2012-10-16

The Ask Leo! Newsletter

*** Featured

How do I burn an audio CD?

Audio CDs confuse many people and Windows - trying to be helpful, of course
- doesn't help.

The fact is that an audio CD is a very different beast from a data CD.
Windows may try to make an audio CD "look like" a data CD by listing its
contents as one .cda file per track, but in reality, it's just fooling
you.

Those "files" aren't really there.

Many people think that if they could just convert their .mp3 or other audio
files into that .cda file format, they can just write them to the disc and
they'd have an audio CD disc that would play in any player.

It just doesn't work that way.

Continue reading: How do I burn an audio
CD?

http://ask-leo.com/C5918

* * *

*** Answercast

Answercast #61 - Hard drive errors, Outlook Express safety,
ex-friend hacks, failed downloads and more...

Do you need to keep some ex-friends out of your email or to find a list of
recipients? Do you have crash reports and device errors? Wonder if it is safe
to keep Outlook Express any longer? All that and more in this Answercast from
Ask Leo!



Continue reading:
Answercast #61 - Hard drive errors, Outlook Express safety, ex-friend hacks,
failed downloads and more...

http://ask-leo.com/C5911

How do I get IE8 to remember my email password?

Instead of your browser, what I suggest that you use is a program like LastPass to remember your passwords for you.

Continue reading: How do
I get IE8 to remember my email password?

http://ask-leo.com/C5912

How do I display the full list of recipients in my Sent
email?

Exactly how you go about displaying recipients depends dramatically on
what specific email service you happen to be using.

Continue reading:
How do I display the full list of recipients in my sent email?

http://ask-leo.com/C5913

Why do I get an I/O device error when I try to create a system
image?

The error message is literally telling you exactly what's wrong: there was an
input/output error on the device.

Continue reading:
Why do I get an I/O device error when I try to create a system image?

http://ask-leo.com/C5914

Does having my video card on the motherboard mean I can never
upgrade?

The neat thing about this is that you're one step away from a dual-monitor
system without really even trying.

Continue reading:
Does having my video card on the motherboard mean I can never
upgrade?

http://ask-leo.com/C5915

I found what appears to be a crash report for MsMpEngine. What
should I do?

There probably isn't any kind of a lasting problem. As long as Microsoft
Security Essentials is running and running properly, I think you're fine.

Continue reading:
I found what appears to be a crash report for MsMpEngine. What should I
do?

http://ask-leo.com/C5916

My ex-friends tell me they can read my email, that it'll go to them.
Is that possible? What do I do?

If friends (especially ex-friends) are looking at your email and they have
access to your account, I would seriously consider that you treat this has a
hacked email account.

Continue reading:
My ex-friends tell me they can read my email, that it'll go to them. Is that
possible? What do I do?

http://ask-leo.com/C5917

Why can't I download PDFs in IE9, but I can in
Chrome?

To help diagnose the problem, try a two-step approach. Separate downloading the
file from opening the file with Adobe Reader and watch for error
messages.

Continue reading: Why
can't I download PDFs in IE9, but I can in Chrome?

http://ask-leo.com/C5919

Is it safe to keep Outlook Express?

I personally consider Outlook Express a ticking time bomb. As you accumulate
more and more email, the risk of encountering a problem goes up - but there is
one way to protect yourself.

Continue reading: Is it safe to keep
Outlook Express?

http://ask-leo.com/C5920

Why is the Maxthon browser always setting itself as the default
browser, and how do I stop it?

There may not be a way to turn that off. If you're not using Maxthon as your
primary browser, I'm not sure there's a reason to have it on there at all.

Continue reading:
Why is the Maxthon browser always setting itself as the default browser, and
how do I stop it?

http://ask-leo.com/C5921

Why is my email being immediately deleted as it arrives in
Thunderbird?

In situations like this, my bet is almost always on the anti-malware tools you
have installed... They're attempting to integrate just a little too tightly
into the email process.

Continue reading:
Why is my email being immediately deleted as it arrives in
Thunderbird?

http://ask-leo.com/C5922

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*** Last Issue's Articles

Ask Leo! #397 - Why your machine's slowing down, disabling https, localhost,
sharing your password and more...

How
do I properly secure a mobile broadband hotspot?

Can my
mobile phone calls be listened to?

Why does a file grow dramatically after I add only a small amount?

Why
does only half of my email scroll?

Should I
partition my external drive?

How do I disable
https?

Can I create a true factory fresh image without even the initial
customizations?

Who is it safe
to give my passwords to?

What is the IP address 127.0.0.1 and why is it called localhost?

How do I set up an email address once and never again have to tell all my
contacts of a new one?

Answercast #60 - Listening to cell phones, file sizes, partitioning external
drives, giving out passwords and more...

Why is my
machine slowing down?

*** Word o' the Week

Sector

A sector is a fixed-size "chunk" of information as stored
on magnetic or other media such as hard disks, optical discs and even
flash-based memory.

Information on a hard disk is divided into:

platters - the entire surface of one side of one or more of the metal disks
in the drive. Each disk is coated with magnetic material used to hold
individual bits of digital information. (Entire image to
right represents one platter).

tracks - one circle of information on the magnetic media. A platter may
contain many concentric tracks of information. (The red ring labeled "A".)

sectors - one group of information within a track. Sectors
on magnetic disks typically represent the way that the information is stored. A
track would be comprised of several sectors with essentially "empty" space
in-between them. (The portion of the ring labeled "C".)

A sector most commonly contains 4096 bits, or 512 bytes. (Newer hard drives may use 32,768 bit, aka 4096
byte, sectors, but for compatibility with older interfaces and operating
systems may also expose a simulation of 512 byte sectors.)

Sectors are accessed as single units at the hardware level. This means that
when reading the entire sector is read regardless of how much of its contents
are required. Similarly when writing it's the entire sector that's written,
regardless of how much information in it is to be changed.

(Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Word o' the
Week features a computer term or acronym taken from the Ask Leo! Glossary. If there's a word you're
not sure of and would like to see defined, click here to let me
know.

*** Thoughts and Comments

It's election season in the U.S., and that means that there's a lot of
information and misinformation flying around on the internet via email
and social media sites.

Regardless of your leanings and affiliations if you must share
please take a moment and make sure what you're about to forward or
post is at least accurate.

There's a lot of garbage out there.

Not only does spreading blatantly wrong information hurt everyone, it makes
you look bad - often really, really bad.

It's a sad reality, but those items that rise our ire, that tug at our
heartstrings or simply sound flat out horrifying are often completely false.
And if not totally bogus, they're often so slanted and obfuscated that they
might as well be.

There are plenty of authoritative sites to double check that what you've
just received is, or is not bogus. Snopes is my favorite for urban legends, and
often covers political items as well, but there are many, many others.

Help make the internet a better place: think twice, and check twice, before
forwarding or sharing.

'till next time...



Leo A. Notenboom
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Continue reading
Ask Leo! #398 - Burning audio CDs, video cards on motherboards, a friend that can read your email and more...
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