Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Fasika writes: " Dear Dennis, My USB flash drive was working for months -- flawlessly, but has recently encountered a problem. It starts 'misbehaving' after I try to use with my new computer, but it works fine with my old ... computer, and both computers are using the same operating system. Problem: when I plug the USB flash drive into the new computer, the 'new hardware found' message box appears notifying me that my new hardware is installed and ready to use. But when I go to My Computer to check for the flash drive icon, it isn't there. What would you advise me to do in ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Debbie' writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks so much for your articles -- they can be very helpful! I've got a question: every time I right click to email a picture from the My Pictures folder, it goes to Microsoft Outlook (which comes ... with MS office). The problem is that I use Outlook Express primarily as my email client. This is a new computer and I don't know how to set things up properly: POP3 and HTML, etc. It's all so confusing. By the way, when it takes me to Microsoft Outlook, there is no send button so I can't even use it. I think I need to set up a profile. At any rate ... (view more)

Question: What utility has been downloaded 22,000,000+ times on download.com and a solid 5-star rating from countless reputable tech websites around the world? Answer: PC Tools Registry Mechanic. OK. So what is Registry Mechanic? In a nutshell, ... Registry Mechanic is a super-system-cleaning-utility that no PC user should be without. It streamlines the Windows Registry (a core component of MS Windows), fixes errors, and optimizes the PC for increased performance. Simply put, no other registry cleaning utility on the market has the efficiency and reliability of Registry Mechanic. And because ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Salomon A. writes: " Dear Dennis, With what program or how can I protect, (lock/unlock) my USB HARD drives with a password? I bought the Acronis Image and did my backup-image to a USB drive, but now my external drive is ... vulnerable. There are so many programs for scrambling files and folders but what I am looking for is really a 'Master' password like Windows XP. Thank you so much for any assistance you can provide. " My response: I don't know of any such a product that is "sold separately", per se, that will allow you to lock your external enclosure with a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Rosalind H. writes: " Dear Infopackets Team, My teenager recently downloaded Limewire onto our computer. As I am very wary of shareware programs, I would like to know whatever you can tell me about this and similar popular ... programs. Is it safe? Thanks for your response. " Doug's Response: Limewire is a peer-to-peer ("P2P") application that permits the user to download files from a server community. The general usage is to download music files to be played on iPods (or other MPEG3 players) or computer systems. If misused by copying/downloading copyrighted material ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Harold D. writes: " Dear Dennis, On a new computer or when the operating system is first installed, there is a box that pops up in Internet Explorer that asks if I want to Remember my Login and Passwords on a web site. There is ... also an option you can select that says something to the effect of, 'Don't ask to save anymore passwords," and if you select that option, that box will never appear again.' My question is: how do I turn that feature back on? I have searched everything I can think of on the net and cannot find an answer to this problem. Any help would be greatly ... (view more)

I have most wonderful news! Over the past few weeks I've been in contact with PC Tools (the makers of Spyware Doctor, Registry Mechanic, and Privacy Guardian); after explaining our current funding situation , PC Tools has agreed to discount Spyware ... Doctor by an incredible 20% off the retail price to help raise funds for our web site. Reminder: What is Spyware Doctor? In short, Spyware Doctor is a multi-award winning Spyware removal utility that can instantly remove thousands of Spyware and adware traces, Trojans, keyloggers, tracking threats, and other nasty Spybots from your PC. Last year, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Robert G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I've been a fan of your newsletter for quite some time. Thanks for that! Question: at the end of the day, is it best to log off and keep the computer running and ready for the next time it is used, ... or should I shut it down completely and power off? I've heard different variations on the answer to this age-old question. If I leave it running, the fans are always spinning, which causes wear and tear. What do you think? " My response: Good question! I personally always leave my laptop running 24 hours a day because I'm always using it (I'm ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don B. writes: " Dear Infopackets Team, I have never made a disk image before. My question is: if I make a complete image backup of my C drive (25Gigabytes large), can I then erase my drive and proceed to restore my image backup? ... Or is disk imaging good only for restoring broken files, but not for doing a complete system restore on a clean drive? I guess I'm a bit confused. What I would like to do is wipe out my hard drive completely, then install Windows XP fresh and all the updates and security software, plus a few program essentials (like MS Office). After doing all of ... (view more)

Recently, Kaspersky Labs detected a new form of spam email which contains an attachment of a password-stealing Trojan horse. The attached malware, which is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's consent, is ... called "Trojan-PSW.Win32.Sinowal.u" (herein referred to as "PSW"). (Source: viruslist.com ) Senior research engineers at Kaspersky Lab refer to PSW as being "the next-generation Trojan." The variant is part of the "Sinowal" family of password stealing Trojans, which is designed to steal usernames and passwords entered ... (view more)