A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom
Hello!
*** Contents
- This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
- A Word from our Sponsor
- This Week's Most Popular Articles
- Popular Articles from the Archives
- Thoughts and Comments
- Newsletter Administration
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
How can I keep my laptop running with the lid closed?
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When I close the lid of my Toshiba notebook, the internet stops, meaning that if I want to download stuff, the lid always has to be open, which is really annoying. Any way to change this without connecting another monitor and mouse? |
It's probably not the internet that stopping - it's the entire computer.
The default configuration for most laptops these days is to go into Stand-by, or even Hibernation, when the laptop is closed.
Fortunately it's just a setting you can control in Windows.
Continue reading: "How
can I keep my laptop running with the lid closed?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_can_i_keep_my_laptop_running_with_the_lid_closed.html
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Why didn't my gigabit network card result in better performance?
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I recently installed a Gigabit PCI card on my Dell Windows XP SP2 system. I'm running on a Cable LAN system and was hoping to see at least a small improvement on the 100mbps of the old card. I'm not complaining because everything is as was before the install,just wondering if there is a little tweak I should have carried out to help it along? |
It depends on what it was you were expecting to change.
I ran into a very similar situation when I upgraded one of my switches to gigabit and saw only a marginal performance impact. So I started looking into why.
First, let's make sure you've actually covered all the bases.
Continue reading:
"Why didn't my gigabit network card result in better performance?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_didnt_my_gigabit_network_card_result_in_better_performance.html
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How does blocking pictures in an email protect my privacy?
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In Windows Mail, I received an email from a known vender (not spam) with all the pictures withheld. At the top (below the header) there was a message which read: "Some pictures have been blocked to help prevent the sender from identifying your computer. Click here to download pictures." My question is: How can a sender identify my computer by me receiving pictures? And of course, how great is the risk? |
"Identifying your computer" in that informational message is somewhat vague, as it's not exactly what can happen. But the concept is still important.
And in fact, if you've ever seen ads or services that claim "we can tell you if your email has been read" - images are how they do it.
Continue reading:
"How does blocking pictures in an email protect my privacy?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_does_blocking_pictures_in_an_email_protect_my_privacy.html
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Requires Elevation - What does that mean and what do I do?
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While trying to install Office 2003 on my new Dell Vista I receive an error message stating "Requires Elevation". What does that mean and how do I continue the Office 2003 install? |
"Requires Elevation" is a symptom of the increased security measures that have been implemented in Windows Vista. It's all part of the same concept that has you confirming that you are the administrator over and over again.
In other words, "Requires Elevation" is a part of what's called "User Access Control" or UAC.
There are two or three approaches to dealing with the message.
Continue reading:
"Requires Elevation - What does that mean and what do I do?"
http://ask-leo.com/requires_elevation_what_does_that_mean_and_what_do_i_do.html
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What media should I use for long term archives?
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A question regarding long term storage of photos, MP3's and video clips: what do you think is the best way? I have an 80GB external hard drive. I also use Delkin gold archival CD's. But they're limited for storage space. I'm curious if regular CDs such as those from Memorex, Fuji, Sony, and the like are just as good for archiving. |
Long term archival is a serious issue for two reasons, one that probably won't surprise you, and one that might.
There's no single answer, but I can tell you what I do.
Continue reading: "What
media should I use for long term archives?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_media_should_i_use_for_long_term_archives.html
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Why am I so hard on webmail?
I strongly advise against putting all your eggs in the free email basket. Why?Continue reading: "Why am I so hard on
webmail?" 
http://ask-leo.com/why_am_i_so_hard_on_webmail.html
*** A Word from our Sponsor
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*** This Week's Most Popular
The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!
- How do I put a picture in a comment on myspace.com?
- How do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
- How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
- How do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
- What are the POP3 and SMTP settings for Hotmail?
- How do I put a picture into the caption of a picture on myspace.com?
- Svchost and Svchost.exe - Crashs, CPU maximization, viruses, exploits and more.
- What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook Express?
- My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back?
- How do I hack into someone's account?
*** Popular Articles from the Archives
Hard to believe it's been this long already, but three years ago we were asking ourselves this question:
Should I switch to Firefox?
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Every day it seems I hear of some new exploit or vulnerability in Internet Explorer. Several of my friends have suggested I switch from IE to this other browser they claim is more secure: Firefox. Will I be safer if I switch? |
Maybe. It really depends on how secure you are to begin with.
But before you switch it's worth understanding what you are and are not getting and what you'll still need to do.
Continue reading...
Should I switch to
Firefox?
http://ask-leo.com/should_i_switch_to_firefox.html
*** Thoughts and Comments
I figure it's been about six months since my last major computer "issue". By that I mean a significant component failure or semi-major annoyance.(*) With eight computers of various ages and in various roles I figure "something" every 6 months or so isn't too bad a record.
As long as I'm prepared, that is.
Six months ago it was a hard disk that went belly-up, taking much of the CD collection I'd ripped with it. Naturally I have all the original CDs, ripping them all again is a slow, and as of today, extremely incomplete process.
That's where I started to factor in not only data-loss, but inconvenience into my backup plans. As a result the hard disk that contains my regrowing CD collection now automatically mirrors to another hard disk every night. Hard disks are cheap, and a heck of a lot more convenient than re-ripping all those CDs.
I'm sure you're already backing up in case of data loss, and that's great. But have you thought about the convenience or time lost should something happen? Is there a simple solution that you might put in place that would make recovery easier?
Just a thought.
(*) Quite literally as I was proofing this paragraph I got a call from my wife's business where an uninterruptible power supply had apparently failed and all computer equipment was down. It's a quick temporary fix, but whether this resets the six-month clock remains to be seen.
•
As always, 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. Just send people to askleo.net.
'till next time...
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*** Newsletter Administration
Do you have a question? A comment, perhaps? Visit http://ask-leo.com/askleo.html to submit your questions.
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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I really would like to know how do I delete items fom my msn’s history conversations, I was looking for an answer but i couldn’t find it, Please help me, this is about privacity, i do not want to stop saving them, i just want to delete some of them, Is it possible?
I really would like to know how do I delete items fom my msn’s history conversations, I was looking for an answer but i couldn’t find it, Please help me, this is about privacity, i do not want to stop saving them, i just want to delete some of them, Is it possible?