Computer Mechanics, Computer Repairs Perth Western Australia

Computer Mechanics Security

  • Office 2007

    Office 2007 users should upgrade to Service Pack  2, which has just been released. It contains product fixes and security fixes. Source.
    Mon, 04 May 2009

  • Facebook. Twitter

    These are big targets for hackers. Donna Buenaventura (Happy Holidays!) details the recent hacks that embarrassed these companies.

    What can you do to protect yourself? Read the article. Don't follow weird links. Cross your fingers.

    Mon, 04 May 2009

  • Fairfax Digital

    A deluge of recent spam purporting to come from Fairfax Digital. It's not hard to spot; the subject line is just the name of someone you've never heard of. Pretty good reason to hit the delete key...
    Mon, 11 May 2009

  • PDFs the worst

    Latest research shows PDF files are now the most targeted by hackers. Last year it was Microsoft files. Adobe security practices are the subject of recent debate. Do not open PDF files without scanning them. And as previously advised, consider changing to a non-Adobe reader.
    Mon, 11 May 2009

  • Factory-fitted virus

    You should not assume that your brand spanking new device is virus free. Kaspersky finds a new netbook with a worm. Scan everything.
    Tue, 19 May 2009
  • Evil USB sticksFurther to the previous Alert, here is how to turn off Autorun to prevent getting viruses from USB disks. [More]
    Tue, 19 May 2009

  • Secret questions

    Kind of obvious, but if a web site wants you to create a secret question, make sure it's not too obvious. Research shows that many people can guess your secret answer, especially if they know you a bit.
    Tue, 19 May 2009

  • Adobe respond

    Responding to their increased attractiveness to hackers, Adobe are to follow Microsoft and implement regular patches. This is good, be happy.
    Tue, 26 May 2009

  • Dangerous search words

    Some fascinating research written up here (okay, WE found it fascinating) which looks at the search words most likely to take you to an infected web site. Hopefully you are keeping up to date on your Antivirus and you are using NoScript to turn off all but necessary scripts.

    If not, be warned that Screensaver, Free and Lyrics are all words likely to lead to infected sites. Full McAfee report here.

    Thu, 28 May 2009

  • Internet dating

    Some security advice for the broad-minded. Giving out your mobile number too easily can cost you money and cause you trouble. After that you only have your broken heart to worry about.
    Thu, 28 May 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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