Computer Solutions in the greater brisbane area.
Hints and Tips
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A good surge board will save you money
I read an article at PCMag recently that really made me wonder; The writers summary suggested that surge protection was a waste of time and that you should buy a good UPS instead.
This is utterly wrong.
First off, the only people who need a UPS are those who’s machines are often doing critical work and where a cut in power would trash valuable data. If that’s not you, you probably do not need one.
The problem the writer experienced is one that many people do. It’s called a cheap surge protector. By cheap, I don’t really mean the price either, because I have seen plenty of $200 surge boards that are no better than $30 ones. Let me explain what makes a good one.
The first thing to concern yourself with is the ability of the board to absorb surges. This is usually measured in joules, which is a measure of energy. The way a surge protector works is by absorbing the extra power, a bit like a sponge absorbs water. Just like a sponge, there is a limit to how much it can absorb. Take a look at most, and you will find many of them only take around 500 joules, whereas a good one will absorb over 4000 joules.
The next thing to check is what happens when the board reaches this limit. In the case of nearly every board on the market, the surge protection simply stops working, and the board turns into a regular power strip. You have no idea it’s past its use by date, unless you happen to look at it and see a warning indicator, which some have. You have to ask yourself, how often do you crawl under the desk to check it?
A good surge protector will actually stop working entirely when it reaches this limit. No power to your equipment means no chance of a surge sneaking through once the board has done its job, and it also means that should you get hit with a massive surge or series of surges, your equipment will still be protected.
So go out and buy yourself a new surge board, and ask how many joules it will absorb, and what happens when it reaches that limit.
When to create a second MYOB file
While we are not MYOB consultants, because many of our clients know that Mathew has a great deal of experience with MYOB, we do get a few calls about it from all over Brisbane. One question we were faced with recently was to do with creating a second MYOB company file.
The client in question had just won a large contract, and this would represent a significant portion of their business going forward. They wanted to track this contract specifically, and ensure that it was producing profit.
When we talked to the client, we found that the business was still a single business entity; The new contract would be performed by the existing business, and no special arrangements were being made, beyond the need to track this segment of the business separately.
The client had proposed to create a whole new MYOB company file for this purpose. In this example, we suggested this was a bad idea; Because the new contract would be fulfilled within the scope of the existing business, creating another file would mean costly data integration later, in order to perform company wide reporting functions, such as completing the BAS. This would also pollute one set of data with the other, and in general, lead to a lot of headache!
In situations like this, there are plenty of ways to break things down within MYOB, so that you can see the separate business unit. This can be as simple as having different income and expense codes for each business segment, and in some versions of MYOB, you can also use Job Costing to product profit and loss reports for individual segments or jobs.
Where you are creating an entirely separate business to operate what is in reality a segment of your overall business, then a separate file is called for. Total separate in this case means that the new business entity will have it’s own ABN, bank account and be operated independently.
To learn more about getting the most out of MYOB, we don’t reccomend you do a MYOB Course, but rather look for a quality MYOB consultant who can advise you on the use of MYOB accounting software in your business.
Virus Removal
These days, we see a lot of machines infected with all kinds of nasties. Spyware, adware, malware and viruses are everywhere, and millions of computers are infected every month. Many users are becoming more aware of the problem and able to identify when they have a problem with infection, but the challenge they then face is what to do about virus removal?
We saw a case just this week where a computer owner quickly realised her machine was compromised. Knowing a little about computers, she proceeded to try and reload the computer herself, and after spending a few hours working on it, realised she couldn’t get the machine back up and running, and then brought it into our office.
She is one of the lucky ones; The problem with trying to remove virus infections yourself is that you don’t really know if you have cleaned the computer 100%. There are virus removal tools you can download and run, but they do not guarantee a 100% clean machine, because it’s simply not possible to be sure. Once your machine is infected, the malware agents can mask themselves, and even intercept your attempts to clean them.
The answer is always to completely wipe your computer clean and start from scratch. I’m sure the client I mentioned above thought the same thing, but again, it’s not always that simple. Putting the disk that came with your computer into the machine and following the instructions might work, but it might also leave the data on the hard drive, and you could waste hours only to be right back where you started.
If you know what you’re doing, reformatting your drive and reinstalling Windows, your programs and data files is the way to go. Just make sure you backup your computer first, so you don’t lose any files, photos or music you have on the computer.
If you aren’t sure of how to go about that, the best solution is to have a professional take care of it for you. Shift Computer Solutions, for example, can format, reload and configure your computer quickly, and effectively. Plus, we know all the tricks for configuring your computer so that when you get it back, it’s hardened against reinfection.
The Final Word: Do what you can to avoid infection in the first place. Don’t visit dodgy websites, make sure you are using OpenDNS on your home network, have a good quality anti virus solution (we suggest ESET), and keep your computer up to date.
Why you should think twice about using WiFi
Many people take advantage of WiFi hotspots when they are on the move. Free services like the one at most McDonalds takeaways are very popular, allowing people to check their email, and update Facebook without an expensive 3G wireless plan.
The problem is, they are totally insecure, and allow anyone with a bit of skill to hack your computer and your online accounts.
Well, that’s the GOOD news.
Now, even complete morons can hack into your Facebook or other online services with the click of a mouse. As reported by Computer World, the firesheep plugin is an addon to the popular firefox browser that lets you hack other peoples accounts without more than a mouseclick.
Basically, you install Firesheep into your Firefox browser, head down to your local WiFi hotspot and connect to it, and then Firesheep will AUTOMATICALLY hack other users accounts for you.
So, if you don’t need to, you should not use these WiFi hotspots. If you do, try not to use them for things like Facebook or your internet banking. If you really must, then you should install HotSpot Shield, which will protect you and your data from the evil users of software like Firesheep.
PC World have a good writeup on Firesheep.
How to stop getting the Yellow Pages
There are plenty of us out there that think the day of the printed Yellow Pages is long gone, but each year a huge lump of dead tree is still dropped on everyone’s doorstep.
If you think the tree’s would be better off still growing, and not turned into a Yellow Pages directory, here’s what you do;
Click through to https://www.directoryselect.com.au/ds/. Whack in your postcode in the “I’d like to cancel books” section and you should be golden; That is, if they have fixed the site, which suspiciously didn’t work when I tried it.
Alternatively, you can ring 1800 008 292, or if you are adventurous, try emailing them at bookdelivery@sensis.com.au
If you’re really upset about all the wasted paper, you can join the “Let’s eliminate phone books” Facebook group.
Leave a comment and let us know how you went!
Moving iTunes to a new computer
I recently had to move my wife’s iTunes to a new computer; I had done this for myself a number of times (I’m always reformatting and messing around), but had always lost data that I had entered into apps on my iPhone. This time around, however, things went a lot more smoothly.
The first, and most important trick, is to make sure you have all your music stored in a central location that is NOT in iTunes. Even if you buy music through iTunes, you should copy the files to your central music store, so that you can access it from any computer or device at any time. We have a Windows Home Server, and so I store all our mp3′s there, and when I setup iTunes for a family member, I just drag across the music they want, and iTunes will play it or sync it with an Apple device. You should also make sure you back this up!
Because all our music isn’t on our local computers in our iTunes folder, it makes moving iTunes a lot quicker because there is so much less data to copy.
Before continuing, make sure you have updated iTunes to the latest version.
The next step is to sync your iPhone with your existing iTunes. I like to get everything up to date before I try moving anything so that the ONLY thing I’m doing is moving it, I’m not updating apps or podcasts as well. If you have the choice, keeping your old machine online during the process means if it all goes horribly wrong, you can safely start again, because it will have a current backup and all your data.
Now I locate the iTunes folder. All my home computers are running Windows 7 (and yours should be too!), and so I just open my user profile (your name on the start menu), open up the music folder, and I see my iTunes folder there. You need to take a copy of it, so a USB thumb drive or hard drive would be ideal at this point.
On your new computer, install iTunes (again, make sure you have downloaded the latest version). When I was doing the transfer for my wife, I opened iTunes and had it go through the usual questions for it’s inital setup. Once it’s up, I closed it down again, and located the iTunes folder on the new computer. (Should be in the same place). I renamed this empty new iTunes folder to iTunes-Fresh (being a fresh install), and then simply copied the iTunes folder that I had taken off the old computer into the same location.
After doing that, my wifes iPhone 4 and iPad both happily synced with iTunes without any problems, as if nothing had ever happened, and all the data in the apps on both were preserved.
The final thing you MUST do is go back to your old computer (after you have verified that all is well on the new one), and DEAUTHORISE iTunes on it. You only get to setup your iTunes account on a total of Five computers, and there is no way to remove the authorisation once the computer is gone, you can only do it via iTunes. Read more about it on Apple’s website.
Now I’ve probably missed or glossed over something important, so if you are trying to do this yourself, leave me a comment, or send me a tweet @lordphantom
The French Spellchecker problem
Many clients have reported trouble with their email spell checker turning French all of a sudden. This is because they are using Outlook Express, an old, outdated and frankly, dangerous email client that Microsoft included with Windows XP. Outlook Express, or OE as we often call it, used the dictionary system from the Microsoft Office Suite. Since Office 2007, the dictionary files used by Office are too advanced, and OE cannot use them.
The interesting result is that your email spell check turns French when this is the situation.
The best solution by far is to stop using Outlook Express and start using Microsoft Outlook. There’s a good chance you already have it installed if you are using Microsoft Office. Outlook is a much superior email client, and some of the benefits of switching are;
- Improved reliability
- Easy to backup your email
- Calendar, Tasks and Notes integrated into the client
- Easy to sync with your iPhone or other smart phone
If you prefer to stick with Outlook Express, you need to install a dictionary that it can use for English. Download and install this dictionary solution, reboot your computer and you should be back in business.
Leave a comment and let us know how you went! You can always call us on 3814 1131 and one of our technicians can fix this for you if you need us.
Why we suggest Internode ADSL
We regularly get asked about broadband internet connections, and we have for many years told all our clients the best way foward is to sign up with Internode. Because I find myself answering this question so often, I thought I would write a post about it, detailing all the reasons I use and reccomend them.
Support
Internode employ great quality people, who are well trained and keen to help when you need it. They are all based right here in Australia, which not only means you are supporting local jobs, but that you get someone who understands you and your situation. Despite having many of our clients using Internode, we only have to call them a handful of times a year, but when we do, we always get the issue resolved quickly and without a lot of hassle.
Value
It’s hard for many to see past the price tag of some large telco’s ADSL plans. This is made especially tricky when some offer a short term discount to get your business. The reality is that Internode have never been the cheapest provider of ADSL in Australia, but their plans have always represented great value, and they are certainly competitive. You know where you stand with Internode, because their plans are honest, avoiding the tricks that some ISP’s use to lure you in.
No Off Peak
Many of the best looking deals misrepresent the value they offer by dividing the quota given into peak/off peak. This means that you are forced to use a large chunk of this quota overnight. None of our clients operate 24 hours a day, and so for them, this off peak quota is wasted, and effectively, they are only getting the peak component. Internode’s quota is 24/7, so you can use it when it suits you.
Data Blocks
Internode allow you to purchase more quota almost instantly if you happen to go over. Most other ISP’s simply force you to suffer through terrible speeds, or worse, charge you massive fees when this happens. Having the option of buying extra data is a huge advantage, especially for home based businesses where sometimes kids can spend the school holidays on the computer.
Free Data
Internode also provide it’s users with a lot of content that does not count toward your quote usage. You can access most of the ABC, for example (and watch many ABC shows via iView) without using any of your quota. If you like listening to the radio, Internode rebroadcast a ton of great radio stations online, and none of them count towoard your quota.
All in all, we’ve been happy we chose internode for many many years, and even today, there isn’t an offer from another ISP that would make us switch.
Updating your ESET Anti Virus
Here’s a short video that shows you how to put the ESET username and password into the software if you already have it installed; If you need to download the software, get it from ESET Australia.
McAfee killing PC’s with latest update
Here’s another reminder that we use and reccomend ESET Anti Virus;
Yesterday McAfee sent out an update to their virus definitions (update 5958), which caused McAfee to detect a critical windows file, svchost.exe as a virus; In many cases, this leads to the file being deleted, which, when you reboot, leads to your computer not working.
Of course, McAfee’s support forums collapsed shortly afterward under the weight of unhappy customers wondering what happened. The good news is that the problem will be fixable without a complete reinstall of your computer, but the bad news is, you’re probably going to need some technical help to make it happen.
If you are using McAfee, and your computer has problems, give us a call and one of our tech’s will get you back up and running, and while you’re at it, consider switching over to ESET.
