MyAnswers: This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer.

I've recently fixed a computer which displayed the message: "This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." The message appears when clicking on a link in an email in Outlook 2007 which is an annoying problem. It was very time consuming to determine a fix this issue.

To our users please don't installed Firefox on a computer. This problem from our tests is due to Firefox. This has been a problem for a couple of years and it keeps popping up. Because there are new releases of software, each time the previous fix doesn't work, so we have to find a new fix.

The fix for this problem is documented in MyAnswers solution 1665.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Wanted: Cleaner, Helena Valley area.

At JustLocal we regularly receive enquiries from people wanting products and services.

If you are a cleaner servicing the Helena Valley  area (Western Australia, postcode 6056) and have police clearance, please contact us using the Contact information on the JustLocal site and we'll pass your information on.

This request was received on the 16th of July 2009.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Version 4.0 Microsoft Exclude file now available.

It gives me pleasure to release the latest version of the Microsoft Exclude file. A great number of people in Australia don't like the way Microsoft products accept the ize spelling in words such as organize.

Microsoft have provided a solution where users can create their own Exclude file, so words like organize, summarize, etc. are shown as spelling errors. Whilst the solution is very easy to implement, creating the Exclude file can take a great deal of time. Now you don't have to waste your time because we've already done the hard work.

We create two Exclude files. One for Word 2003, and the other for Office 2007. The Exclude file for Office 2007 now works across all the Office applications, which is a great update by Microsoft.

Our Exclude file now contains over 2,400 words. Not only does it include a large number of the ize words, but it also includes errors we've found in the Microsoft spellchecker. We're now also including secondary spelling variations, so you'll know you're using the preferred Australian English spelling. 

If you don't like ize spelling, or simply want more consistent spelling in your documents, then check out the Microsoft Exclude file which is available now.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Virus alert: "Memory Of..." from "Independence"

I've been receiving a number of suspicious emails which really don't make much sense.

The emails have the subject "Memory Of..." and come from "Independence" with a faked email address.

OzEfilter lets me know the emails are coming from Korea, so for me, they are definitely emails I wouldn't normally receive.

The email comes with an attachment "memory.rar".  A rar file is often a compressed file, but when I view the contents there doesn't appear to be any attachments. The file is twenty bytes.

I've submitted the file for review by the anti-virus company I use (as detailed in MyAnswers solution 1890) and I'll let everyone know what I hear back.

I would suggest deleting these emails. OzEfilter users can delete them at the mail server safely away from your computer.

- Kelvin Eldridge

JustLocal shortcuts now available.

Hi,

I've decided to trial the use of sub-domains with a number of JustLocal postcode pages. In general the two ways to get to a JustLocal postcode page is to enter the postcode after the JustLocal site address. For example www.JustLocal.com.au/3106 will go straight to the postcode page for Templestowe. The second method is to enter the postcode in the Go field at the top right of any JustLocal page.

For this trial I have set up the following postcode pages as sub-domains.

www.3106.JustLocal.com.au
www.3107.JustLocal.com.au
www.3108.JustLocal.com.au
www.3109.JustLocal.com.au
www.3095.JustLocal.com.au

If you find using the sub-domain to be an easier to access a postcode page, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Apple Safari under Windows gets the thumbs down.

I have to admit that I am biased. I've been creating and maintaining Australian English spellcheck dictionaries for the last six years. For me one of the most important things I now look for in a browser is whether it can provide a quality Australian English spellchecker. With so much of our writing now occurring whilst on the internet, a good spellchecker is a must have. If the browser doesn't have a suitable Australian English spellchecker, then for me the software isn't worth considering.

From what I could ascertain, the Safari browser doesn't handle Australian English and even doesn't provide British English as a fallback.

A couple of times a year I check the Safari browser in the hope Apple have decided to support Australian English. Perhaps one day in the future.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Update: A number of people have contacted me regarding this post. Please note this post is about Safari running under Microsoft Windows. Safari on the Mac is a completely different story, just as I'm sure it will also be different for the iPhone. This post is only about using Safari under Windows with Australian English spellchecking. Thank you for your feedback.

Quickly check if you're using the preferred Australian English spelling.

If you want to check if you're using the preferred Australian English spelling for a word, you can now use the free Word Check service provided by JustLocal using the convenient URL www.wordcheck.JustLocal.com.au.

Word Check is based on Kelvin's dictionary of preferred Australian English spelling. Kelvin's dictionary (which is still under development, but even now is pretty good) is the only spellcheck resource to provide the preferred Australian English spelling.

Do you know there are three ways to spell leukaemia in Australia and that doesn't include the American spelling? Word Check only verifies the the preferred Australian spelling as being correct.

Many of the free online dictionaries available to Australians use American English. Make sure you use the preferred Australian spelling. If in doubt check the word using Word Check. If you think your word processor might be wrong, check the word using Word Check. You may be surprised to learn 10-15% of the words in Word Check would not be correctly handled in the commonly used word processing package. We certainly were.

Word Check is an Australian English spelling resource being developed by an Australian, in Australia, for Australians and of course, others who wish to learn more about our great language.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge

MyAnswers: Blocking sites such as Facebook.com, MySpace.com and Twitter.com.

Every business knows the internet is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it offers so many great facilities such as email and browsing to gather information, but it can be a curse if people spend too long on sites. In particular social networking sites are becoming a real issue during working hours.

Recently a client requested a number of sites to be blocked. In the past I've used a security router, but this client didn't have the required equipment. I decided to use a trick I learnt some years ago from a virus I eradicated.

By creating a relatively straight forward text file with the sites to be blocked, it is possible to block sites and reduce the issue of social networking sites for small business owners. There is no additional equipment to buy and the change is relatively easy to implement.

If social networking sites are causing your business a problem, check out MyAnswers solution 1928. You can find MyAnswers at JustLocal, or you can use this link.

Regards,

Kelvin Eldridge

Virus alert: Dear Commonwealth Bank of Australia Customer

Over the last week or so the number of phishing emails I've received aimed at Commonwealth Bank Of Australia customers has increased significantly. Many clients are also receiving similar emails every day.

The simplest way to make sure you don't get fooled from a phishing attempt aimed at your bank, is not to provide your bank with your email address in the first place. If they already have your email address ask them to remove it. That way they can't contact you via email and every email relating to your financial institution is fake. My bank has never had my email address and I've never had a problem with receiving information from a bank.

Today I received four emails with the subjects:

1. Dear Commonwealth Bank of Australia Customer
2. Important information regarding your account
3. Important information regarding your account
4. CommAu Survey - 50$ to your account in under 2 minutes!

I thought I'd review each one of these in case it helps others.

1. This email is a fairly obvious fake because of the incorrect spelling in the following line.

"Your internet banking account is currently locked because a suspicious tranzaction was made."

On the next line it contains a link which is most likely the address of the phishing site.

The advice nearly everyone gives is never click on a link to go to your bank site. Always enter the address in the address bar of the browser. I would probably add, never trust an email which appears to come from a financial institution.

The origin of this email was Atlanta Georgia in the United States.

2. This email was a much better quality phishing attempt. Well laid out. It is warning the user their account may be suspended. This may put people under pressure leading them to make the mistake of clicking on the link.

The text you see on the link does appear to be the correct site address for the Commonwealth Bank, but don't be fooled. The actual address you don't see is to the site ipssd.dyndns.org/error/webapps/XXX (XXX added so site not valid) which will be a phishing site.

These are the type of phishing attempts which are the most concern. Attempts which look professional and I've seen some attempts which are extremely good.

As usual the moral here is never trust an email which appears to come from a financial institution.

This email came from Mount Laurel, New Jersey in the United States.

3. This email contains a graphic and some text "YRKOQYGUIDFYGVQZBEEOXCVEUOQDJUEWMPXUTF" which appears to be nonsense. The graphic itself was suppressed by the email client making this look like an obvious phishing attempt. The graphic is a link and clicking on the graphic would go to the site mbl-109-47-183.dsl.net.pk/webps/XXX (XXX added so site not valid).

Once again this email is an obvious phishing attempt. I don't know of any business that sends an unsolicited email that only contains an image.

This email came from Venezuela.

4. This email is poorly written and includes "50$" in the text, which is an obvious indication the email is not legitimate.

The email contains a link which is to the site girc.nknu.edu.tw/appserv/brepsp.phpXXX (XXX added so site not valid). It is easy to see the underlying site address if you have an email client that shows the address when you hover over the link. For example Outlook shows the link address as a text tip. Free email clients like Google hide this very important information and in my opinion is a serious limitation of Gmail.

Some phishing attempts are so good it is hard to tell they are not real. Checking the address of a link address can help to show the email is fake. Trust your instinct. If the email is suspicious to you, then it probably is a phishing attempt. Don't trust the email.

The origin of this email was Shawinigan, Qubec in Canada.

People I know try to block these emails in their email clients. This is generally a waste of time as those creating these emails continuously change their approach, even on a day to day basis. When collecting email from a pop3 mail server I use OzEfilter to delete these unwanted emails at the mail server before they reach my computer. This is a much safer approach than letting these and other malicious emails into your computer.

I hope the above information helps others. Most people are not tricked by phishing attempts, but since these emails are sent out to vast numbers of people, even a small percentage of being tricked will result in quite a number of people being affected.

Regards,

Kelvin Eldridge

 

 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll now Australianised.

One of the problems reading books from overseas, is often they use a different dialect of English than we do in Australia. If we read the different spellings often enough, we start to wonder about our own spelling.

As part of developing Kelvin's spellcheck dictionary of preferred Australian English spelling, I'm now using the dictionary to convert some of the famous e-books which are available. The first e-book I've released is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

You can find this e-book and other books from Australian authors on the JustLocal book page www.book.JustLocal.com.au.

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge

JustLocal: Release of Western Australia postcode pages.

The following areas in Western Australia have now been released on JustLocal. This is a great opportunity to build the local communities in the area. FREE advertising is available for the local community.

6055: Caversham, Guildford, Hazelmere, Henley Brook, South Guildford, West Swan.

6056: Baskerville, Bellevue, Boya, Greenmount, Helena Valley, Herne Hill, Jane Brook, Koongamia, Middle Swan, Midland, Midvale, Millendon, Red Hill, Stratton, Swan View, Viveash, Woodbridge.

6065: Ashby, Darch, Gnangara, Hocking, Jandabup, Landsdale, Lexia, Madeley, Mariginiup, Melaleuca, Pearsall, Pinjar, Sinagra, Tapping, Wangara, Wanneroo.

6068: Whiteman.

6069: Belhus, Brigadoon, Ellenbrook.

6083: Gidgegannup, Morangup.

Enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge

PS You can also go to the postcode pages from the main page of JustLocal by entering the postcode.

Dictionary: American versus Australian spelling.

In the process of creating the Kelvin dictionary I come across words which I find interesting which you may find interesting. The following is a short list of some of the words which are spelt differently in America and Australia.

The first word is the American spelling and the second word is the Australian spelling.

skeptical, sceptical
color, colour
traveled, travelled
mold, mould
chiseled, chiselled
gray, grey
mustache, moustache
pretense, pretence
pajamas, pyjamas
checkered, chequered
math, maths
plowed, ploughed
tidbit, titbit
whiskey, whisky
skillful, skilful

Whilst some dictionaries list color as now equal to colour in Australia,  usage shows colour is still preferred by most Australians.

If you want to check if you're using the preferred Australian spelling of a word, you can now do this using Word Check. You can find Word Check on the dictionary project page www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au.

By the way the words whiskey and whisky are particularly interesting. When talking about whisky it is Scottish whisky, American whiskey and Irish whiskey. The preferred spelling in Australia is whisky. 

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge

 

JustLocal search for Eltham Victoria 3095 now available.

Further to our extended search trial for a local area, we are now trialling an extended search for businesses and other organisations in the Eltham 3095 area. As we find businesses and groups with web sites, we will include them in the search engine. This will enable residents and businesses to not only use the services of the businesses on the 3095 postcode page, but also to easily find businesses and services in the 3095 postcode area.

You can find the search facility in the menus at the top of the JustLocal 3095 page, or you can go straight to the 3095 search page.

Supporting local business has always made sense. Now it is much easier for those in the Eltham area.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Australian dictionary: How good is your spelling?

Feel like testing your spelling skills. Can you get ten out of ten for the following words?

leucaemia, leukaemia
whiskey, whisky
dakked, dacked
transshipment, transhipment
bonzer, bonza
wagon, waggon
organise, organize
co-operate, cooperate
ice cream, ice-cream
sulphur, sulfur

I'll reveal the answer sometime in the future.

Good luck.

- Kelvin Eldridge

P.S. If you are interested in Australian English spellcheck dictionaries visit www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au.

JustLocal search for Templestowe Victoria 3106 now live.

The primary aim of JustLocal is to encourage residents and businesses in an area, to preferentially purchase from businesses in the area. We believe the more residents and businesses support each other in an area, the more the local community will benefit and grow. This will also mean reduced usage of cars and public transport, resulting in considerable savings for the environment, the community and the individual. 

As part of improving the experience of those using JustLocal, we are now trialling an extended search for businesses and other organisations (such as schools and churches) in the Templestowe 3106 area. As we find businesses and groups with web sites, we will include them in the search engine. This will enable residents and businesses to not only use the services of the businesses on the 3106 postcode page, but also to easily find businesses and services in the 3106 postcode area.

You can find the search facility in the menus at the top of the JustLocal 3106 page, or you can go straight to the 3106 search page.

Supporting local business has always made sense. Now it is much easier for those in the Templestowe area.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge

JustLocal virus alert: Webmail Upgrading, OptusNet Customer Service

I just received an email into my Gmail account which had the subject, Webmail Upgrading, and appeared to come from OptusNet Customer Service.

This email is a phishing attempt and should be discarded. Do not take action based on the email.

If you check the returned email address you will see the user "suport@optusnet.com.au" is spelt incorrectly. It also has incorrect word usage in the message.

The problem I found is with Gmail I could not see the underlying URL for the link. The email was not identified as spam by Gmail. In Outlook you can hover over the link and the underlying URL is shown. I retrieved the email using Outlook which displayed the link text as https://memberservices.optuszoo.com.au/login/?target=/myaccount/, but if you clicked on the link you would actually go to a domain www.uauctionoff.com.

If you are using web mail services such as Gmail please take care. Gmail is easy to use, but the lack of information on the actual address for the link could easily trick a person.

For those who are interested the email I received was sent from Nigeria.

Take care

- Kelvin Eldridge

PS. Recently I decided to withdraw OzEfilter due to insufficient people purchasing the software to justify ongoing development. However the response has been very loud that those using the software to protect them from unwanted emails, would like OzEfilter to continue. If you are thinking about getting OzEfilter let me know. If enough people are interested I will release a new edition.

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 8, I think!

I don't know about you, but this feels really weird. Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 8 with no fanfare at all. Not a press release in sight. I still can't believe I have Internet Explorer 8 installed on my computer.

Whilst I use most of the browsers for different things, Internet Explorer is my preferred browser for general browsing. It works and includes most of the things I need built-in. In general I find the features such as RSS to be better implemented than in other browsers.

One feature I felt was missing in Internet Explorer 8 is a built-in spellchecker. Initially I felt this was a considerable oversight, but now feel that perhaps Microsoft's is a better approach.

You can install spellchecking using an add-on. Visit www.dictionary.JustLocal.com.au for information on adding spellchecking to Internet Explorer. I do a lot of work creating the Australian English spellchecking dictionary and most of the spellchecking engines I've found to have limitations. Being able to swap in a different spellchecking engine in the future may actually end up providing users with a much better solution, whereas the other browsers lock themselves into the same spellchecking engine by hard coding it in.

The first thing I do when installing Internet Explorer is to visit the Fun with Search page. I then click on the link to set the search engine to Google with the default being pages from Australia.

During these tough economic times it makes sense to support Australian companies first. The size of overseas companies dwarf the presence of Australian companies on the internet. I see many people overseas complaining about sites such as Wikipedia making search results less useful by consuming many spots on the first page of Google search results. Setting pages to default from Australia fixes this type of problem for Australians whilst at the same time often provides more meaningful search results.

Grab a copy of Internet Explorer 8, install the Australian English spellchecking dictionary, set your search engine to default to pages from Australia, sit back, relax and surf the net.

Happy surfing.

- Kelvin

JustLocal virus alert: You have got a new E-Card from your friend!

I just noticed dozens of E-card emails this morning and advise all clients to delete any E-card they receive. The subject for the emails I received contained the following:

You have got a new E-Card from your friend!

You have received A Hallmark E-Card!

These were supposedly from e-cards@americangreetings.com and e-cards@americangreetings.com but were obviously faked.

The attachment in one of the emails was e-card.zip and this was not stopped by the anti-virus program in my computer, or the anti-virus programs on the mail server. It has been submitted to the anti-virus company and they should update their signature files within the next 48 hours.

Do take care and please do not open any e-card. It is safest to delete them.

For those thinking about sending e-cards, you should be aware that whilst they are a good and novel idea, they are regularly used to trick people into infecting their computer. I personally no longer send anyone e-cards and prefer to simply send an email greeting instead.

- Kelvin

PS. For more information on virus issues check the virus section of MyAnswers. In particular solution 1890 shows the online service I use to submit files for checking which results in my clients software being updated.

Word Check British English now available.

For our friends in Britain, Word Check is now also available for British English. This brings to three the number of versions of Word Check which includes Australian English and American English.

I decided to extend the versions of Word Check to also cover British English, since quite a few visitors to the site are from the UK. Many dictionaries only show the way to spell a word, but often not the variations (inflections or plurals) of the word. Word Check British English for example confirms the following as correct spellings.

cancel, cancelled, canceller, canceller's, cancellers, cancelling, cancellation, cancellation's, cancellations, cancels.

You can bookmark Word Check, add Word Check as a search engine to to Internet Explorer or Firefox using the search engine links at the bottom of the Word Check page, or add Word Check manually to other browsers.  Checking the correct spelling of a word can now be part of your browser.

The following are some tips which will assist in using Word Check.

1. Word Check only checks words. It does not check sentences and phrases. 

2. Use the correct capitalisation. For example names and places start with a capital.

3. If you find a word that is in the dictionary that you feel should not be there then after checking, then word press Challenge! All words challenged will be reviewed.

4. If you find a word is not in the dictionary and feel it should be, then after checking for the word press Suggest! All words suggested will be reviewed.

5. Feel free to make a donation. The dictionary behind Word Check is open source and donations will be used to enhance the dictionary with the assistance of professional editors skilled in the British English language. Updated versions of the British dictionary will be made available periodically.

6. Add Word Check British English to your browser as a search engine. For Internet Explorer and Firefox the links at the bottom of Word Check enable you to quickly add Word Check as a search engine. Then any time you want to check a word, type or copy the word into the search field at the top right of the browser and select Word Check as the search engine using the drop down box. For other browsers you can manually add Word Check as search engine which is also quite easy to do.

7. For Australians who are not quite certain if they are about to use the British spelling of a word or the preferred Australian spelling, checking both Word Check British English and Word Check Australian English should help answer the question.

Additional tips will be added to this post as we find things which may assist you.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge 

Word Check American English now available.

For our friends in America, Word Check is now also available for American English.

Many dictionaries only show the way to spell a word, but often not the variations (inflections or plurals) of the word. Word Check American English for example confirms the following as correct spellings.

cancel, canceled, canceler, canceler's, cancelers, canceling, cancellation, cancellation's, cancellations, cancels.

You can bookmark the Word Check page, or easily add Word Check as a search engine to Internet Explorer or Firefox. Checking the correct spelling of a word can now be part of your browser.

The following are some tips which will assist in using Word Check.

1. Word Check only checks words. It does not check sentences and phrases. 

2. Use the correct capitalization. For example names and places start with a capital.

3. If you find a word that is in the dictionary that you feel should not be there then after checking the word press Challenge! All words challenged will be reviewed.

4. If you find a word is not in the dictionary and feel it should be, then after checking for the word press Suggest! All words suggested will be reviewed.

5. Feel free to make a donation. The dictionary behind Word Check is open source and donations will be used to enhance the dictionary with the assistance of professional editors skilled in the American language. Updated versions of the American dictionary will be made available periodically.

6. Add Word Check American English to your browser as a search engine. For Internet Explorer and Firefox the links at the bottom of Word Check enable you to quickly add Word Check as a search engine. Then any time you want to check a word, type or copy the word into the search field at the top right of the browser and select Word Check as the search engine using the drop down box. For other browsers you can manually add Word Check as search engine which is also quite easy to do.

7. For Australians who are not quite certain if they are about to use the American spelling of a word, checking in both Word Check American English and Word Check Australian English will answer the question.

Additional tips will be added to this post as we find things which may assist you.

Please enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge