|
Nightlife,
nationally on ABC Local Radio
The next
Nightlife
spot
is Friday, November 23 at 10.15pm and
we'll be explaining how
to choose the right
Internet plan.
Our next Weekend
spot is Sunday, December 9
at 10.10am and we'll be discussing preparing your home and office for the
Christmas break.
If you'd
like to call, or offer any suggestions about the shows,
please contact
us.
Books
Who
says you can't get a good computer manual? Our Dummies books are now available
online. If you want
to learn more about your computer, we have the
answers.
Our website,
IT Queries answers common
computer problems.
If your
computer is has a frustrating problem, have a look for an answer at
our site.
If you
don't find one, just ask on the IT Queries site and we'll get a
solution for you.
Get PC Rescue to fix your
computer problems almost anywhere in
Australia
Troubleshoot &
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We
come to your home or office to troubleshoot & fix irritating
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Prevent
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and check. We will clean the internal workings of your computer,
removing dust that causes overheating and poor performance and we
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Support (per issue)
Do
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professional helpdesk consultants can help. If we can't help you, we
won't charge you, guaranteed! Time limit of one hour applies.
Network
Set Up (Wireless/Wired)
Let
us set up your home network quicly and easily. We'll also secure it
so you don't get any unexpected visitors or excess Internet usage
fees.
Call
1 300
798 957 for more details or visit
our website for the details of more of our
services.
As
well as our IT Queries website we also have two blogs commentating
on current issues.
Cranky
Tech is where we vent our spleens on
issues relating to IT support and small business. |
Buying a
computer
Shopping
around for technology can be tough. There's so many
options to confuse even the most
tech savvy buyer.
This month we've updated our
advice on buying new computers. In researching the current
deals, we've noticed how much the prices have dropped recently. We
really would recommend buying a system if yours is feeling a bit
old.
The most important
thing to be looking for in a new system is getting enough RAM, or
system memory. Some cheap systems have as little as 256Mb which will
leave you weeping as the poor beast struggles with the demands of
modern software. We recommend a mimimum of 1Gb in all systems and
would really like you to get 2Gb.
Of course, buying a
computer is much more complex than we cover here, visit our website
to get the full rundown of what you
should look for when buying a new
system.
Getting the most from
rebates
we've noticed the
rise of American style rebate programs offering 100-150 dollars back
with a computer or printer purchase. We hate rebate schemes as
explained in our Cranky
Tech blog. In the US, they are deeply unpopular for the same
reasons we dislike them.
Rebate programs are
a dreadful deal for consumers. You pay full price, fill
in a form, send it off and wait weeks or months for
a cheque to come back in the post. We strongly suggest you
avoid rebate programs, but if you do encounter one then
follow
our advice on getting the best deal.
Choosing business
computers
Business computers are different to home computers. What you
need in a business is different to a home; reliability and speed are
essentail. Unless you're an
architect, graphic designer or engineer you probably don't need a
high end system to run the office, accounting and Internet
application most business use.
So you should look for something more
basic, it should have that recommended 2Gb of RAM and a decent
size hard drive of upwards of 120Gb but you don't need to be
worrying about higher end graphics and sound features in many home
computers. The idea is it should be more reliable as your business
depends upon it. We'll be updating buying the business computers
page later this week.
Buy
your kids another computer
One thing to watch for with is
if you are working from home, consider buying your kids
another computer. The kids have
a habit of hogging the best machine so if you give them the
better computer as that will mean they won't mess around with your
system.
Beware of business
"freebies"
We've recently
encountered a few business being caught out by
"free" photocopiers and TVs being thrown in with
business service plans and Internet deals. It turns out thes
extras are covered by separate leases. When you cancel the service,
you find you are still lumbered with a lease you didn't
want.
The
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has
issued a warning about exactly this issue. They make the point
these "deals" have even included washing machines and mobile
phones.
Getting the most from an
ISP
The main feature this month is choosing the right
ISP. With the massive changes in the market, we've comprehensively
re-written the choosing
an ISP page. We've put in there everything you should look for
when choosing an ISP. It's a complex area where making the wrong
decision can be expensive.
The key to avoiding
expensive surprises with your Internet provider is to put a limit on
what you can spend. All ISPs have
limits on how much data you can send and receive each month. Some
will charge you if you go over that limit while others will slow you
down once you reach it, the latter are called "capped"
plans.
We recommend you
only consider "capped" plans as these mean you can't get a huge bill
from your ISP. Having an "excess charge" plan is the
equivalent of writing a blank cheque to your provider. We've seen
bills bigger than $25,000 for one month's
usage.
Again, this is a
big issue that's beyond this newsletter, have a look at our advice and make
sure you get the best deal. Even if you already have a provider have
a look as the market has
become incredibly competitive. If you haven't reviewed your Internet
plan in the last few years, you might be pleasantly
surprised at the improvement and
savings.
Door to door salespeople selling Internet
plans
We're hearing
stories of door to door salespeople selling Internet plans and
making some outrageous and incorrect statements to get the sale. The
danger with door to door sales is it's totally commission driven so
unscrupulous sales folk have been known to tell porkies to get their
numbers. We recommend you don't sign up to any technology plan sold
this way.
One big danger with
this is that while the legal cooling off periods apply as they
do with any door to door sale, the telcos act quickly to "churn" you
to a new provider. Once you've moved across to an inferior sevice,
you may not be able to get back to your old provider. So be aware of
this
trap.
Disputing a telco
bill
It's not only dodgy
door to door salesmen you have to watch for. The TIO's
2007 annual report is a terrible indictment on the
IT industry with ISP complaints up by a disgraceful 108%.
If you find yourself in dispute with a telco or ISP we
have the rundown on how
to deal with it on our website.
Cheap software
warning
Microsoft are warning
about a wave of cheap counterfeit software being released in
Australia. This is a real concern for businesses as the anti piracy
mechanisms in MS Office can leave you locked out of your own
documents. It also exposes businesses to massive fines and civil
proceedings.
The old saw is "if
it's too good to be true, it probably is". Take care with cheap
deals.
Adobe Acrobat
updates
Acrobat has been a target of a lot of
malware attacks recently after several
security holes were been found in it. Adobe have released a
major update to Reader and we strongly recommend you download and
install it. If you are running a later version of Acrobat, you'll
have probably been prompted to install it and we recommend you
should follow that advice.
Adobe also has a removal tool for earlier
versions of Acrobat as part of this month's automatic update
package. One of the bugs with Acrobat is how poorly it removes old
versions and how they interfere with each
other.
If you have multiple versions of Adobe
Reader on your system, we'd recommend uninstalling all the old
versions. Be aware you may have to reinstall the latest version
after uninstalling the rest.
Apple
Nasties
The Apple
Mac has been untouched by the wave of evil malware that's washed
over the millions of Microsoft users. Recently though, a few
real life Mac specific malware programs have been found on
the net.
It would
be unfair to call these Mac problems "viruses", the proper term
is "Trojan horse" in that they
have to pretend to be something else to fool the user into
installing them. Usually they pretend to be music or video playing
software.
If you get
a message that this website requires certain software or "codec" to
play a media clip then be very, very cautious. This is a classic way
to be infected. Check the "codec" is legitimate before going
ahead.
We'd
prefer you not to download and install these things. Certainly, if
you aren't sure what something is then don't accept it and certainly
don't run
them.
Jargon
Buster
If you're being confused by tech terms,
visit our jargon buster web page. If you'd like
some jargon explained, drop us an email.
Jargon
watch: Naked
DSL
You may have seen adverts about "naked DSL"
recently. DSL, Digital Subscriber Lines, is the technology that
brings broadband Internet down the existing telephones
lines.
Until recently, unless you were very rich,
you had to have a telephone line that was connected to the
phone network, that meant a line rental and some monkeying around
with equipment.
With recent changes to Telstra's wholesale
prices, Internet providers can now offer services without
going through the Telstra system. This means better service and
prices.
Choosing computer
gifts
This is the time of
year to be looking at gifts for your nearest and dearest. If
computers are their thing, then a technology gift is a great idea.
We have some tips on the
website on how to make sure you get the right gift for the nerd
in your life.
Coming
up on the website
All
the topics in this newsletter are currently on, or will
soon be on, the website.
If you have any suggestions, comments or have spotted one of our
numerous errors, let us know.
Regards,
Paul
Wallbank
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