Leo's Answers #142 – September 2, 2008

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

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*** Contents

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

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

Can my ISP turn off my modem if I use bittorrent?

Is it possible for an ISP to physically shut down your dsl modem remotely to stop you from using bittorrent? Specifically, I use bittorrent to download files and sometimes (not all the time) a few seconds after I start a download and it ramps up to top speed, my modem's status light stops blinking, my dsl link light goes out and I have to turn my modem off then back on in order to reconnect to the internet. I never have troubles with my internet connection while gaming (I play World of Warcraft) or surfing websites. Ever. This happens only when I download using bittorrent, though I haven't tried using other download programs or protocols.

It depends on the modem, but I can certainly see it as being possible.

But I don't see it as being likely. ISPs have other ways of dealing with bittorrent, if they're going to care about it.

I think something else is more likely.

Continue reading: "Can my ISP turn off my modem if I use bittorrent?"
http://ask-leo.com/can_my_isp_turn_off_my_modem_if_i_use_bittorrent.html

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Where is Windows Defender's Vault?

Windows Defender found a threat (a Trojan Horse) and I sent it to the vault. This vault will have to be emptied eventually but there is nothing in the Defender to find the vault! Any idea where the vault in the defender might be?

Yes and no.

Nope, I don't know where on disk the files are stored. But ultimately that doesn't matter, since you can use Windows Defender itself to manage the contents of the vault.

Continue reading: "Where is Windows Defender's Vault?"
http://ask-leo.com/where_is_windows_defenders_vault.html

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Why do picture colors vary from computer to computer, or when I print them?

I enter textile art into exhibitions. The first phase is with jpegs. I have a PC and most of the galleries use Macs. When I tried on my PC to make the jpeg image exactly match the colors in the original I was really surprised how different this looked on a Mac it was way too saturated and really I would have been better to leave the image alone. How do I set up my monitor to look the same as a Mac without buying a Mac? Can i set my desired gamma to 1.8 as Macs are, will this help or just ruin my own monitors rendition. Is this gamma setting the difference or are there other reasons.

First, let me say that I don't believe that this is a Mac versus PC thing at all.

I have two identical LCD monitors on my system, and even when I drag a picture from one to the other, or better yet split it across both, I can see color differences between the two.

The bottom line: color matching is really, really hard.

Continue reading: "Why do picture colors vary from computer to computer, or when I print them?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_do_picture_colors_vary_from_computer_to_computer_or_when_i_print_them.html

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Is an outbound firewall needed?

Isn't an outbound firewall really important in many situations? I deliberately installed a free version of a key logger on my system and ran thorough scans through my anti virus and anti spyware programs. But the running key logger wasn't detected even though the key logger icon was right there in the system tray. You have said that when an outbound firewall stops something it is already too late. But don't you think outbound firewall might stop a key logger from at least sending logs to an email or remote computer? Or would it not?

A firewall with outbound detection can have a place, I suppose, but you've captured my thoughts already: if it finds something to detect, then it's too late.

Let's review what it means to be an outbound firewall, why I don't value them all that much, and perhaps why your key logger wasn't detected.

Continue reading: "Is an outbound firewall needed?"
http://ask-leo.com/is_an_outbound_firewall_needed.html

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How can an infection like Antivirus XP 2008 happen?

Last night I was researching some information about Vista. I went to a legitimate help site I've used before. As soon as I clicked on the site my machine became infected with "Antivirus XP 2008". I have a current CA Antivirus 2008, Windows Defender, and my firewall is active. I immediately ran full system scans with CA and Defender in Safe Mode with Networking. Nothing was detected. I found removal instructions at bleepingcomputer.com using a free product called Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and it worked like a charm. Then I had to fix a missing Desktop Tab in my display dialog box as well as edit the registry to make the display wallpaper functional again. All of this leads up to my questions....

I've been hearing a lot about "Antivirus XP 2008" recently, and it seems to be active out in the wild.

The questioner goes on to ask 4 very good questions about this particular attack, and web-site based attacks in general, and I want to address each one individually.

Continue reading: "How can an infection like Antivirus XP 2008 happen?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_can_an_infection_like_antivirus_xp_2008_happen.html

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How do I get rid of this loading error on startup?

Every time I turn my computer on it tells me I have an "error loading localtemp\goMdDuuV.dll" How can I get this off my computer?

I get variations on this question a lot. The specifics of the error message changes - usually referencing a different file, but the error is always the same: something about an inability to load or launch a program after logging in.

The most common cause is malware of some sort, or incompletely cleaned malware. Incompletely or incorrectly uninstalled software in general can also this error.

There are several steps you should probably take.

Continue reading: "How do I get rid of this loading error on startup?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_rid_of_this_loading_error_on_startup.html

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*** Featured Comments

A sampling of some of the comments that have been posted recently on Ask Leo!

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Can I read web mail using a pop3 mail reader?

I have several articles on this site that answer that. The short version is this:

NO - Hotmail does not provide POP3 and SMTP servers to access your mail. Period.
YES - You can use some specific email programs like Windows Live Mail or an add-on to Microsoft Outlook to access your Hotmail.
NO - Outlook Express Hotmail access is being phased out and is no longer supported.
YES - There are third-party add-ons for Thunderbird that, while not officially supported by Hotmail or Microsoft, do allow you to download your Hotmail into Thunderbird.

Hope that helps clarify things. :-)
-Leo

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What's an incremental backup?

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*** This Week's Most Popular

The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!

1. How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
2. How do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
3. My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back?
4. How do I put a picture in a comment on myspace.com?
5. How do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
6. What are the POP3 and SMTP settings for Hotmail?
7. Why is my Task Manager disabled, and how do I fix it?
8. How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on myspace.com?
9. What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook Express?
10. How do I delete my Hotmail account?

*** Leo Recommends

FastStone Image Viewer
An easy to use tool to view, organize and manipulate images

After the demise of Firehand Ember, my previous favorite image viewing program, I began searching for a suitable replacement. Window's built in "Picture and Fax Viewer" just doesn't cut it for me.

After much experimentation with various products in this class, I've settled on FastStone Image Viewer.

FastStone includes not only basic display and print ability, but also a number of simple modification tools, a slideshow creator, a contact sheet creator and more.

At it's heart, FastStone, like many similar products, is much like a Windows Explorer tailored for viewing photos. Fire it up and you'll get the familiar navigation tree on the left, and images on the right:

Continue reading: "FastStone Image Viewer - An easy to use tool to view, organize and manipulate images"
http://ask-leo.com/faststone_image_viewer_an_easy_to_use_tool_to_view_organize_and_manipulate_images.html

I recommend it.

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Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?

*** Popular Articles from the Archives

Things haven't changed all that much since I wrote this three years ago. Particularly the part about complacency ...

Anti-Virus Software

Computer viruses are a fact of modern, internet-connected life. At best, they're annoying performance sucking beasts, but at worst ... kiss all your data good bye.

We all need to take steps to make sure that our computers are safe, or we risk infection. Complacency is not an option.

And yet, even after all the news, and all the warnings, and after all this time ...

complacency remains all too common.

Continue reading...
Anti-Virus Software
http://ask-leo.com/antivirus_software.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

As you may or may not know, I love my Kindle, the Amazon electronic book reader.

Some months ago I submitted Ask Leo! to be available on the Kindle as one of the blogs you can subscribe to. Haven't really heard much, until this week when I did my typical search for "Ask Leo" on my Kindle, and found ... Ask Leo! is now available on the Kindle!

Here's the deal:

• It's a monthly subscription, currently $0.99 a month, like all the other blogs available via Kindle.
• Yes, I get a small cut.
• The content is automatically delivered to your Kindle each time I make a new post.
• The Kindle version of Ask Leo! includes the full article with no advertising.

I know it's not for every one, and I'm not really pushing all that hard. But for those that have a Kindle and enjoy getting your content delivered that way ... well, here I am. Subscribe to Ask Leo! on your Kindle!

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As I mentioned last week we moved my wife's business out of her retail store into our home while we're "between locations". (My personal blog has a few pictures.)

Among the list of administrivia to deal with when moving out is, of course, terminating utilities like phone and internet. Normally that's not a big deal, but in this case I kinda sorta almost felt bad disconnecting the internet. The reason is that it put an end to a very long relationship with a local ISP that I've been very happy with.

Avvanta communications, formerly known as "Blarg!", has been the shops internet service provider since the day we started selling dolls on the internet. We also used Avvanta at home for a period, after our previous big name ISP's lack of tech support became more than I could handle. (We dropped Avvanta at home a while back as well, when we installed a T-1.) During business hours Avvanta's phones are answered by real people who've always been helpful and knowledgeable.

So here's a plug: if you're looking for an ISP in Western Washington, check out Avvanta.

They were good to me.

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As always, thanks for subscribing, for reading, and for your feedback. If you appreciate this newsletter or the site, one of the best ways you can say "Thank You!" is to link to Ask Leo! or simply to tell a friend or colleague. Just send folks to askleo.net.

'till next time...

Leo A. Notenboom

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A selection of Leo's articles are available for free re-use at http://articlesbyleo.com.

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*** Newsletter Administration

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