Ask Leo! #319 – Is the internet really that dangerous? Taskbar previews, Hotmail passwords (again), and more…

My grandparents are paranoid about viruses. I have successfully convinced them not to install a couple dozen anti-viruses on their computer by showing them one of your articles, but I cannot convince them that, on a clean, updated, and anti-virus protected computer: (a) the risk of getting a virus is absolutely minimal (if not downright impossible) if you leave your laptop on (at home and with your front door locked) while you go to the restroom; (b) that computer viruses do not fly through the air, latching themselves onto the first computer that they see; (c) that typing in your SSN on a valid, SSL-encrypted official government site that requires your SSN for an official, valid reason over a wired Ethernet connection is pretty safe; (d) that the number of computer hackers trying to break into their (non-state secret containing) computers at any given moment is at least much, much less than ten and possibly even nil. The worse part is that I can't find any articles online about computer malware myths that are non-technical enough for my grandparents to understand, and they don't trust me when I say that one antivirus, a clean updated computer, and a dose of caution (don't open attachments from strangers, don't believe everything that's said on the internet, don't download files from unofficial sources) is more than sufficient to avoid the leagues of hackers that are out to get them. Sincerely yours, Tired of Memorizing 19-Digit, [A-Z,a-z,0-9] Random Passwords.

My question is about the annoying (in my opinion) pop-ups that come up whenever you hover your mouse over any open icon on the task bar (they show a thumbnail of the open page). I would really like to know how to safely disable this feature. I have searched Google, but the solutions given seem a bit scary. From my searches, I know that this is a problem for many users.

I can't login to my Hotmail account. I think it's been hacked. I tried to do a password reset using my alternate email address, but it turns out that it's an old email address that hasn't worked for years!

How do I get my password reset if I can't access the alternate email account? How do I get my account back?

Ken B writes:

It goes without saying (okay, it _should_ go without saying, but I'll say it anyway), but...

If you don't have original install media, see if you can make an install/recovery set of media _before_ you nuke the drive. In fact, even if you _do_ have media, see if there is a way to make an additional set.

Also, if it's not printed on the side of the computer (and sometimes Windows has been upgraded to a version other than the one on the sticker), you should use a utility such as Belarc Advisor -- http://www.belarc.com/ -- which can tell you the key for not only Windows itself, but most applications you have installed. Again, once you've nuked the drive, this information is gone.

Finally, make sure you have backups of anything you might want to keep and/or move to a new computer.

Aaron Eidinger writes:

I provide computer services in an area served by Charter. I can tell you that they have a way of allowing you to send through a different server when you are out of their network.

However, you can't use this same server when you are ON their network. For the user with a portable computer, this can be very frustrating. I normally recommend that my clients use an e-mail service (e.g. Gmail) other than Charter's for this very reason. I also recommend it so they aren't tied to the ISP for e-mail since people do change ISPs from time to time for various reasons.

john neeting writes:

I know why my PC takes a full 2 minutes to boot from cold. When you have 11 USB mirror drives attached to it, it takes time for windows to 're-map' every drive with correct info. I watch each drive initialise in turn with a blank screen and the 'C' boot drive thrashing away. When the last device is mapped on the USB port, the windows logo appears. Again the PC re-maps every device to be sure it's OK. then I'm ready to rock and roll.

John writes:

Reading articles such as yours has really opened my eyes! I was once (foolishly) very active on the internet and have started limiting what is readily available to others. I left a number of groups on Facebook a while ago, not realizing that my posts would remain. If I delete my account, will that also delete my posts on group walls? Furthermore, will it completely remove my information from Facebook's servers? If not, what is the easiest way to go about doing these things?

Bob writes:

I have, in the past, used System Restore to undo some catastrophic screw-up, or to 'get around' a virus infection in order for me to do something about it. Things I don't like: If a specific file has changed, it stays changed. SR doesn't do anything about that. If a program ~updated~ itself, it forgets - and has to be updated again, regardless if you have the new files or not. The System Restore file system seems to be the hiding place for a lot of viruses - more often than not, if I get a virus alert, it's in one of the system restore files or directories.

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