 | By Dennis O’Reilly You can change a single setting in AVG’s free antivirus program to keep it from garbling the Windows Secrets Newsletter and other HTML e-mail from appearing as garbled text. Readers lead us to the source of a glitch that prevented Outlook, Thunderbird, and other e-mail clients from displaying Web mail. |
Dozens of responses point to a single app
In my column last week, I asked you to write in if your newsletter didn’t show images and other HTML content as intended. Dozens of you took the time to report the problem. (Thank you!) Several people told us how they determined the source of the garbling. Bret Miller put it this way:
- “A while back when I switched to AVG Free edition, I found that AVG’s option to certify e-mail was basically killing off all formatting in some of my newsletters. So while I appreciate that AVG scans my e-mail, I turned off the ‘certify’ option, which then eliminated the unformatting of those newsletters.
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“This ‘certify’ option does nothing more than add text at the bottom of the e-mail to show that it’s been scanned and found safe, so it doesn’t reduce the effectiveness of the scanner, just the intrusiveness of it.”
To disable e-mail certification in AVG, click Tools, Advanced settings, choose E-mail Scanner on the left side of the window, and disable Certify e-mail for incoming messages. The steps are described in the AVG FAQ (scroll down the page to number 1376).
PC repair pros do know their stuff
Most Windows Secrets readers know quite a bit more about PCs than the average Jane or Joe off the street. That’s what Scott Dunn meant when he said in last week’s Top Story that you probably know more than the person you’re likely to be hooked up with if you call a tech-support line.
He most certainly did not intend to disparage an entire industry, though Richard Chase can’t be faulted for thinking otherwise.
- “I have to say I was quite insulted when I read this quote. I hope this is a misprint:
If you ring up the repair shop or call tech support, the person you talk to probably has less PC experience than you do.
“So you’re saying that the average person has more experience diagnosing and fixing computer issues than a qualified, possibly educated, computer professional? I am quite amazed at the blatant ignorance of this comment.
“You have obviously never worked in the repair industry before. I’d also like to add that what you are asking people to do is mess around with things on their computer system that they may know nothing about. The worst kind of computer users we get here are the ones that attempt to ‘fix’ things themselves when they have no knowledge of what they are doing.
“I can’t count the number of times that a customer has made their issue much worse, even to the point of complete data loss, because they attempted to ‘fix’ it themselves. If the user has a failing hard drive, the absolute worst thing they could try is things like system restore and other rollback measures because potentially recoverable data can become lost forever.
“The BEST solution someone can do is bring their computer in to someone who’s paid to fix it. I also have to mention that all of these solutions you have provided will do nothing for the user if they have hardware failure.
“From a computer diagnostic and repair technician, the first thing we do is check the hardware. There is no point putting countless hours and effort into a system when it has failing components. These things should always be checked first. I think you should double-check your article and rewrite it.”
The final word on the racy beer-ad parody
At last count, the pros were ahead of the cons by about 5-to-1 on the great issue of our time: the appropriateness of the Max Beer video that was featured in our Wacky Web Week column a while back. Rosanna was one of the many readers who wrote in, saying they enjoyed the ad take-off:
- “I loved that commercial and I am a female. It was very very funny. (Guys are so predictable!) : )
“Remember, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, so just go with the flow and please some of the people.”
- “G’day, Windows Secrets folks!
“I want to respond to Marv Plementosh’s letter complaining that your link to the Max Beer parody was inappropriate. I thought the ad was hilarious. In fact, it was so funny that beer came out my nose. And I wasn’t even drinking beer at the time! Keep up the good work.
“The only complaint I have is that it was only a parody. I mean, me and my mates spent the next few hours trying to buy Max Beer. For obvious reasons.”
Exhibit A is the featured video in today’s Wacky Web Week, which is based on a comedy routine by Eddie Izzard. His Star Wars outtake includes a smattering of what would be called foul language if it were spoken by anyone but the inimitable Mr. Izzard.
| Readers Bret, Richard, Rosanna, and Andrew will each receive a gift certificate for a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your tips via the Windows Secrets contact page. |
The Known Issues column brings you readers’ comments on our recent articles. Dennis O’Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.
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