From michael at auzzie.net Mon Mar 31 12:52:27 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:52:27 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] End of Support for Windows XP? Message-ID: <5338CA5B.50308@auzzie.net> Hi All :) Just a quick note that some of you may have received a message on your computer letting you know that Microsoft is ending support for Windows XP in April. This does not mean you have to stop using Windows XP if that is what you're using. It just means that there won't be any more security patches for it. Provided you use Chrome or Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, and you keep an antivirus program up to date; it should be quite safe to keep using your computer for a while yet. I will let you know if this changes. Your computer won't suddenly stop working in April. Cheers, Mike. PS - I will send a more detailed newsletter soon. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Sun Apr 13 20:08:20 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 20:08:20 +1000 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 51: Time to change your password? In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <534A6214.7080001@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from Black Mountain. *Latest News: Time to change your password? How to remember all your passwords? (LastPass, etc.) Windows XP and Office 2003 no longer supported. What to do? Windows 8 - is it good or bad? Wireless NBN now in Guyra. ** Other Stuff * ** Blog Rebuilt My Irish Lass Busy Busy... Wheelchair Van for sale, $6890. Hate your Dentist? * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Time to change your password?* By now you've probably heard of the "heartbleed" problem on the Internet. In short, it can allow hackers to occasionally get people's passwords. Here's a great little comic that explains how it works... http://xkcd.com/1354/ This bug has actually been around for a long time, but not publicly known. Some fairly major sites have been affected. If you want to know which sites are affected, have a look at http://mashable.com/2014/04/09/heartbleed-bug-websites-affected/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link So, the general advice is that it's probably a good time to change your password... I even received a notice from Gmail that someone tried to bet into mine! *How to remember all your passwords? *Lately when I go to people's homes and businesses to repair and install computers, they tend to come forward with a book full of scrawled passwords. There are a few ways to save you the hassle of having to remember them all. It's not a good idea to use the same password on more than one site, because if a hacker gets that password from one site, they usually try it along with your username or email address on multiple other sites. /*Let Internet Explorer, Chrome or Firefox save them. */On most websites, when you enter a name and a password your web browser will ask you if you want to save the password for that site. There can be some annoying exceptions however a some sites turn this feature off. If you do use this feature, be aware that anybody who uses your computer could click into the settings area and view all your passwords. You can prevent this in most cases by ticking the "Use a Master Password" box. For Firefox and Chrome users, you can also enable 'sync' either by choosing "set up sync" in firefox, or by 'signing in' to Chrome. */LastPass. /*LastPass is a program you can put on your computers for free, and optionally onto your phone or tablet for $1 a month.*/ /* One of the main advantages of LastPass is that it works between browsers - so if you're using Firefox on your laptop, but prefer Dolphin on your Android phone or Safari on your iPad / iPhone, you can have your passwords available on all of them. Another advantage is that it can create passwords for you. Your passwords are never visible by LastPass' server because they are encrypted before they leave your computer. You can get it from https://lastpass.com/ */KeePass/ *LastPass is believed to be very secure, but if you aren't willing to trust them, then there's KeePass. With KeePass your passwords are only stored on your computer, again with a master password. It can also generate passwords for you. Free from http://keepass.info/ / /*/Microsoft Word./ *Don't want to install anything new? You could just type all your passwords into Microsoft Word (for example) and then use the "Save Options" from Save as... to set a password on that document. Note that this isn't entirely secure since if someone takes that file from you. Versions before 2007 were easy to crack. Later versions are much more secure provided your password is not something obvious. *Windows XP and Office 2003 No Longer Supported. What to do?* Now that Windows XP and Office 2003 are no longer supported, people who have these programs are, over time, going to become exposed to a higher risk of attack as time passes; although it remains to be seen exactly how this might play out in the future. As per my last short message, here is my advice in order of importance. 1 - Stop using Internet Explorer, and instead use either Firefox or Chrome . They all do the same thing. Firefox tends to be faster than Chrome on older computers with limited memory. 2 - Use a free or paid antivirus. On some computers I had in the past installed "Microsoft Security Essentials" as it was a good free virus scanner; but Microsoft has withdrawn support for it on Windows XP as well. My preferred free product instead is Avast Free Edition from http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/ (green button top right, Download Latest Version.) If you prefer speed or are on a very old computer, I suggest doing a 'custom install' - and only install the File Shield option. It does require free registration with an email address every year, and will of course try to upsell you into buying the paid version. If you're an Outlook Express user, as mentioned below, the mail shield option might be worthwhile too. 3 - Consider changing from Outlook Express to Thunderbird orWindows Live Mail ; especially if you're using an ISP-Based Email address. Outlook Express has Internet Explorer built into it for displaying email content; so could potentially become a risk over time. If you're not using Gmail or Outlook / Hotmail, there's a fair chance that your email is not well filtered either. If you're determined to keep Outlook Express (which I can understand since it is a nice simple program to use compared to some of the modern stuff) then having your ISP email forwarded to and masqueraded by Gmail will provide some protection. 4 - Microsoft Office. Updating to a newer version of Office might be problematic since the latest versions don't work on XP. I guess just be careful when opening attachments from people you don't know well or if they are unexpected. You could also ditch Microsoft Office in favour of LibreOffice, but it will likely perform much slower than what you're used to. 5 - Change your account on Windows XP to a Limited Account. This is a more technical solution but does give a high level of security. Go to your Control Panel, choose User Accounts, and Create a New User called something such as Admin. Give it a password you can remember. Then, restart and log in as that Admin you've just created. (This will take a few minutes the first time.) You can then go back to Control Panel - User Accounts, and change your normal account to a Limited Account. Restart again. Then, whenever a program wants to do something to your computer that could affect its security, it will first have to ask you for that password. (Note that the above steps work 99% of the time, but on rare occasions XP can go mental and you might get locked out of your account and need help getting back in.) 6 - Y2K all over again? Well, there's a fair chance that this could be like the Y2K bug, a storm in a teacup. Time will tell. *Windows 8 - Is it good or bad? *If you're worried about buying a new computer because of the dreaded Windows 8, I can assure you that it's not so bad. Once you install "Classic Shell" or any of the other programs that gives you back a Windows XP-->7 style Start Menu, life quickly becomes familiar again. Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7 in my experience. You can think of Windows 8 as being a bit like a normal desktop computer with a tablet built into it as well, or like a VHS machine that plays DVDs too. A couple of cautions. If you're on a limited downloads plan on your Internet, be very careful when setting up Windows 8. If you enable SkyDrive, your computer may try to put every file, photo, song you've ever loaded onto the Internet. That's a lot of uploads! Not a problem if you're on a decent plan, but a big shock if you're not! Also, the update from 8.0 to 8.1 can clock in at 4GB. Also, remember Windows 8 doesn't come with Microsoft Office. You have to buy or hire that separately, unless you have a version that can be migrated. If you have lost your CD key from the old computer, you can use Belarc advisor to find the old key and try to install it on the new computer. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Often Microsoft will let you get away with it if you call them and explain; but it's not guaranteed. If that's too hard, you can try LibreOffice instead. It's OK for basic Office work. *Wireless NBN Now in Guyra. *If you're lucky enough to live in about a 12km radius of Guyra, you might be able to get on the NBN now. To find out, visit the NBNco Website here and enter your address or GPS coordinates. http://nbnco.com.au/when-do-i-get-it/rollout-map.html?icid=pub:hme:rollout:hro:img If you can get it, I can help get you connected. Rates are from $40 a month, $59 installation; and for an extra $5 a month plus a couple of one-off expenses, you can move your landline number over to it as a VoIP service too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Blog Rebuilt... *Well, it only took me two years to get to it! And it's probably not of much interest to most people, but at last I have migrated my blog to a WordPress installation. http://coolhelp.com.au/blog/ The great thing about having a WordPress blog is that the software automatically updates. A common problem with many older websites is that the software they're written on (Joomla, etc) is a hassle to update and thus gets forgotten about because it continues to work; but eventually hackers end up attacking them or the server is upgraded and one day the site disappears. With WordPress (and perhaps Joomla etc too, I've not done much work with it lately) the software updates automatically. *My Irish Lass :) *As many of you know, Caroline my Irish lass came out to stay for a couple of months earlier this year. It was an exciting time, and she enjoyed meeting many of you while she was here. (By law she wasn't allowed to work, and my finances and commitments are such that I still needed to work sometimes while she was here; so on many days she opted to travel with me rather than keep Molly and the cats company!) Thank you to all of you who accommodated us both while I balanced work and play; and for your patience in the longer times it sometimes took to get to you all in Jan / Feb. Caroline and I have formed quite a strong relationship over time, and are slowly making plans into the future. (Slowly being the operative word here as applying for partner migration typically takes about five months!) In the mean time, it's likely I'll fly back to the UK and Ireland for a few weeks again in July, with hopes that our applications will be approved by October / November. It's quite unlikely I'd choose to live in Ireland given how well I am settled here, so there is little fear of you all losing your local IT guy :) I will of course keep you all posted. *Busy Busy... *By now the word has certainly been spread that I'm back on deck; and I'm pleased to say that yes I am almost back to normal now. I've been through a whole stack of depression that almost seems surreal now. The cruel insomnia cycle. The anxiety. The inability to think and function. The inability to make a decision. The feeling of doom that there is too much to do and no time to do it. The random grief. The occasional rage. (Although that seems to be the way of life for us all once we 'grow up' but when one fallen rusty garden arch seems like the end of the world you know you're a bit off!) I still struggle a bit with it at times and have the occasional existential crisis - you assorted religious folk are lucky to have confidence in your chosen purposes hehe - but while I'm alive and able to help others; I'm OK with myself :) Thank you to you all for your support over this past year - it's been thirteen months now. *Wheelchair Van For Sale. *I'm about to list my 1999 Mazda E2000 disability van for sale on the Internet, but before I do; here's your chance. Please pass this information on to anyone you know in the area who might benefit from it. 11 Months Rego remaining. Asking $6,890 - I've taken $100 off to save advertising costs. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0AY7b80Qw *Hate your Dentist? *I don't hate mine, She's a good one. But that said I'd rather keep my teeth in good order. 30 years between trips and there were a few problems that had to be sorted. Anyway, Reddit had a post recently called What is something you have purchased and now can't live without?? - and among the favourite items was a WaterPik . I'd never heard of them before, so I decided to grab one. It's basically a pressure cleaner for your teeth instead of having to floss; although it can be used to pressure clean just about any small item. So if you hate flossing, or if you are someone who doesn't drink enough water, you could possibly find one of these to be quite useful :D /Well, that's it for another newsletter. Sorry it's a bit later than planned! Cheers, Micki./ ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://coolhelp.com.au/blog/ You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Mon Apr 28 21:39:40 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 21:39:40 +1000 Subject: [CCC News] Flying Away for Most of May... Message-ID: <535E3DFC.50701@auzzie.net> Hi all :) My partner's 86 year old father has taken ill; so I have brought forward my next trip to Ireland for Monday the 5th of May, with an expected return date of 5th June. I'd like to catch up with him while he still has some marbles left. I will still provide support as best as I can in this time - and will still receive messages on my mobile via some technical wizardry, and can call Australia for 10c untimed :) Support hours during most of this time will be 6pm to 10pm and 8am to 9am. Click here for remote support information. Unfortunately there aren't many around who do the same work that I do, to the same standards and at reasonable prices. The closest alternatives I know are Armidale Computers on 6771 2712 or Amac Digital Products on 6771 2266. There is also another IT guy recently moved to Armidale that you can try - Jason Mills, on 0408690435. I haven't worked with him yet, but he seems experienced and fair to deal with. He's busy with studying etc and has 7 years experience, and is also looking for new clients. He said he will service Guyra too. So, get in quick this week! My apologies for the inconvenience. Cheers, Mike. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Sun Jun 15 19:04:08 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:04:08 +1000 Subject: [CCC News] Draft: Assorted News 52: GST and Survey Time :) In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <539D6188.4010100@auzzie.net> *In this edition:* This edition comes to you from Black Mountain. *Latest News:* Where's My Bill? Customer Pricing and Satisfaction Survey! *Other Stuff:* Chromecast vs Apple TV I'm Ba-aack... Jason Mills Wireless NBN a mixed bag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Where's My Bill?* As some of you have probably noticed, very few invoices have been sent out since May. The reason? I've made too much money! Well, not really, but my turnover is too high. Several years ago I deregistered from GST because it made jobs for home customers a little cheaper and it meant I didn't have to do all that pesky GST paperwork. The rule was that if your turnover is less than $75,000 per year, you didn't need to be registered for GST. This has become problematic because it has meant I have had to watch how much I 'proxy spend' for customers - and recently some customers have asked me to make large purchases of computer gear on their behalf and then invoice them - something I make very little money on but which of course counts against turnover and also prevents them claiming GST. When I was doing some financial forecasting just before nicking off to Ireland again, my accounting system said "hey Mate, you've nearly hit the $75K limit!" (Well it didn't literally say that, my accounting system isn't programmed to speak although that could be fun!) Since this legally requires me to re-register for GST, I've temorarily stopped sending accounts and am living on savings until I can get that taken care of. Otherwise I would have to re-issue a bunch of invoices! *Customer Pricing and Satisfaction Survey!* Re-Registering for GST means I will lose 10% of my income to the ATO, so I guess it is time to consider increasing my rates a bit. I will still retain the low income and pensioner ~30% discount on labour costs, although at particularly busy times these customers may be delayed by full paying customers. To have you say on what you think the pricing should be, and also to provide optional feedback on what you find good and bad about my services to you, feel free to fill out this seven question anonymous survey - should take about 3 - 5 minutes. (Limit 100 customer responses.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *ChromeCast vs Apple TV* What are they? They are little things you can plug into your flat screen TV that turn them into "Smart" TVs How much are they? $49 all up or the Chromecast; or $89 (plus an HDMI cable) for the Apple TV. How are they the same? Both let you watch movies and listen to music that you have on your computer, or that you find on the Internet. How are they different? The Chromecast is controlled entirely from your mobile phone or computer. The Apple TV is controlled either by your computer or the included remote control. The Chromecast is entirely dependent on phones or a computer to tell it what to show you on your TV. The Apple TV can work independently for streaming YouTube, etc. Which should you buy? Up to you :) If you are predominantly an Android and Windows family, the Chromecast is great. If you're more into iTunes and Apple stuff, the Apple TV is great too. Do they need broadband to work? No. You just need a WiFi network, or Ethernet is OK for the Apple TV. Can they play pirated movies from hard drives? In most cases, yes; via a computer or phone / tablet. The Apple TV requires you to tell iTunes about the movies first. There are apps for Windows, Android phones and tablets that will let you stream most files from them to your TV too. Are there other alternatives? Yes - almost all modern laptops can plug straight into your TV and your TV becomes a big laptop screen. These devices just add convenience. One final point - the Chromecast is not much bigger than a memory stick, and in many cases can be powered by your TV so you might not need an extra power point. *I'm Baa-aaack :)* Yes, I'm back from my trip to Ireland - and yes, Caroline returned with me again :) Our migration process still has up to four months to run, and the peculiarities of the process require her to be out of the country when a decision is made; so our exact future is still up in the air. She also can only stay for three months at a time on the current visa, so that adds to the excitement. She is not allowed to work yet either - good news for my belly as I'm being well fed; not so good news for the Guyra and Black Mountain roadhouses that were feeding me beforehand! Fingers crossed that we have a convincing enough case when they get around to looking at all our masses of paperwork and evidence! *Jason Mills.* A few of you made use of Jason Mills' services while I was away last. It is a relief to know he's handy if I am unable to work for any reason - that's always been a point of stress in my job. He still plans to stay on in the area doing IT work, so if you can't catch me or I've ticked you off somehow (!) you can try him on 0408690435. He's only part time due to his other commitments. *Wireless NBN a Mixed Bag.* The Wireless NBN in Guyra is up and running, and I have about 6 customers signed up to it so far. The results are mostly good - the connections are fairly stable, certainly moreso than their Optus Wireless connections. The only issues I'm having so far are intermittent periods of disconnection on one service despite full signal strength, and speeds well below those advertised in all cases. (12Mbps services rarely exceed 4Mbps, 25Mbps services rarely exceed 10Mbps.) It's still well worth the money; but isn't quite living up to the promise. /Well, that's it for another newsletter. Wishing you all a pleasant winter! Cheers, Mike. /** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://coolhelp.com.au/blog/ You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Fri Oct 24 20:42:16 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 20:42:16 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 53: Where'd you go? :) In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <544A1EF8.9070701@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from under the big Pine tree at the Guyra Golf Course. (Then my couch at home because I wrote too much!) *Latest News: Where'd you go? Unlimited Landline for $50 New Aldi Mobile plans. What about the new spying laws? Microsoft Security Essentials backpedalling. ** Other Stuff * ** *Facebook Projects --> Fuel Prices How to keep Facebook private How to keep Facebook quiet Friend Lists. Facebook for Business? NBN Update A Neck Mobile for Oldies? Waiting Game continues. What's For Sale? Rail Trail. Make your computer up to ten times faster for $130? Claret Ash Feasibility Study. * *** * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Where'd You Go?* Hi Strangers :) Well, as you probably have noticed, it's been a long time between newsletters. There's a few reasons for this, but probably the biggest reason is because I've been teaching myself about Social Media - working out how groups, pages, lists all work; and creating a few projects and advertising experiments on the way. I've traditionally been against Facebook, mainly because it is a 'closed system'. If I post something on Facebook, even if it's posted publicly; it's often not searchable in Google. I prefer open systems. So, to reach a global public audience, a blog is generally a better option. (The things I usually post on my blog are things that will help a global audience.) Knowing I'm being 'spied on' doesn't endear Facebook to me either, but there are ways around that which I'll cover later. (I'm also fond of R eddit since it is a bit like a public facebook and accepts downvotes as well as 'likes'.) But the numbers speak for themselves where Facebook is concerned. According to this page almost three out of four people who use the Internet are also using Facebook. The main reason I ended up on Facebook was the Armidale Buy Swap Sell group. There's 17,000 people in that group. A massive hidden market of people constantly buying and selling stuff with no cost to do so. It's far from perfect since there's no 'ratings' system; meaning people often 'impulse buy' an item then never follow through; but if you're aware of this likelihood when using the site you can generally get used to it and plan for the no-shows. I've sold a few computers and gadgets on it, and Caz on her limited budget is always getting clothing there. If you want to know more about Facebook stuff, read on later in this newsletter. (Like how to keep it private, and to stop it from filling up your email with endless rubbish.) Customers are welcome to follow or Friend me on Facebook, but much of my content is not work related. /*Why would I want Facebook? */Well, the one thing that is really handy about Facebook is that _/information comes to you /_rather than you having to go looking for it. If you friend like-minded people, join relevant groups, or "Like" businesses and organisations that are useful to you; you'll find more events to attend and stuff to do. (For me it's bike rides, computer repair jobs, invitations to events, buying and selling stuff, and general time wasting!) /*Why wouldn't I want Facebook? */It can be addictive, and a huge time sink. So, like any recreational drug, it needs to be dealt with in moderation. Depending on your 'friends' it could also be a vector for harassment or catfishing. Never friend someone you don't know, and if you are getting 'involved' financially or emotionally with someone on Facebook, try using http://tineye.com/ with their profile picture to check if they've stolen someone else's photo. Don't share stuff that could embarrass you later either, it's not always possible to delete stuff or control who re-shares it. *A quick Facebook Intro:** * If you haven't used Facebook at all before; basically what happens is you have one really long page called a 'news feed' - and it's where nearly everything that all your friends and 'liked' businesses share will appear. By "unfollowing" people you no longer see their stuff on this page; but you can find it if you go to their page instead. (This is different to 'unfriending'.) If you have "Liked" a page then the things they share will also appear on your 'news feed' - which can be quite handy. ---- *Unlimited Landline for $50 a month? *I never thought I'd see this happen. The world is pretty much going Mobile, which can be an issue for many rural customers who 'live in holes' or just too far from towns. (Mobile reception often fails in valleys.) I'm sure you've all "heard about the bird." The Dead bird. The Extinct Dead Bird. Well, they've released an Unlimited Calls Landline product for $50 a month. (Or $60 without contract.) That includes calls to mobiles! See their website for more info . Those of you with long memories will remember that the dead bird has been known to be a bit of a problem years ago with regards to billing issues; some finding it easier to cancel their credit cards than to stop the bird from pecking at it every month! I've not personally had that problem in the last four years that I've been burning dead bird for electricity; (still the cheapest of all providers last I looked) but if you are concerned about this - or have issues talking with people with strong accents - you might want to set up a Visa Debit or Debit MasterCard account specifically for your new twitching habit :) The caveat of course is that 13 and 1300 numbers are 39c each, and international rates aren't brilliant compared to Aldi. They also state "Not available in all areas" but I haven't hit that limitation yet for phone services. ---- *New Aldi Mobile plans. (Plus others.) *I'm still a big fan of Aldi Mobile, and carry SIM cards in stock if you ever want them. A reminder that they use most of the Telstra network,**so coverage in Guyra and Armidale is pretty much the same as a normal Telstra service. They've had some nasty plan chances in the past as they struggled to find a financially viable offering; but the latest offering is pretty good. Key plans: Very Light Use: $15 per year, calls 12c/min Light to Moderate Internet Use: (Tablets) $16.50 per month for 1.5GB. About 5 hours a month on the phone? $20 About 10 hours a month on the phone, plus 1.25GB Internet? $30 About 20 hours a month on the phone, plus 2GB Internet? $35 See https://www.aldimobile.com.au/newplans for more info. Automatic recharging is available so you don't have to worry about recharging yourself. Of course, if you need more than 20 hours a month, or you need better coverage - especially up North, you could go with Boost Unlimited for $40 a month. http://boost.com.au/ (Includes 2GB.) If you're addicted to data instead and don't mind using Optus' network, Amaysim's $45 a month for unlimited plus 5GB of Internet could suit you. Or for a tablet, $10 for 1GB per month. http://www.amaysim.com.au/ If you need help buying and setting up a new phone, I can help there too. I have sold several LG L70s and HTC Desire 300s in the last couple of months for prices around $150-$170. They are impressive phones for the price. ---- *What about the new Spying Laws? *Now here's a tricky one. I know I have both Liberal and Labor supporters for customers. (And Bulldogs and Rabbitohs supporters too ;-).) So, I'll not speak my mind too loudly in order to keep the peace. However, there has been some disquiet about our current government having passed some new spying laws allowing them ASIO to have full access to any 'network' they desire. See here . It's pretty trivial these days to avoid spying however, and that's the funny thing about laws like this. They will only catch the dumb criminals, since the smart ones will just use VPNs to avoid detection. But it might also have implications for pirate downloaders of movies in the future. If you aren't really a heavy downloader and just want to be able to browse the Internet from your Phone, Tablet or Laptop without having to worry about being watched, you could try out the cute free (for light use) VPN program called "TunnelBear" - there's many others out there too but this is probably the easiest and definitely the cutest one to use or experiment with. While running, your bear will take your Internet traffic to USA, UK, Canada, Sweden and several other places whose flags I can't recognise. (Which also means you can look at their TV shows online etc as if you were in those countries.) The 'tunnel' is scrambled in a way that should make it impossible for the Australian government to see what's in it - although I can't 100% guarantee that they don't have a way. Then you can read whatever opinion pieces you want and not have to worry. For the 'pirates' among you, there are some others that will work with your Torrenting programs but I've not yet had time to do a thorough assessment. If you want to get ahead of me, you can look here . It's also possible to hire a Seedbox - I've not looked into these - after all how much TV can one watch in a lifetime when one is still able to walk? :) ---- *Microsoft Security Essentials backpedalling. *Microsoft appears to be once again letting their antivirus products become inferior to others - a pattern that has repeated since Windows 3.1 . Microsoft Security Essentials - the free antivirus built into Windows 8 and available for Vista and 7 still works, but is languishing a bit in comparision to other products. If you are using it, and you are a 'risky' user of the Internet, you might want to consider Avast or something similar. Note that when installing Avast, it's best to do a custom install and only install the "File Shield" option as most of the other features are there just to try to upsell you other products you probably don't need. See here for more info. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Facebook Projects --> Armidale Fuel Prices. *I'm a lucky guy. My car runs on LPG so it's about $60 to fill up the tank, which gets me 550KM roughly. (It's partly why you don't see the Bluebird or Kingswood much these days.) But for reasons I can't figure out, a few months ago the LPG in Guyra fell back to 88.9 cents a litre whereas Armidale it's 99.9 or therebaouts; and it's been like this for months. So I decided to start a few facebook groups. The main one is Armidale Fuel Prices , with smaller ones for Black Mountain and Guyra . The basic idea is that before heading out to get fuel, you can visit the above page on your phone or computer and find out who is the cheapest today. (In practise it's not perfect since there's only three of us contributing so far, but it's fair.) The Black Mountain Roadhouse in particular seems to have jumped on board with this and is competing heavily with diesel almost 20 cents a litre cheaper than Armidale retailers, making it cheaper for many to make the drive, fill up and head back again. Perhaps if enough people do this, one or more retailers in Armidale might crack and bring their prices down to something more reasonable. Apparently that's what the service stations and the ACCC wants us to do . ---- *How to keep Facebook Private? *In this case, by Private I mean how to keep Facebook from knowing everything else you're doing online. (If instead you want to hide your stuff, that's a job for another newsletter.) Facebook has code embedded in many non-facebook websites that you visit; which enables them to see where you go and what you look for. This can be OK since you get targeted ads in your Facebook sessions; but you might consider it an invasion of privacy as well. One way to try to keep Facebook from knowing a lot about you is to simply use a different browser for it. Say for example you use Mozilla Firefox for your day to day web browsing; you could install Google Chrome and use it just for Facebook stuff. (You could perhaps use Internet Explorer as well, but it doesn't perform well with Facebook.) If you don't want to go to that extreme, or you just don't like being tracked by anybody, you could use Ghostery instead. ---- *How to keep Facebook quiet. *The first thing that tends to happen when people get Facebook is that they are suddenly overwhelmed with new content, and with lots of emails turning up in their inbox. This is enough to turn many off Facebook immediately. There are two solutions to this. One is to 'turn off email notifications ' that you don't want. The other is to 'unfollow ' the noisy or annoying people. People don't know you've 'unfollowed' them, although they might notice you're not 'liking' their stuff as much. ---- *Friend Lists. *One dilemma I had when first starting out with Facebook is that I have all types of friends - ranging from ultraconservative religious folk through to foul-mouthed ruffians. (I'm flexible like that!) But I don't really want those two groups to meet too much. There are two ways you can work around this. One is to make your friend list private. That is, your friends can't see who else you have as friends. This method isn't foolproof though, since any friend could comment on your posts and thus be seen by other friends. The other issue of course is that you might be tempted to post that potentially politically or religiously offensive joke, but you know that some of your friends will take offense. That is where "Lists " come in handy. With these you just make up a list containing the friends you know will like your sense of humour, and when you go to post that joke; you choose that list instead of "Friends" or "Public". Problem solved :) (More or less...) ---- *Facebook for Business? *I've been asked recently on a couple of occasions to help set up Facebook / Social Media presences for businesses. The "correct" way to do this is to have any staff member create a "page" for the business. That page can then be administered by multiple staff members, and isn't tied to a single Facebook account. That way when the original staff member eventually leaves the organisation, the page remains. Having a Facebook presence can be valuable since, as mentioned before, your information goes to the people who have liked your business, they don't have to go looking for it. For example, my (neglected) business page has no direct links to my personal Facebook page. Note that you can also spend money with Facebook in order to advertise your page to others, but based on this video I'm not sure if it's a worthwhile endeavour. It's probably best to target your customers in a more traditional sense. There also needs to be someone at the receiving end to reply to incoming queries and to post content now and then. For some businesses, a Facebook presence is likely of much greater value than a traditional website, although the two will work well together. ---- *NBN Update. *I've heard third hand of some people complaining that their NBN service is a nightmare. I'm yet to encounter any big dramas with it yet - at least not with the Exetel ones I've done - apart from some speed issues early on in Guyra. I'm still offering NBN connections via Exetel, but also happy to support the other retailers. Prices from $40 a month. The biggest nightmare by far has been getting landline numbers moved over to NBN services. One customer is still waiting for this to happen after about 5+ attempts and many hours on the phone. To find out if NBN is available in your area, click here . Note that some providers such as Skymesh offer contract free services so you can see if it's worth keeping once connected. Also, if you're listed as not being covered but the coverage maps show that where you house is on your property is covered, a phone call to NBNco may resolve that for you. ---- *A Neck Mobile for Oldies? *I've done some testing of a small mobile phone of sorts that is worn around the neck. Featuring only four buttons and photo dialling, it is supposed to allow the wearer to make and receive calls; and in an emergency for it to contact several people and include the GPS location of where it is. Results were a little mixed, but at around $100 it's very cheap compared to those Medical Alarm button things you can buy. The few caveats? Optus network only. (Use Amaysim for cheap annual expiry.) Tedious setup having to get photos of desired contacts into it via the website. (Why do people have having photos of themselves?) Hands Free is a bit hard to hear, but normal mode is OK. On the plus side, a one week battery is pretty good :) Built in torch. Multiple SOS contacts. Allow one hour setup if you want one, $60 including local callout. One loan unit available for trial. ---- *Waiting game continues... *Caroline and I are now several months into our estimated nine month wait for partner migration approval. I'm pretty sure that they deliberately take this long as a it's a good test to see if a relationship will survive the financial and emotional stresses of both parties while waiting. Caroline's doing well adapting to Australian live, and we're still financially treading water OK. She's taken up walking, some exercise classes, a bit of garden maintenance, and of course trying to fatten me up as well! She's renewing her first aid certificate tomorrow in preparation for seeking volunteer work / work experience while we wait. (Previous job was in home and nursing home care.) (Her long stay tourist visa stipulates that she is not allowed to carry out any work that another person would do for money, so that somewhat limits what she can to.) We're both happy, and have random outings when we can afford it. (Tamworth, Walcha, Coffs, etc.) * ---- **What's For Sale?* At present, one complete computer system with Office 2010, asking $200. Also about to have a reconditioned Toshiba laptop for sale. ---- * Rail Trail. *I'm still in support of the idea of converting the long disused rail line between Armidale and Glen Innes (and optionally beyond) for use as a Rail Trail. I know some of you are strongly opposed; but in my opinion the trains won't run again here; and the line is not suitable for a modern service without extensive repair. Until a national reason exists to re-establish a rail service; I have no problem with the idea of trying something new - that is using the corridor as a multi purpose trail and tourist asset. The biggest obstacle I can see is the narrow width of the line in places where there could be a risk of service users falling off the edge; but that's for the feasibility people to look at :) To get an idea of what my local section looks like in reality, I made a silly video of it and posted it on YouTube . Please know I have nothing against rail, and would happily see the line in use. I just can't see rail being feasible given our rural location and our 'just in time' transport demands. If the government has money allotted to tourism specifically, I don't consider it a waste. ---- *Make your computer up to ten times faster for $130?* In most computers, these days it's the hard drive that makes them slow. Compare them to something like a phone or iPad where things happen quickly because they don't have a hard drive. In most cases you can replace the hard drive with a solid state drive. To demonstrate the difference, I made a short comparison video . It shows the same computer before and after the upgrade. (25 seconds vs 80 seconds.) ---- *Claret Ash Internet Feasibility Study. *This evening I have commenced a feasibility study to see if there's a way I can legally connect the houses in Guyra's Claret Ash estate to a shared high speed broadband service via directional WiFi bridging. (Claret Ash is a new housing estate in Guyra that has no landline services, nor access to the Wireless NBN service since it is scheduled for Fibre NBN installation in the uncertain distant future.) As some residents are paying up to $400 a month for Mobile Broadband, there is some incentive here to create a useable alternative. This might involve the cooperation of one or more fully serviced neighbouring households, and possibly one or more local electricians for rooftop yagi antenna installations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ / //Well that's it for another newsletter. Sorry it's been a long time coming. It took over four hours to write this one - finding the time is not always easy. Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather despite the need for rain - I know my 'pet lobster' is :) Work utilisation is about 70% at the moment, not flat out but not idle for too long either. Random thoughts of the last few months: / * /Unusual repairs this month have included a blender and a record player. / * /The electric bike fried itself on the Walcha Mountain Bike Challenge, so a new controller is on order. ($40) / * /Google Keep is a handy free program for your computer and Android phone. / * /Chrome can create 'Application Shortcuts' so you can have a calendar, Gmail, Keep icon in your task bar. / * /Pizza ovens used to cook chickens may catch fire. (Unconfirmed cause.)/ * /Android software upgrades sometimes are a bad idea. (Note 3, can't go back, lost VPN, GPS not as good.)/ * /Optus cannot be trusted not to slug you with a massive bill if you buy a smart phone but don't consider the data cost on your old plan if you take the SIM from your old Nokia brick. (One week, $300.)/ * /Why, in a town with NBN, doesn't 2AD offer streaming?/ * /I'm still doing web hosting and offsite backups from $3 per month. / * /Will anybody read this far :) / / / ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://coolhelp.com.au/blog/ You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Fri Nov 28 09:27:07 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 09:27:07 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Caution: Don't open "Refund from the Tax Office", "Speeding Fine" or "Package from AusPost" email attachments. Message-ID: <5477A53B.4020401@auzzie.net> Hi all. Just a quick note that the CryptoLocker virus I mentioned some months ago in a newsletter has been upgraded and is doing the rounds again. I've had two instances already, and Armidale Computers has had six. If you receive an email from the "Office of State Revenue", "AusPost" or the "Australian Tax Office" with an attachment, please don't open it. If you do, it will encrypt all the personal files it can get to, and then request a ransom of about $600 to recover them. If you don't pay that ransom, your files are not retrievable unless you have an unaffected versioning offline backup or a good cloud backup. For more information: http://www.finance.nsw.gov.au/scammers-email-fraudulent-fines http://betanews.com/2014/11/24/cryptolocker-the-comeback-malware-reemerges-ready-to-steal-your-money/ Cheers, Mike. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Thu Dec 25 00:47:28 2014 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:47:28 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Merry Christmas! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: G'day all! Just a quick email to wish you all a Happy Christmas, and all the best for 2015. I appreciate the support you have all given me throughout 2014, and look forward to whatever excitement 2015 brings! I'm still available throughout this next few weeks if you need help with IT stuff. I may be taking a week off in late January. Mid January I will also be having a massive indoor / outdoor garage sale of my late partner's art and craft supplies, ornaments, plus other assorted furniture and IT stuff. If you'd like to be notified by email when this is happening, let me know. Thanks once again for using Cool Country Consulting! It's great to be back on deck again. Cheers, Mike. ________________________________ Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting. Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Skype: cccons (This email was sent from an Android-based phone.) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: