Ask Leo! #547 – Prepare for Your Account Hack, Removing a Virus, Viewing Cookies, and My (not so) Favorite Question

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My Favorite Question

Continue Reading: My Favorite Question
https://askleo.com/18891

Featured

Recover Your Microsoft Account Later by Setting Up a Recovery Code NOW

Here at Ask Leo!, I hear daily from people with lost, hacked and inaccessible accounts.

And nowhere does this seem to happen more frequently than with Hotmail and Outlook.com accounts, now known simply as Microsoft accounts.

Particularly, given the rising importance of Microsoft accounts for everything from email to cloud services and even the ability to log in to your PC, losing access to that account can have dramatic and dire consequences.

Microsoft has instituted a relatively new security measure that can help you regain access to your account should you lose it: the recovery code. The only "catch" is that you have to set it up before you need it.

So let's set it up right now.

Continue Reading: Recover Your Microsoft Account Later by Setting Up a Recovery Code NOW
https://askleo.com/16142

Removing a Redirect Virus

My neighbor called me the other day and asked if I could look at his computer. (Something you might well experience yourself :-) ).

He'd lost connectivity to his ISP, but more interestingly, his backup machine – a laptop – was acting … odd.

The ISP problem turned out to be the ISP's problem, and resolved itself the next day.

The laptop, however, turned out to be a different story. When I was done with it, my neighbor asked, "Well, is that an Ask Leo! story?"

Why, yes. Yes it is.

Continue Reading: Removing a Redirect Virus
https://askleo.com/18811

How do I view cookies in IE 11?

How do I view cookies in Internet Explorer 11? There used to be a menu item, but that seems to be gone now.

I had to go searching to figure this one out. While it hasn't changed a lot, what used to be moderately difficult to discover and easy to do now seems totally obscure.

The good news is that it's still easy to do.

Continue Reading: How do I view cookies in IE 11?
https://askleo.com/18800

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The Ask Leo! Guide to Staying Safe on the Internet
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The Ask Leo! Guide to Staying Safe on the Internet

Previous Issue

Glossary Term

virus

A virus is a computer program written by someone presumably with the intent of spreading and causing grief. Like a human virus, a virus makes the infected computer "sick": it causes poor performance, crashes, lost files and data, or more.

Also like a human virus, a computer virus replicates itself – just as you can copy a file from one disk to another and have copies on both disks, a computer virus is in part defined by its ability to make copies of itself. Exactly how a virus does this depends on its type, but can include propagation over removable media such as USB drives, networks, or network-based activities such as user downloads.

Glossary Terms are featured selections from The Ask Leo! Glossary.
Have a term you'd like defined? Submit it here.

Featured Comments

A new unit of measurement?

Christopher Chase writes:

An amazing corollary that really puts into perspective the vast storage capacities that are emerging. Back in the age of dinosaurs, remember being stunned when I realized I could load my first book onto a floppy disk.

Thanks Leo!

Chris

Emails Opened? Is there a reliable way to tell?

Wm. Long writes:

My whole family and many friends are long time AOL users. The great "check status" feature works giving the actual time that the recipient open the sender's email. How come this works only for AOL to AOL email?

Leo writes:

Because they're in control of the entire path - or more importantly, both endpoints - and choose to make it work.

Does technology isolate or connect?

Joy writes:

I couldn't agree more. As someone who's a bit shy I've always known it's up to me to get out there and brave the social world; when I don't, it's on me. The Internet offers a world of opportunities to do that, whereas my physical environment is fairly limited. It's made me more intelligent, more aware, more involved civically, more connected to the world in general, and, socially speaking, broadened my conversational range because it's so easy to keep up with not only current events but an almost limitless variety of interesting subjects. I'm still shy, it's my natural inclination, but the Internet has had a very positive impact on me.

Leo's Books

Backing Up 101 Saved! - Backing Up with Macrium Reflect Saved! - Backing Up with Windows 7 Backup Saved! - Backing Up with Windows 8 Backup
Just Do This: Back Up! The Ask Leo! Guide to Internet Safety The Ask Leo! Guide to Routine Maintenance Maintaining Windows XP - A Practical Guide

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