Computer Mechanics, Computer Repairs Perth Western Australia

Computer Mechanics Security

  • Ethical phishing

    There are companies out there that construct fake emails to demonstrate how easy it is to infect computers. One of these experiments, written up on ZDNet, impersonated the LinkedIn site and was able to bypass 100% of anti-spam filters.

    If you weren't expecting an invitation from Bill Gates, don't click on it. Email invitations from your Social Software sites: beware!

    Tue, 03 Nov 2009

  • First iPhone worm

    It changes your wallpaper to a picture of Rick Astley. So it's serious. The problem affects people who hack their iPhone and don't follow security practices, i.e. a minority of users. Nonetheless, it shows the vulnerability of the device. A colourful write-up by Sophos blogger Graham Cluley who traced the hacker. Source.
    Tue, 10 Nov 2009
  • New virus: Gumblar

    Kaspersky reports a new and growing virus; only detected by 3 of 41 anti-virus companies he tested. (They will eventually catch up). It's an iFrame attack. You visit a web site that's been infected and it re-directs you to a site that attempts to download infected files to your PC. Much trouble ensues.

    Your best protection? If you run NoScript, you can disable iFrame in the Embeddings tab, though you'll probably lose some webpage functionality. Also, don't visit dodgy web sites and don't put anything in your mouth unless you know where it's come from.

    [More]
    Tue, 10 Nov 2009
  • Twilight malware

    I'm going to write this without any vampire jokes just because I can. There is email-borne malware around that centres on the New Moon film based on the Twilight series. You've probably seen the hype on TV. Don't TV stations just love giving free publicity to Hollywood movies? I seem to have strayed from my original point.

    Don't get tricked into downloading videos or codecs so that you can view the movie. You'll end up with trojan viruses on your PC. Source1. Source2.

    [More]
    Sat, 21 Nov 2009

  • Anti-spam success

    You don't often read about the wins, but here's a story of a large spam network knocked out by a relatively small security company. 264,000 zombie computers identified and needing to be cleaned up.
    Sat, 21 Nov 2009

  • Win 7 vs Vista

    Why is Windows 7 more secure than Vista? Glad you asked. Here's a run down from Kim Komando.
    Sat, 21 Nov 2009

  • Notebook reliability

    Another large study on notebook reliability showing Toshiba and Asus performing well and HP performing poorly. The same study reports that Netbook malfunctions are up to 20% higher than for Notebooks but makes the point that Netbooks are a newer technology and more data is probably needed to be sure.
    Sun, 22 Nov 2009

  • Skype: Koobface

    Skype users; heads up! The Koobface worm now incorporates a Skype module that sends IM messages with malware hotlinks to people on your contact list. Any unexpected web links arriving in Skype should of course be ignored. Even if the message looks like it's come from a contact. The penalty for ignoring this warning is a dose of the Koobface trojan virus. Source.
    Sun, 29 Nov 2009

  • Long URLs

    Twitter users will be familiar with shortened URLs designed to save space when linking to a web site. The problem is, how do you know the link actually goes where it's supposed to? It's a situation ready-made for malware links. Use LongURL to expand the short one so you can check it's legit before you go there. There's also a Firefox extension that makes usage painless. Source.
    Sun, 29 Nov 2009

  • You should run IE8

    If you are running Internet Explorer and you like it and want to stick with it, make sure you are running version 8. (Check under Help, About if you're not sure what you have). Security holes are starting to emerge in earlier versions that are not present in version 8. So go here and download. It won't take a minute. Ok, maybe a couple of minutes, but it's very straight-forward.
    Mon, 30 Nov 2009

Help Desk

Tips and Tricks

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Infographics

I love this stuff. If you're interested in how to present information with great visuals, visit Infosthetics; it's the best aggregation of infographics EVAR.
Mon, 06 Sep 2010

End of Yellow Pages

If you never use your Yellow Pages or White Pages because you're always using this thing you're using now, you can go here and tell Telstra/Sensis to please not deliver those door stops.
Wed, 01 Sep 2010

Google Priority Inbox

Google's doing that thing they do again; improving their products. Gmail is introducing Priority Inbox, giving you the ability to automatically prioritise your email based on which emails you've previously read and/or replied to. If you need a web based email account, Gmail is the go.
Tue, 31 Aug 2010

The Arc Touch mouse

The rumoured new Microsoft Arc Touch mouse. Looks very sexy but not yet released. Funny comment on that blog: "I too have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of yet to be released hardware."
Tue, 31 Aug 2010

Pretty desktops

Smashing Magazine invites designers to contribute monthly calendar designs that people can use as desktops on their PCs. Lots of elegant choices for September, though many designers seem confused about what season it is. Includes a number of Ramadan desktops for our Islamic readers.
Sat, 28 Aug 2010

MS Office GAME

Ribbon Hero is the Microsoft game that sneakily trains you in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Do challenges, compete, share on Facebook. No, we don't know why you'd want to share it on Facebook. But then we're not big on Farmville either. Versions of Officer earlier than 2007 won't handle it. You'll have to Read the Manual.
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Laptop bags

Engadget U.S. reviews a range of the cheap and the fabulous laptop bags - in Australia, you can get Kata bags and the LowePro CompuPrimus at Quality Camera. The Case Logic Slimline ships from Deals Rebate but the Timbuk2 bags aren't available locally.  
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

3D laptop

Gamers! 1600 bucks gets you the latest in 3D laptopery. The Toshiba Satellite A665 comes with NVidia Active LCD Shutter Glasses. See, I don't even know what that is but it sounds SO GREAT.
Tue, 24 Aug 2010

Cheap eBook

The Laser eBook lets you listen to music while reading your eBook, is colour and has video. But it doesn't have wi-fi; you have to download your books to a PC first. $150. Cheap. Via The Australian. More.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Best Windows laptops

Electric Pig journos chose the Dell Studio 15, the HP Envy 15 (15 is big this year), the Samsung Q430 & 320 and the ASUS EeePC1201N as the best value laptops on the market. They're a UK site but all those models are available in Australia. You'll need to check the local prices of course.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Hacking into mobiles

An American security guy has demonstrated how he can intercept mobile calls on the GSM mobile phone network using relatively cheap hardware. Scary stuff since that network is the world's most popular and is predominant in Australia. Newer network technologies (3G) are not vulnerable. *Going back to pen and ink*.
Sun, 15 Aug 2010

Biz card transcription

Networkers of the world, pay attention. Here's how it works. You take photos of the business cards you collect at the conference/function, then send them to CardMunch. They have people transcribe the contents (guaranteeing accuracy) into a web based address book you then sync with your phone. Time saver, much. Via Mashable.
Wed, 28 Jul 2010

Upgrade essentials

Here's what you need to know about upgrading from Vista to Windows 7. Actually, you don't need to know all of this, pick the relevant bits. But FIRST, this applies to everyone: back up before you upgrade. If you don't know how, call us because things can and do go wrong during upgrades.

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Mon, 26 Jul 2010

Review Asus EeePC

Engadget do the best reviews. Here is their thorough look at the new ASUS netbooks. Having used an iPad for a month or so now I'm can tell you the web browsing experience falls well short of a netbook.
Mon, 26 Jul 2010

Searching in Outlook

Most of us know that you can click on a column heading in Outlook to sort the column into alphabeti order. Do you ever used the Advanced Find option? Click on Find, then Options, then Advanced.

 

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