Ask Leo! #482 - Windows XP Must Die - Keeping XP - Internal Server Errors and more... - Confident Computing

*** Featured

What's an "Internal Server Error" and how do I fix it?

I'm trying to download software from a specific site. No matter what I try to download, I get this error message:

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator webmaster@******.com and inform them of the time the error occurred and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

How is this resolved?

I'm very familiar with this error. I see it all the time when setting up or making changes to websites.

The good news? It's not your fault.

The bad news? There's probably nothing that you can do.

Continue Reading: What's an "Internal Server Error" and how do I fix it?
http://askleo.com/?p=2649

*** Answercast

Answercast #143 - Keeping XP, seamless migration, bluescreens, hacked Skype calls and more...

Are you thinking, maybe, how to live with a hacker on your computer or ways to keep XP systems safe? Are you getting the dreaded blue screen, or ready to migrate to a new machine? Curious how multi-cores work? All that and more in this Answercast from Ask Leo!

Listen Now!
(Includes the raw transcript on which the articles below were based.)

Could I just keep using XP for storing pictures and playing games?
Limiting the use of an old XP machine could make it less vulnerable. Heck, you could just turn the computer off to keep it safe... but how useful is that going to be?

Continue reading: Could I just keep using XP for storing pictures and playing games?
http://askleo.com?p=13070

Why is only one core on my multi-core processor being maxed out?
You may have a multi-core processor, but not all software can utilize more than one core.

Continue reading: Why is only one core on my multi-core processor being maxed out?
http://askleo.com?p=13073

How to I migrate to a new machine?
Moving to a new operating system is rarely "seamless". But if you go about it step by step you'll end up with a stable system that will last for years.

Continue reading: How to I migrate to a new machine?
http://askleo.com?p=13080

Should I take the security protection offered after the most recent security breach?
Hackers are very good at sending emails that look like they come from legitimate companies. So, how do you tell the truth from a lie?

Continue reading: Should I take the security protection offered after the most recent security breach?
http://askleo.com?p=13098

Could a hacked computer record my Skype video calls?
Are you curious what might happen if a hacker was in control of your computer? The question really is "What can't they do?"

Continue reading: Could a hacked computer record my Skype video calls?
http://askleo.com?p=13103

What do I do about a bluescreen on shutdown?
Blue screen on shutdown could be indicative of an issue with either hardware or software. We'll walk through some steps you can take to deduce the problem.

Continue reading: What do I do about a bluescreen on shutdown?
http://askleo.com?p=13106

*** Our Sponsor

Maintaining Windows XP
A Practical Guide

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Sticking with Windows XP?
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Maintaining Windows XP - A Practical Guide

*** Last Issue's Articles

*** Featured Reader Comments

I don't have installation media for Windows. What if I need it?

Barry writes:

As long as you have a valid installation key you can download a copy from Microsoft and burn your own disc from http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24209.iso there is a tutorial on how at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977640/en-us.

Leo writes:

I get this feedback a lot, there are two problems: 1) Only Windows 7 is legally, legitimately available for download like this, and 2) it's a retail, not OEM, version. In order to use it you must have a corresponding retail product key.

How do I stop all this spam?

Cameron Parrish writes:

One of three reasons I quit using Yahoo! and switched to Hotmail a year and a quarter ago was mainly because the e-mail address was being spammed. Now I know that it is kind of overboard to get a new e-mail address just because of a little spam, but my point is that the built-in Yahoo! spam filter blocking some less than 60% of spam was pathetic. Although I must be doing something right, because this e-mail I have had since December of 2012 (not 13) has not received spam yet.

I'm not sure why viewing images in e-mails would cause more spam: I could understand the spammers knowing a specific computer requested an image, but not an e-mail address. Odd

By the way, something in the Microsoft Security Intelligence report (volume 15, the most recent one as of this post): it mentions an increase of "Spam messages that include images and no text, which spammers sometimes send in an effort to evade detection by antispam software," from so-and-so time frame. Interesting way of Spamming, and I suppose that would be why legitimate e-mails with a simple picture (not as an attachment) but no text get.

Auto-play is evil

Greg Jackson writes:

My experience? A full volume auto-play ad blew out my right speaker before I could kill the ad.

The annoyance was second only to the physical damage to my right speaker. Yes, a true bummer.

Do I Need to Stop Using Microsoft Security Essentials?

Randy C. writes:

Leo, I've read that MSE will not be provided for XP after the EOL. Will it still be possible to obtain definition updates through the MSE program itself if it's already installed on XP? Another question, is using the offline definition updates available from Microsoft for 32 and 64 bit versions of XP, Vista and Win7 a workaround in case all else fails?

Leo writes:

Microsoft recently announced that MSE on XP would continue to receive updates into 2015 at least.

*** Leo's Blog

Windows XP must die! Long live Windows XP!

I want you to stop using Windows XP. It's time to move to a more modern – and more importantly, a supported – operating system.

If you can't or won't stop using Windows XP, then I want it to work as well for you as it can for as long as it can. To that end, I've cut the price of the PDF version of Maintaining Windows XP ' A Practical Guide in half.

Yes, I'm sending a mixed message, but I'm not alone; so is Microsoft, who recently extended the length of time their anti-malware tools would continue to be updated. This confusion in their messaging is driven as much by the people sticking with Windows XP as much as anything else.

It's time to say good bye to Windows XP

As much as we might love Windows XP, it's time to say goodbye. It really is.

And no amount of complaining about what Microsoft should do, should have done, could do, or won't do will help or change that.

They're going to do what they're going to do. Just like Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 before it, Windows XP will very shortly be unsupported.

The safest thing to do (and in my opinion, the right thing to do) is to move to another operating system. I'm not even saying that it needs to be a version of Windows. What matters is that the operating system is current and supported by its vendor and that it does whatever it is that you need it to do.

Continue Reading: Windows XP must die! Long live Windows XP!
http://askleo.com/?p=13109

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