Will you be in or around Denver on April 2nd? I will! In fact, a few of my online entrepreneurial buddies and I are hosting a meetup. They, and I, will be giving short talks on a variety of topics, followed by general Q&A and networking. If that sounds interesting click here for more details and registration. It's free, and I've been told there'll be pizza!

What's next for my new computer? Updates! Lots and lots of updates.

And, yes, I'm continuing to rant about two-factor authentication. I think that news reports are doing us all a grave disservice in the way that they're reporting on the topic. The result is that people are being scared away from using it and that's just wrong.

"Mailbox unavailable" might well be the most useless email bounce messsage ever. Seriously. It's the technical equivalent of just saying "it didn't work."

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank my patrons. Without you Ask Leo! would have shuttered some time ago. You're what make all this possible, and I deeply appreciate your ongoing support.

Take care,

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The Journey to My New Computer: Update, Update, Update

As I described in a previous article of this little series, the first thing I do with any brand-new machine is make an image backup. Whether I go to the extreme to back it up prior to Windows Setup running or take an image immediately after Windows setup completes, I want an image as early in the process as I can get it.

Then it's time to play, knowing that in the worst case, I can restore to that image.

Though I suppose not everyone will call the next steps “play”.

Continue Reading: The Journey to My New Computer: Update, Update, Update
https://askleo.com/70761

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Why ANY Two-Factor Is Better than No Two-Factor at All

This is an update to an article that originally discussed only SMS two-factor authentication. Since then, two things have happened:

An exploit kit was published allowing a phishing attack to hijack a two-factor secured login.
Various media declared, “Two-factor has been hacked!”

Unfortunately, these have led some to believe that two-factor authentication is pointless. To quote a reader: “This makes 2SV quite useless in many cases.”

No. Just … no. That's a seriously mistaken conclusion.

I'm re-visiting this topic yet again because I want to be very clear: two-factor authentication is not useless. In fact, two-factor authentication — SMS-based or otherwise — is significantly more secure than not using two-factor authentication at all.

Continue Reading: Why ANY Two-Factor Is Better than No Two-Factor at All
https://askleo.com/70786

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What Does "Mailbox Unavailable" Mean and How Do I Fix It?

What does “smtp; 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable mean?” I can no longer send emails to my friend at *****@live.com … the mail comes back with this message.

It means that your friend's mailbox isn't available, for unspecified reasons, and your message could not be delivered.

From there, all we can do is make some educated guesses as to why.

Continue Reading: What Does "Mailbox Unavailable" Mean and How Do I Fix It?
https://askleo.com/3738

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