A Weekly Newsletter From
Ask Leo!
Leo Notenboom
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*** Contents
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
A program is telling me to uninstall its competitor; should I?
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I get this message every time I start Spybot which follows: "Spybot-Search&Destroy has detected that you have the following product installed. This may cause incompatibilities; for more information click Yes to visit our website", etc. And then lists: LavaSoft AdAware which I do have installed on my computer. Should I remove one the these two programs or keep them both and live with the message? |
I've never seen this message, but its presence doesn't surprise me.
Spybot and AdAware are two programs that do the same thing: they're anti-spyware scanners.
And while it might be easy to think that this is simply one program calling out its competitor, it's much more likely that there's an honest technical reason for the message.
Continue reading:
"A program is telling me to uninstall its competitor; should
I?"
http://ask-leo.com/a_program_is_telling_me_to_uninstall_its_competitor_should_i.html
* * *
When will Hotmail return an undeliverable message?
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My question is this: Does Hotmail send an "undeliverable" message to the sender if I send an email to another Hotmail account which is inactive due to the "30 days of inactivity"? |
One of the casualties in the war on spam is the "message undeliverable" message that you might get back in response to an email that ... well ... couldn't be delivered.
I say casualty, because you simply can't count on it any more.
I'll look at your specific scenario and then I'll delve into why you can't count on bounce messages any more.
Continue reading:
"When will Hotmail return an undeliverable message?"
http://ask-leo.com/when_will_hotmail_return_an_undeliverable_message.html
* * *
Why would the defragger tell me I still need to defrag after it's done?
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When I defrag and then analyze, defragmenter tells me over and over again that I need to defrag? Why would it do that? |
I'm assuming what you mean is that you've defragged, and then immediately thereafter run the analysis again only to have it tell you that "this volume should be defragmented", even though that's exactly what you've just done.
I can think of a couple of reasons.
Continue reading:
"Why would the defragger tell me I still need to defrag after it's
done?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_would_the_defragger_tell_me_i_still_need_to_defrag_after_its_done.html
* * *
How do I install an msi file that requires administrative privileges in Windows Vista?
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I was trying to install software on Windows Vista Home Premium, but it required admin rights. It's an msi package, which doesn't include "Run as administrator" in the context menu. How do I install it? |
I'm somewhat surprised that "Run as administrator" wasn't available. I'm also somewhat surprised that the install just failed, rather than asking for permission to run as administrator - I believe that the installer can take care of that itself with your permission.
However, it is what it is, and thus we need to find a way to work around it.
The good news is that there are a couple of ways.
Continue reading:
"How do I install an msi file that requires administrative privileges
in Windows Vista?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_install_an_msi_file_that_requires_administrative_privileges_in_windows_vista.html
* * *
Where can I find a missing Windows file?
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I can run "ipconfig" in a Windows Command Prompt on my desktop, but if I run it on my laptop I get: "'ipconfig' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." What do I do? |
ipconfig is a standard Windows utility and should be part of your installation by default. Obviously, for some reason it's not.
We'll look at a few ways to see if you have it, where it might be, where else it might be, and how to get it where it should be.
Continue reading: "Where
can I find a missing Windows file?"
http://ask-leo.com/where_can_i_find_a_missing_windows_file.html
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*** Featured Comments
A sampling of some of the comments that have been posted recently on Ask Leo!
* * *
How do I resolve my MSN Hotmail sign in problems?
Ron Brown writes:
Hi Leo - Don't know if you've read the recent blog on Hotmail's site regarding the new interface, where many users unable to access their existing emails. They can bring up the new interface, but all the folders including 'InBox' are -empty- . We all want a clean and simple interface, but this one is a bit TOO clean!
Appreciate if you can comment on this problem and possibly offer some solutions on your website. It is a subject of 'great interest' at the moment :) Many thanks. Ron
My opinion's been fairly clear for some time: never use HotMail for
anything important. It seems to have a history of this kind of stuff
happening periodically, along with account theft, data loss and
generally inaccessible customer service. But is it free! :-)
My free solution would be move to GMail, my not-free solution would
be to get use a "real" email account from a paid provider with customer
service. If those aren't possible then the only solution I know of at
this point is to wait, keep reading those forums, and hope for a
solution.
-Leo
*
What Security Software do you Recommend?
DM writes:
You don't mention it, but it's possible to use more than one product to cover the same bases (maybe pair up free-ware and commercial products).
For example, I too use CA eTrust (still the MS corporate solution) in realtime, I also have others anti-virus scanners I use, especially when doing a software build that will end up on a customers system.
There's no reason you couldn't have two backup systems for critical data.
I also use MS Defender, but periodically do a scan with Lavasofts Ad-Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy.
Each product has different strengths.
I agree, mostly. It's important that there only be one "real time"
anti-virus scanner in play at a time as they can conflict with each
other. Similarly, many anti-spyware programs also have resident or real
time monitoring that there should also be only one of. And finally
suites often do all sorts of things seemingly constantly - I would only
run additional tools if you're certain that they won't conflict with
the installed suites. Stand-alone scans offered by many good
anti-malware packages are perfect for this.
-Leo
*
How do I resolve my MSN Hotmail sign in problems?
Audra Coronado writes:
Someone got a hold of my password and information. I can not get into my email and someone has sent all of my contacts an emergency message stating i am in Africa and need money sent. I am not in Africa and desperately need access to my email. Please help.
I hear this particular scam is becoming more and more common.
Unfortunately given that you're using a free email account like
Hotmail, I don't know where to send you. You can try contacting the
authorities, and you can certainly try contacting Hotmail customer
service. In all honesty, I'm not sure either will be of much
help.
-Leo
*** This Week's Most Popular
The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!
- How do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
- Why is my Task Manager disabled, and how do I fix it?
- How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
- My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it back?
- How do I put a picture in a comment on myspace.com?
- How do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
- I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it back?
- Can I send text messages between a computer and a cell phone?
- How do I delete my Hotmail account?
- What are the POP3 and SMTP settings for Hotmail?
*** Leo Recommends
Belarc Advisor
Detailed information about your computer's hardware and software
|
Is there a way or a tool to tell me what the computer's specs are? |
Indeed there is.
There are various tools, including Windows itself, that will report on various aspects of your computers configuration. Most focus on one or two specific aspects, though, and make it difficult to form a picture of your computer as a whole.
Belarc Advisor is a PC auditing program that examines your computer and produces a one-page report of all the hardware and software installed on it.
A very comprehensive report.
Here's an image of just a portion of the report on my desktop machine:
Continue reading:
"Belarc Advisor - Detailed information about your computer's hardware
and software"
http://ask-leo.com/belarc_advisor_detailed_information_about_your_computers_hardware_and_software.html
I recommend it.
•
Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that I've found valuable and that I think you may as well. What does my recommendation mean?
*** Popular Articles from the Archives
I get this one all the time. And I do
mean all the time. Did I mention I continue to get
this ALL THE TIME? 
Can I get someone's name and address from their IP address?
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I have
the IP address from someone who's causing me some problems. Can I get
their name and location from that?
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Yes and no.
But mostly no.
I get this question a lot, so let me explain.
Continue reading...
Can I get someone's name and address from their IP address?
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_get_someones_name_and_address_from_their_ip_address.html
*** Thoughts and Comments
Did I mention that people keep asking how to get
someone's name and address from their IP address over and over
again?
It's frustrating because, of course, there are several articles on the site that address the issue.
But I can also understand people's positions. Think about it: you're getting harassed on-line and you have this wonderful piece of information - the IP address - that every one tells you will identify the computer from which the harassment was coming from. You definitely, sometimes desperately, want to track down exactly who it is that's causing you grief.
And you can't.
And the conventional advice (take it to law enforcement) is only sporadically effective depending on everything from the specific nature of the harassment, to both the technical abilities and overall availability of the local authorities.
It can be very frustrating.
So I understand that people have the question often.
I just wish there was more to help those in legitimate need. (OK, and that more people asking the question would take the time to find the answers that are already on the site. Doing so saves everyone time.)
* * *
'till next time...
Leo A. Notenboom
* * *
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Newsletter contents Copyright © 2008, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software, LLC.
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Hello Leo, my computer(a laptop) is getting to a point where I will need to upgrade. I don’t particularly cherrish the idea of migrating to Vista. I am not sure why! How hard is it to partition a hard drive? What size hard drive would you suggest if a person so decided? Can you provide a link to where someone can get instruction on how to do it?
Again: using Firefox with add-on Cooliris. Works great almost everywhere including in your newsletter when I open it in a separate window, but does not work correctly in your newsletter when in Hotmail. Since it is connected to the link address provided can you give me any explanation for this. I’ve experienced a couple of other instances where it doesn’t work, but very rare.
19-Oct-2008