Leo’s Answers #61 – January 19, 2007

Leo's Answers
A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom

Hello!

*** Contents

• This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
• A Word from our Sponsor
• Popular Articles from the Archives
• Thoughts and Comments
• Newsletter Administration

*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!

What does it mean when a site says they "receive and store certain information"?

If they're legitimate, it'd be just their own. Obviously if they're malicious and you're not careful they could install spyware, and all bets are off. But by now I'm certainly you're already doing all the right things to stay safe, so I'll assume you're only visiting legitimate e-commerce sites.

And it's not just e-commerce. Guess what? When you visit Ask Leo!, I also "receive and store certain information whenever you download web pages".

It's really just a part of how the web works.

Continue reading: "What does it mean when a site says they "receive and store certain information"?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_does_it_mean_when_a_site_says_they_receive_and_store_certain_information.html

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Can I recover from a virus by just restoring my registry?

Yes, you could burn your registry backup to a CD and then restore from that.

However, I'm a tad concerned. Viruses typically do much more than play with the registry, and many other programs keep information in the registry. Using this as your safety net may well simply replace one set of problems with another.

Continue reading: "Can I recover from a virus by just restoring my registry?"
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_recover_from_a_virus_by_just_restoring_my_registry.html

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Why isn't my Outlook PST getting smaller after deleting emails?

There are two very common possibilities:

1. there's deleting, and then there's DELETING

2. and even after DELETING, a little patience is called for

Fortunately, there are ways to force things and bypass that whole pesky "patience thing".

Continue reading: "Why isn't my Outlook PST getting smaller after deleting emails?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_isnt_my_outlook_pst_getting_smaller_after_deleting_emails.html

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What's a botnet? Or zombie? And how do I protect myself from whatever it is?

You are right to be concerned. Botnets are considered responsible for the massive increase in spam we've all seen in the past years and months.

The really sad part is that it's really easy to protect yourself. The fact that botnets are so successful indicates that too many people still aren't taking the simple steps they need to keep their machines safe.

Continue reading: "What's a botnet? Or zombie? And how do I protect myself from whatever it is?"
http://ask-leo.com/whats_a_botnet_or_zombie_and_how_do_i_protect_myself_from_whatever_it_is.html

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How do I display my MSN Hotmail or other email in the order it was sent?

This is one of those things that's very obvious and easy if you know about it.

But if you don't know, it can be extremely frustrating until someone shows you. And based on how frequently I get the question, a lot of people don't know.

So... let me show you.

Continue reading: "How do I display my MSN Hotmail or other email in the order it was sent?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_display_my_msn_hotmail_or_other_email_in_the_order_it_was_sent.html

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How do I determine the capabilities of my wireless network adapter?

The quickest way, of course, is to look at the paperwork that came with your Dell. They're very good about describing the capabilities of things like network cards as they enumerate the features installed on your machine.

But, of course, that's not an option for everyone. Fortunately there's a relatively quick way to check for what you need.

Continue reading: "How do I determine the capabilities of my wireless network adapter?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_determine_the_capabilities_of_my_wireless_network_adapter.html

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The Need for Speed

No matter how fast, the internet is never fast enough.

Continue reading: "The Need for Speed"
http://ask-leo.com/the_need_for_speed.html

*** Popular Articles from the Archives

This is a little trick not a lot of people know about. Ever have a program start, come up and stop so quickly you've no idea what it was? Windows XP has "process tracking"...

How can I track what programs come and go on my machine?

Programs do seem to come and go at times. Particularly when diagnosing performance or security issues, understanding what's coming and going can be important. And sometimes it can just explain a flashing item in the task bar.

Fortunately there is a fairly simple way to trace what's happening.

Read more... How can I track what programs come and go on my machine?
http://ask-leo.com/how_can_i_track_what_programs_come_and_go_on_my_machine.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

This week I've been having some fun with Skype, the internet telephone application. I participated in a phone teleconference, and using a Skype add-in called "Pamela" was able to successfully record the call with very acceptible quality. The cool thing, for me anyway, is that Skype lets me use the same microphone that I use for my podcasts. I had been using a Plantronics USB headset, but now I have a setup including a small mixing board and a more traditional semi-pro desk microphone.

Skype's a fascinating tool. The native feature set is already fairly rich, but the additional features available from Skype, coupled with a model that lets third parties make add-ons like Pamela, make for a fairly powerful "telephone". I'm actually kind of surprised it's not seeing more use. I'm not ready to formally "recommend" it yet, the support forums do show some concerning issues at times, but I'll continue to play and use it where I can.

I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't advertise Ask Leo!. I take advertising, of course, but I don't actually spend much money to promote the site or newsletter other than the occasional ad exchange with a publisher friend or two and simply trying to provide useful content that people can find.

Word of mouth is also a good thing.

So, if you feel so inclined, tell a friend or forward them a copy of this newsletter. I'm very grateful whenever you help spread the word.

Thanks!

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The Latest:
Forwarded Funnies:	"A Collection of Quickies"
Taming Email:	"Is a Response Really Required?"
Leo's MovableType Tips:	"Use Meaningful Page Names"

*** Newsletter Administration

Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Newsletter subscribers can visit http://ask-leo.com/askleosubscriber.html to submit your comments and questions. That page is only mentioned here, so I'll know it's from someone who's taken the time to read this far!

I'll be honest: I'll try to respond, but I get a lot of questions every day - I just can't answer everyone. Rest assured, though, that even if you don't hear from me directly, I read every email I get.

Leo's Answers Newsletter is a weekly publication of Ask Leo! and Leo A. Notenboom. It's also available as an RSS feed at this URL: http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.xml?UD=nl. Archives of previous newsletter issues can be found on the Ask Leo! web site, http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.html.

You're quite welcome to forward this email in its entirety, but you should probably delete your unsubscribe link below, so your friends don't unsubscribe you by accident. You may forward individual articles from this newsletter only if you include all and only the text of that article as found in this newsletter, including any links therein. You may not copy full articles from the Ask Leo! website - more on that in my section on copyright: http://ask-leo.com/terms.html#copyright.

I'd sure appreciate it if regular readers got a subscription of their own. You can sign up at http://newsletter.ask-leo.com.

Newsletter contents Copyright © 2007, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.