Leo's Answers #110 – January 4, 2008

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

Hello!

*** Contents

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

How do I make a Windows XP boot disk?

Is there a way to create a Windows XP startup disk that would allow me to make changes or run a restore point, if my computer won't boot from the HD? I have one I found for Linux or Ubuntu (I think, I don't know what all the names mean) called Knoppix, but I found it rather hard to use since I am not really familiar with it. I have also looked at BartPE site, but there is so much I don't understand. I just want something basic that will allow me access to my files.

In the old MS-DOS days it was easy to make a boot floppy. Even early versions of Windows could be dealt with that way.

Today? Not so much.

You've actually touched on the most common and useful solutions. Let's look at those, and one other.

Continue reading: "How do I make a Windows XP boot disk?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_make_a_windows_xp_boot_disk.html

* * *

How do I share documents between OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word?

I took my laptop in to be repaired and the technician added a program that he said that was as good as Microsoft Word or better: OpenOffice.org Writer. He suggested I keep it on and try it since it was free and if I did not like it, he would take it off. One problem that I have with this program is that my club members are unable to open my documents to them now. I think he should take this program off and return my microsoft word so that I can use it. What do you think?

I think you need to give OpenOffice Writer a little bit more of a chance.

There may well be reasons to revert to Microsoft Word, but exchanging documents with Microsoft Word users isn't one of them. You're probably just missing a simple step.

Continue reading: "How do I share documents between OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_share_documents_between_openoffice_writer_and_microsoft_word.html

* * *

How do I get Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows Vista?

I have just installed Vista Home premium and miss Windows Picture & Fax Viewer for printing pictures. It seems that one has to first save them as an XPS file and then use MS XPS printer to actually print the pictures. A retrograde step it seems to me!

Judging by the volume of requests on this topic, I think there are lots of people who agree with you that Vista took a step backwards when it comes to Windows Picture and Fax viewer.

But it's not as far a step backwards as you might think.

And even if it is, there are many alternatives.

Continue reading: "How do I get Windows Picture and Fax Viewer in Windows Vista?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_get_windows_picture_and_fax_viewer_in_windows_vista.html

* * *

What does "conversation timed out" mean in an email bounce?

I get the following error message sending email to one specific address:

This is the Postfix program at host *****.

I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message returned
below could not be delivered to one or more destinations.

For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster

If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the message returned below.

The Postfix program

<***@***.com>: conversation with ***.com[ 212.***.***.***] timed
out while sending RCPT TO

Why is this happening? It is only happing to the one address - all the other addresses are fine.

Unfortunately there's no standard here ... the failure could be for many different reasons.

The best I can offer here are some guesses as to what might be happening given the clues at hand.

Continue reading: "What does "conversation timed out" mean in an email bounce?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_does_conversation_timed_out_mean_in_an_email_bounce.html

* * *

Is dial-up safer?

Based on what I've just read about DHCP, I believe now that dial-up access may have its advantages in anonymity. Am I correct?

Slightly.

But in reality, the risk's not really that high to begin with, and using dial-up adds less anonymity than you might think.

Continue reading: "Is dial-up safer?"
http://ask-leo.com/is_dialup_safer.html

* * *

Is Privacy A Thing of the Past?

There's privacy and privacy. Are you being tracked? Probably. Is it something to worry about? Probably not.

Continue reading: "Is Privacy A Thing of the Past?" Article Includes Audio
http://ask-leo.com/is_privacy_a_thing_of_the_past.html

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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 put a picture in a comment on myspace.com?
  2. How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
  3. How do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
  4. How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on myspace.com?
  5. Should I turn off my external hard drive when not in use?
  6. Svchost and Svchost.exe - Crashs, CPU maximization, viruses, exploits and more.
  7. What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook Express?
  8. How do I hack into someone's account?
  9. What are the POP3 and SMTP settings for Hotmail?
  10. My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back?

*** Popular Articles from the Archives

Here's something most people don't consider:

When do I actually need to run a virus scan?

Do you have more than one antivirus program running at any one time, to stop newly arriving viruses, or do you just have them ready to run when you've got a virus and want to clean it out?

Virus scanners are best used to prevent viruses from ever reaching your machine, but you raise a very good issue that most folks don't realize.

There are two types of scans.

Continue reading...
When do I actually need to run a virus scan?
http://ask-leo.com/when_do_i_actually_need_to_run_a_virus_scan.html

*** Thoughts and Comments

Seems like everyone's doing it, so I thought I'd reflect a little on 2007.

My most visited articles have been the mySpace picture in a comment articles, and by a wide margin. MSN Hotmail articles take second place as people either continue to struggle with lost passwords and hacked accounts, or simply balk at the upgrade from MSN Hotmail to Windows Live Hotmail that happened this year.

By far the overarching theme of the vast majority of the questions I get is privacy: keeping it, violating it, or trying to track down a culprit after a breach.

The search terms that brought the most people to the site? "svchost" and "lsass" - two components of Windows that show up in error messages resulting from literally hundreds of different possible problems.

This newsletter's grown to over 20,000 subscribers at the end of the year. As a side note, I originally did the special ask a question form for subscribers page as a "perk" of subscribing to the newsletter. The difference is that these questions go directly to me, whereas the regular form first goes to an assistant who weeds out the fair amount of noise that gets submitted there. What I realized a while back is that my subscribers (that's you!) ask great questions! Questions submitted through the subscriber's form are almost always well considered and very appropriate. I really appreciate that.

If you appreciate this newsletter or the site, one of the best ways you can say "Thank You!" is simply to tell a friend or colleague. Ask Leo! can always use more visitors and thereby help more people with their computer or technical problems. Forward this newsletter if you like (though you'll want to remove your unsubscribe information at the bottom), or just point people at ask-leo.com, or as I mentioned last week askleo.net (no dash, easier to remember).

And thank you for being here. Here's to a great 2008!

'till next time year...

Leo

* * *

The Latest: at Forwarded Funnies: "How To Spot A Redneck Hunter With A DUI Conviction [PIC]"

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*** 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, every email gets read.

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. Archives of previous newsletter issues can be found on the Ask Leo! web site, http://ask-leo.com/newsletter.html.

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Newsletter contents Copyright © 2008, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.

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Posted: January 4, 2008 in: 2008
Shortlink: https://newsletter.askleo.com/3257
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I'm Leo Notenboom and I've been playing with computers since I took a required programming class in 1976. I spent over 18 years as a software engineer at Microsoft, and after "retiring" in 2001 I started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place to help you find answers and become more confident using this amazing technology at our fingertips. More about Leo.