Just Ask Me
Protecting your Online Privacy
Having problems with you computer or have questions about the Internet or technology in general, well you've come to the right place. You can e-mail me your questions and I'll put answers right here.
Question. My computer has been restarting recently whenever I play a game on it. I have a feeling that I either need to clean it out or get a new fan because it overheats. What do you think about this?
Josh
Seattle, Washington
Answer Excessive heat in a PC can cause freeze ups, and the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. It’s possible that a build up of heat due to a build up of dust in the insides of the PC to cause random rebooting but it isn’t the most likely cause. A ram problem is the usual suspect when a PC reboots randomly. Try scanning your computer with an up to date anti virus program to find and remove any viruses that may cause any problems. Before trying to play any game when the problem arises, make sure that you have downloaded and installed the latest patches from the web site for maker of the game. There is a chance albeit a small one that it’s a hardware problem with the RAM in your PC. DocMemory is a utility program you can download from www.simmtester.com that will inspect the ram for possible defects.
Question. I recently made the change from using AOL as my ISP to DSL service from my local telephone company. After just a few weeks of being on DSL I seem to get a lot of spam e-mail (typically 20 to 25 everyday). What have I done to get so much spam? What can I do to hopefully get rid of it.
Anabelle
Regina, Saskatchewan
Answer. The telephone companies operate directory web sites that are like phone books on the Internet. Customers of the Internet services provided by the telco’s also have their e-mail addresses listed on the directory web sites. These directory web sites are great for spammers to collect e-mail addresses. Once your e-mail address has been harvested by a spammer and once you start getting spam it’s extremely difficult to stop the spam. No matter how much spam you get never use the spammers’ instructions to unsubscribe from their mailing lists. This only confirms to the spammer that you have a valid e-mail address and that the person using the e-mail address reads all their e-mail right to the end. Using a utility program called Mailwasher that you can download from www.mailwasher.net can help by bouncing spam e-mails back to the sender, telling them your e-mail address is invalid. Being more aggressive against spammers requires a little detective work in the full message headers of the spam e-mails to find the true path that through the Internet to your PC. Originating e-mail addresses can easily be forged and send through an open relay, an unsecured mail server that allow anybody so send e-mails. E-mailing the system administrators of the ISP’s that the spammers are actually using is the only way to hold anybody responsible for the spam e-mail you get.