Leo's Answers
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Leo Notenboom
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-Rick
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*** Contents
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
A program is telling me to uninstall its competitor; should
I?
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?
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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?
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"?
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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?
When I defrag and then analyze, defragmenter tells me over and over
again that I need to defrag? Why would it do that?
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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?
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?
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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?
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?
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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?
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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?
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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?
|
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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Copyright © 2008, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software,
LLC.
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Leo's Answers #148 - October 14, 2008
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Source: Leo's Answers #148 - October 14, 2008
