Computer Mechanics, Computer Repairs Perth Western Australia

Computer Mechanics Security

  • Firefox update

    3.07 - new version of Firefox with security fixes and stability improvements...
    Fri, 06 Mar 2009

  • Twitter spoofed

    Newish love child of the Web 2.0 universe, Twitter, has been succeptible to SMS spoofing from mobile phones. This allowed malevolents to take control of other people's accounts. Many of us have escaped unscathed.
    Fri, 06 Mar 2009

  • Facebook Spam

    A deluge of spam email here from the "Facebook Update Center" which is of course, just the "Facebook Spam Center". Disregard and don't click on any links in these emails...
    Fri, 06 Mar 2009

  • Disable Autoplay

    The Virut virus travelling via USB sticks reminds us all to turn off Autoplay in Windows. Here's how to turn it off in Vista. Here's how in XP. Here's how in XP with TweakUI software. And call 9325 1196 if you want Computer Mechanic to do it for you as part of a maintenanc
    Fri, 06 Mar 2009

  • Email account theft

    A Perth acquaintance just emailed all his contacts saying that his email account has been hacked. "Please ignore any emails from that email address. I can no longer access it. Ignore the request that I am not in Perth seeking $1500 from you. My apologies."

    If you know people who are on the Net but not security savvy, let them know they are at risk of identity theft and should get a computer professional to check their PC AT LEAST once a year.

    Sun, 15 Mar 2009

  • Facebook overload

    A re-work of an old hoax that dates back to the time when Hotmail was hot. No, Facebook is not about to cancel inactive accounts because it's overloaded. Chill.
    Sun, 15 Mar 2009

  • 1 password?

    "One third of surfers admit they use the same password for all websites". That's not good... Here is some video advice from the aptly named Sophos' tech, Graham Cluley. Don't use words from the dictionary! Source.

    Sun, 15 Mar 2009

  • Conficker (cont.)

    Brian Krebs on the war being fought for control of millions of computers. Now the Conficker worm fights back, telling infected zombie computers to get updates from one of its new URLs. 50,000 new domains each day.
    Sun, 15 Mar 2009

  • DO NOT CALL

    An email doing the rounds suggests that mobile phone numbers are about to be released for use by telemarketing companies. It says you need to register your mobile number with the Do Not Call register by next month or risk receiving unsolicited calls. This is nonsense. If you've already registered no further action is needed. If you haven't already registered (2.4 million Australians HAVE) here is the place to go.
    Fri, 20 Mar 2009

  • YouTube sent this?

    No, YouTube did not send you a video. And even if they did send one about some guy eating 53 hotdogs, you won't click on the email, will you? It's just not enough hotdogs to make up for the time it will take removing the virus...
    Sat, 21 Mar 2009

  • Other people

    Computer Mechanics customers are much, much better informed about computer security than your average Damien. So take a second to smugly read what info is being stolen from other people.
    Sun, 22 Mar 2009

  • IE8: WAIT

    Early reports on the upgrade of the browser Internet Explorer to version 8 warn of bugs, slowness and the need for an extra 4GB of storage space. Perhaps not a good idea to hurry into that upgrade. Also consider switching to Firefox.
    Mon, 23 Mar 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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