Computer Mechanics, Computer Repairs Perth Western Australia

Computer Mechanics Security

  • Conficker Eye Chart

    This clever test is an indicator of whether your computer is a victim of the Conficker worm; the biggest, baddest worm on the planet at the time of writing. Note that the test is not reliable if you are behind a proxy server.

    If you can see all images there's no problem. Otherwise you may want to call Computer Mechanics on 9325 1196 or another reputable computer repair company to have a look see at your machine.

    Sun, 12 Apr 2009

  • Powerpoint trojan

    Arrives as a .pps file in your email. Shows you a nice Powerpoint show. Loads a trojan in the background. Robert's your father's brother.
    Sun, 12 Apr 2009

  • End of XP support

    April 14th: Microsoft ends support for its most widely used product, Windows XP. Security fixes will continue til 2014 but any new bugs; you'll have to pay if you want them fixed.
    Mon, 13 Apr 2009

  • Acrobat security

    Mikko Hypponen, highly regarded security guru from F-Secure has advised people to drop the Acrobat Acrobat PDF Reader on the basis of their lax security practices. Here is an alternative. Here are more alternatives.
    Sun, 26 Apr 2009

  • New free scanner

    The F-Secure online scanner is free and now works with Firefox. Sign up for the Beta here.
    Sun, 26 Apr 2009

  • Vista vs XP

    Microsoft testing shows that Vista users are subject to 60% less malware problems than XP users.
    Sun, 26 Apr 2009

  • Caution with PDFs

    Just an addendum to the Alert on Adobe Acrobat, many people have assumed that .pdf files are safe to open compared to say, .exe files. This is not the case, as .pdfs are increasingly targeted and Adobe's security is questionable. Do not open unless you're expecting it from that person.
    Sun, 26 Apr 2009

  • Twitter worms

    Like emails, the social software site Twitter is vulnerable to a worm attack. The first significant worm for Twitter is the Mikeyy virus, so called for the name of the writer. If you followed a link from that user you visited an infected web page which sent the same tweet to all your contacts.

    Twitter have stopped this problem but here's an article on how to reduce risk of a future infection. Source.

    Sun, 26 Apr 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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