Ask Leo! #499 - Reading books, No installation media, Can your school/employer/ISP snoop on you, and more... - Confident Computing

*** Featured

How do I download and read a pdf ebook?

I've purchased an ebook and have received in return a web page, or some kind of pointer in email, that I'm supposed to do something with. It tells me the ebook is a "PDF", whatever that is. For the life of me, I can't figure out the instructions. How am I supposed to get my book?

Ebooks, which is short for "electronic books", are books that you download and read on your computer. The "download" part is fairly straightforward, but it's difficult to give one set of instructions that works for all users. And, to be fair, sometimes publishers make it harder than they need to as well.

Let's see if we can't cut through some of the confusion.

Continue Reading: How do I download and read a pdf ebook?
http://askleo.com/?p=2410

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How do I get a .mobi ebook onto my Kindle?

Leo, I bought one of your books and I see that I can download the book in .mobi format from you. You say that's the Kindle native format, which is great since I have both a Kindle reader and a Kindle reading application on my smartphone. Only one question: after I download it how do I get the book from my computer to my Kindle?

Turns out there are at least two different ways to get that book onto your Kindle.

And then of course you can also read the book without a Kindle device at all.

Continue Reading: How do I get a .mobi ebook onto my Kindle?
http://askleo.com/?p=14921

*** Answercast

Answercast #160 - No installation media, snooping schools, wrong names-notifications and more...

What if you get emails with the wrong names on them or even for an account that's not yours? How do you fix a computer without installation media? Can your school snoop through your emails? All that and more in this Answercast from Ask Leo!

Listen Now!
(Includes the raw transcript on which the articles below were based.)

How do I replace my system hard drive without installation media?
It sounds like your hard drive is dead. You are going to have to dig deep to get the computer going again.

Continue reading: How do I replace my system hard drive without installation media?
http://askleo.com?p=14811

Why am I getting email with the right email address but the wrong name?
This sounds like a problem in your friend's contact list or address book. To sort it out, first we need to understand where email names come from.

Continue reading: Why am I getting email with the right email address but the wrong name?
http://askleo.com?p=14813

Can my school see my emails and messages?
There are numerous people and programs that can track your internet activities... if you are really that interesting.

Continue reading: Can my school see my emails and messages?
http://askleo.com?p=14816

What do I do if my system asks for a installation disk and I don't have one?
Computers are being sold without recovery media fairly often. That can create difficulties if you run into major problems.

Continue reading: What do I do if my system asks for a installation disk and I don't have one?
http://askleo.com?p=14818

My machine has no optical drive. What if I need one?
It's probably safe to say that the days of the optical drive are coming to a close. Not this week, not this year, perhaps not even this decade but I think the writing is on the wall. But not to worry.

Continue reading: My machine has no optical drive. What if I need one?
http://askleo.com?p=14823

Why am I getting Amazon notifications for someone else?
It's pretty scary that you are getting notifications from someone else's account - but not scary for you!

Continue reading: Why am I getting Amazon notifications for someone else?
http://askleo.com?p=14825

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*** Last Issue's Articles

*** Featured Reader Comments

How can I manage a lot of scanned documents?

Frank D writes:

OK, you scan and OCR the document. Maybe it's a bank statement. OCR is only about 99% accurate. How do you deal with the occasional drop-out?

Leo writes:

To be honest, I never notice. The OCR is used only for searching - when I look at (or, heaven forbid, print :-) ) the document the original image is used. So a missed OCR hit only affects search ability. When searching I tend to throw enough random terms into the mix that it's rare I can't find what I need.

Is TrueCrypt dead?

intelligencia writes:

VeraCrypt is TrueCrypt-based but enhances its functionality up a few notches!

It can be found here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/veracrypt/

Leo writes:

My concern is that we'll see a LOT of clones of TrueCrypt, building on the TrueCrypt source code, created by a wide variety of people ranging from the qualified to the not qualified to government and other entities masquerading as legit. It's going to be a mess for a while, and I see no reason at this time to switch away from TrueCrypt at all.

TrueCrypt - Free Open Source Industrial Strength Encryption

Rob writes:

Where can you get a copy of 7.1a?

Leo writes:

grc.com - TrueCrypt Final Release Repository has a copy.

*** Leo's Blog

Do we really need to "get used" to things?

I responded to a question a couple of days ago regarding Windows 8 that ended with "Why did Microsoft do this, when everybody wanted the familiar old XP style?".

My response included a pointer to my "Why ask why?" article, as well as pointing out that, no, "everybody" didn't want the familiar old XP style. In fact many people have come to actually prefer the Windows 8 interface once they'd gotten used to it.

The response? "The User should never have to get used to it."

That got me to thinking. In an ideal world that's absolutely correct.

But we're far from living in an ideal world, and that means that's nowhere near practical.

Continue Reading: Do we really need to "get used" to things?
http://askleo.com/?p=14854

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