Lots to talk about this week!

Featured

"Stuff" accumulates. Much like moving into a bigger home, it seems stuff on our computer's disks seems to expand to fill all the available space. No matter how big or small our hard disk is, eventually it fills up.

Windows Disk Cleanup Utility to the rescue.

Particularly if you haven't yet removed the old versions of Windows itself, you might find it can free up a bunch of space.

Also this week

Spam is never ending. And yes, you can get spam from yourself, without being compromised, without being hacked, and without being at fault. And, unfortunately, without being able to do much about it.

One of the things people would love to be able to do is trace spam back to its origin. We can look at the IP addresses in email, but chances are it won't help all that often.

Bandwidth is a term you hear often, but do you know what it means? It started out meaning one thing, arguably much older than computing itself, but now means something almost completely different, albeit slightly related.

Patronage Change

More of a tweak, to be honest.

Patrons at the $15/month level or higher (aka "Silver" level) now get a free digital copy of every Ask Leo! book I publish or update after they join that level of support. This replaces the old scenario where you had to ask for a book every so often. Now you just get 'em, free, included in your patronage.

It's already started. If you're at the $15 level when you sign in to your Ask Leo! Account you'll find there's a new book listed.

This one:

Confident Computing: The Book

New! Six transformational stories of using technology safely and confidently in a constantly changing world.

These stories will sound familiar. If you or someone you know suffers from a lack of confidence when it comes to computing, then Confident Computing will help you make sense of if all, and show you how you to can use technology safely, securely, and most importantly with confidence.

Check it out in The Ask Leo! Store

Survey 2020

I'd love to get to know you better, so I've pulled together a brief survey that I'd appreciate you're taking a few minutes to fill out.

Click here to take the survey: Ask Leo! 2020 Survey

The questions will help me better understand and address the problems you face, the opportunities you're missing out on, and the things you want to learn. In a nutshell: it's to help me make Ask Leo! more valuable to you.

Thanks for taking the time. I really appreciate it.

Featured

Using Windows Disk Cleanup

Over time, it's not uncommon for files to accumulate on your system — unused files, old files, or files you no longer need. There are many reasons for this buildup, if you dig into to the details.

Fortunately, you don't need to dig into details to clean things up; Windows includes a helpful disk clean-up tool for just this kind of thing.

Let's walk through using Windows Disk Cleanup.

Continue Reading: Using Windows Disk Cleanup
https://askleo.com/7949

Confident Computing - The Book!

This Week's Articles

Why Am I Getting Spam from Myself?

I got email from:

someone@somedomain.com

where “someone@somedomain.com” is someone I don't know, but “myemail@outlook.com” is, in fact, my email address. It as if I was getting spam from myself, but I did not send it.

How do I stop these emails from coming into my inbox? How do I stop them from being sent? It's usually for drugs or financial services that I don't need or would never be interested in. How can they use my own email? I can't block them, as it says it is illegal to block my own email.

I'll start with the bad news: there's almost nothing you can do.

This is spam, pure and simple. Abusing your email address is only one of many techniques spammers use to throw their garbage into our mailboxes.

The remedies are pretty standard, albeit less than 100% effective.

Continue Reading: Why Am I Getting Spam from Myself?
https://askleo.com/3131

•

How Do I Find the IP Address of an Email's Sender?

I am curious if there is a way to locate the IP address of an email I received. I have received an email and I would like to look up the IP address. It is part of a thread and I have been unable to locate the information. It was from my brother and both he and his wife have an iPhone and they have a family email account that they both share. They can both access it from the app on their phones. I was wondering if the IP would tell me which iPhone sent the email response. As always, thank you and keep up the great work.

The super short answer is: probably not.

The longer answer is more complex, and includes a few maybes. There are scenarios where occasionally the sender's IP address information is included in email, but it's not common.

And whether or not that will tell you which iPhone sent the message is even more unlikely.

Continue Reading: How Do I Find the IP Address of an Email's Sender?
https://askleo.com/106470

•

What is Bandwidth as It Applies to My Computer?

Can you explain bandwidth to me in layman's terms? I have looked it up on the internet, but I get the standard mathematical explanation. My brain doesn't really work mathematically so I need something a little more tangible, or some examples of what is FAST and what is SLOW.

I'm going to bring out the oldest metaphor I have to try and put a handle on how fast is fast. No math (ok, not much), but first just a teeny, tiny bit of computerese.

And, of all things, radio.

Continue Reading: What is Bandwidth as It Applies to My Computer?
https://askleo.com/106619

•

Can I Count on Mail to a Bad Address Bouncing Back?

Will email that I send bounce back to me to let me know if the recipient's email address is closed or no longer exists, or will it just go out into space never to be seen again?

Unfortunately, the answer is:

Both
Neither
All of the above

Email bounce messages are both annoying and informative. They can help you fix a problem with an email you've sent, or they can simply be another message in a big pile of spam.

Unfortunately, about the only thing you can count on is that you cannot count on bounce messages.

Continue Reading: Can I Count on Mail to a Bad Address Bouncing Back?
https://askleo.com/2870

For Ask Leo! Patrons

The Ask Leo! Tip of the Day

A feature exclusively available to Ask Leo! Patrons Bronze level & above.

More Ask Leo!

Become a Patron
Ask Leo! Books
Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - More..

Leo's Other Projects....

HeroicStories Since 1999, HeroicStories brings diverse, international voices to the world ' reminding us that people are good, that individuals and individual action matter. Stories - new and old - are published twice a week.

Not All News Is Bad - Each day I look for one story in the current news of the day with a positive bent. Just one. And I share it.

leo.notenboom.org - My personal blog. Part writing exercise, part ranting platform, it's where I write about anything and everything and nothing at all.

Help Ask Leo! Just forward this message, in its entirety (but without your unsubscribe link below) to your friends. Or, just point them at https://newsletter.askleo.com for their own FREE subscription!