looks like, I have links to a few pictures taken by some of the attendees (I was too busy manning the barbecue!) out at pnwpicnic.com.
•
'till next week...
Leo A. Notenboom
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Twitter - Google+
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