Chinese Restaurant Templestowe - Flying Dragon now on JustLocal

A favourite eating place with Templestowe locals is the Flying Dragon Chinese Restaurant. You can now find the Flying Dragon’s menu on the Templestowe page of JustLocal (3106). Call ahead and save time ordering your next take-away Chinese meal.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au/3106

Doncaster Pizza - Papa Loui's Pizza and Pasta

I decided recently to drop in to The Village on High Street and purchase a Pizza from Papa Loui’s. I ordered a capricciosa and said hold the anchovies. The pizza was very enjoyable. OK. I have to admit, I do like pizza and wasn’t disappointed.

Papa Loui’s is located on High Street in Doncaster. They’re well positioned for picking up a pizza on the way home to Doncaster, Templestowe or Templestowe Lower. Papa Loui’s prices are also very good.

You can now find Papa Loui’s menu on the JustLocal 3108 page. Call ahead when picking up pizza and save some time.

Bon appetit.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

Eltham Fish and Chips menu from Bolton Fish Shop now online

The Bolton Fish Shop menu is now available on the JustLocal 3095 page. Save time with your next order of fish and chips by telephoning your order through in advance. You can now check your next Eltham fish and chips order with the convenience of Bolton Shop’s menu being online.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Think global, act local   

Apple Mac Flashback botnet malware infection

The Myth of Apple Mac computers not being infected by malware has now well and truly been busted. The Flashback botnet, has according to reports in the media, infected around 600,000 Mac computers, with an estimated 30,000 being in Australia.

The Flashback botnet only requires a Mac user with Java installed to visit an infected site to infect their computer. You can read more information on the CNET site.

I don’t currently provide Mac support, so should you find you’ve infected your computer, you may need to contact a Mac support person. I believe a patch is available so you should perform any updates available for your Mac computer.

A number of suggestions are: apply any updates available, install antivirus/malware software on your Mac, if you don’t need Java on your computer think about removing the software, if you wish to keep Java installed, consider disabling Java in your browser.

I hope this information helps those using Mac computers.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.

Servicing Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.

MozillaFirefox - Client feedback requested

One thing I've noticed providing support to clients, is most clients using Mozilla's Firefox browser have had their search engine hijacked and aren't aware.

This became quite apparent helping one client recently. She typed into the search field, "print boarding pass virgin" and didn't get the results expected. I then suggested she use Internet Explorer and she obtained the site she wanted immediately. The problem was her Firefox browser search engine had been hijacked.

Generally I recommend clients use Internet Explorer, but there is one situation where Firefox is better than Internet Explorer and that is you can install an Australian English spellcheck dictionary. I previously stopped supporting Firefox because the project instead of contributing to the dictionary I created, took a copy, forked it and changed the licence. I particularly did not appreciate the change of licence which was against my wishes. If open source projects contributed back to others rather than just taking from other projects, all the projects would grow. Instead my work was withdrawn and users ended up with a fork which had been incorrectly modified giving users a lower quality dictionary.

Because some clients like to use Firefox, if there is sufficient interest from clients I'll make the version of the Australian English spellcheck dictionary for Firefox and Thunderbird available again.

Clients please contact me via email with your feedback.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.

Austin Mercy Heidelberg car parking fees

I suspect I'm like most people, that when I've visited an ill friend or family member, the high cost of parking seems a tad unfair.

Knowing the parking fees in advance at least makes the hit a little easier to handle.




Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.

Computer repair Doncaster

When looking for a local person to repair your computer in Doncaster, the first place a lot of people now turn to is the internet. You’ll see quite a few responses to a search, but one question you may wish to ask is: “is the computer repair business really local?”

The first tip is look at the telephone number. Numbers like 1300 numbers are usually run by large organisations and the support person could come from anywhere. Next is check out the web site and see what their contact details are. Large businesses have deep pockets and can afford to place extensive ads on the internet making it hard to find a local support person. If you can’t find their contact details and in particular a local address, chances are they aren’t local.

I’ve found many people prefer to use the services of a local person if they can. I know I certainly do.

If whilst searching for a computer repair or support person you find Online Connections, you’ll see I’m based in Templestowe and service Templestowe, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Templestowe Lower, Montmorency, Lower Plenty and Eltham. Being in Templestowe I can be at your place at a convenient time. I don’t have to fight traffic travelling half way across Melbourne to get to your place. You deal with the principal of the business so we get to know each other and that can make future support calls quicker and thus cheaper.

Being local I don’t charge a call-out fee, travel time, or a minimum charge as many others do. If the problem is quick to fix, and I’ve fixed quite a number of computers with minor issues, then you only pay for the time involved. I’m also happy to set an upper limit so you don’t get bill shock. If I can’t fix a problem for whatever reason, then there is no charge. I’m not happy unless you’re happy.

Next time you’re looking for a local computer support person in Doncaster, delve a bit further and make sure you’re talking to a local.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require computer support.
Servicing home users and businesses in Templestowe, Doncaster,
Doncaster East, Templestowe Lower, Montmorency, Lower Plenty
and Eltham.

The credit card linked to your T-SuiteR account is due to expire

I received an email yesterday which was unexpected and perhaps a bit disturbing. The email is from Telstra and is advising me the credit card I use is expiring. My first thought was this may be the usual scam attempt.

The email was unexpected because I don’t have any services currently with Telstra that require a credit card, and the service I use is a prepaid 3G wireless hotspot, which has nothing to do with T-Suite. I pay as I go so I don’t expect the credit card details to be kept on the system after the transaction.

I find this disturbing because I did use the Microsoft’s Office 365 mid last year, a service provided by Telstra in Australia. I cancelled the service in September so I have no service with Telstra, but they have still retained my credit card details in their systems. Should Telstra servers be hacked I would have had no idea they were retaining my credit card details in their systems.

For Telstra this shows a flaw in their systems where they’re notifying me of an expiring credit card where there is no service being used, for a service which was cancelled over six months ago.

This also raises the question as to how many other companies are also storing credit card details after you cancel a service. With sites regularly being reported where credit cards are being compromised, including this week in the States, it is a concern that companies are storing credit card details after a service has been cancelled.

It is a good idea to minimise the number of companies you provide your credit details to where they will regularly use your credit card. In this day and age it is very difficult not to provide your card details to companies, but where there is a payment option where you are in control, it may be a good idea to use that payment option rather than giving another company control over your credit card.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Doncaster East ADSL broadband support

One thing I’m promoting to residents and local businesses in Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Lower Plenty, Montmorency and Eltham, is the advantage of dealing with a local computer support business.

Because I’m local and don’t charge a call-out fee, travel time, or a minimum fee, the only cost is the time to fix the problem.

One example is a restaurant in Doncaster East had Telstra repair a telephone point which ceased to work. The point was repositioned in another location, but the repair person didn’t know how to set up the broadband correctly for the business. The business called me in and I set the wiring up correctly, checked that all their devices worked correctly,  including access to their Wi-Fi service.

The cost was $33 for a quarter of an hour’s work. Normally people could expect to pay much more for such a service.

Not all local businesses work this way, but it is the way I work. I once went to use a local business in Eltham to repair my garage door. Their call-out fee was the same whether I lived in neighbouring Templestowe, or lived in Werribee. To me that doesn’t encourage people to use a local business.

I’d like to encourage other local businesses to reconsider their call-out charges. It should be more cost effective to use a local business than calling out a business from the other side of the city.

By not having a call-out fee, travel time, or a minimum fee, in effect I’m now as cost effective as having a person onsite, but only being paying for their services when required.

If you have a computer related problem give me a call on 0415 910 703.

 

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you have a computer related problem.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding areas.

Alert: Android tablet buyers wanting to use Adobe Flash.

One of the benefits of Android tablets I see promoted on television is the ability to view Adobe Flash content. Many sites are designed using Flash to display high quality images. One example of such a site is the Monkey Mia site where a serious of pictures are displayed showing the beautiful scenery at Monkey Mia.

The Apple iPad, iPhone and Touch devices don’t support Flash and that was Apple’s design decision, but Android tablet devices are being promoted on TV as supporting Flash. The problem is the Android 3.2 operating system used on tablets does support Flash, but if you upgrade to Android 4 you’ll lose Flash support. Adobe have stated they’re no longer supporting Flash on mobile devices.

If you’re considering buying an Android tablet because it supports Flash then you should reconsider. I’ve now upgraded my Acer tablet from Android 3.2 to Android 4. Previously I was able to view the Flash content on pages and now I can’t. Others will have the same experience.

I found Android 3.2 to be quite a flaky operating system and Android 4 is a significant improvement. In fact I found Android 3.2 to be so bad I really couldn’t be bothered using the Acer tablet. I waited until Android 4 was available and upgraded as soon as I could and the tablet has now become useful. I still find Android 4 to be flaky at times, but at least now the tablet gets some use.

To me it is a real shame Adobe are no longer supporting Flash on mobile devices and in particular tablets. The cost to businesses to develop their Flash based sites in many cases would have been thousands of dollars. Now if site owners want mobile users to view their sites, the businesses will need to have their sites redeveloped at considerable cost.

If you’re considering a tablet and Flash support is part of that consideration, then you should factor in that Flash support most likely won’t be available.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and surrounding areas.

World Backup Day - Free backup scripts for clients

World Backup Day has come and gone (March 31st), but it is still a good reminder that everyone should review their information on their computer and determine a backup strategy.

As I visit clients I also assist clients by sharing the backup tool I use. I wrote the backup tool because I couldn't find a simple tool that did what I wanted. Now I can backup very easily and have peace of mind I have copies of my data.

The backup tool I use is available free to all clients. Contact me for the web site address where you create your backup scripts. The site contains instructions on how to use the tool. If you need assistance with your backup, I'm also available to help.


Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.

DNSchanger malware alert by FBI mentioned on The Project on channel 10.

Tonight on channel 10 I was watching The Project and heard about the DNSchanger malware alert. I’d also seen some articles in the press. I thought this was an interesting alert and worth investigating. Some alerts are hoaxes, but in this case this appears to be a real alert.

There appears to have been malware, referred to as DNSchanger, which changes the DNS settings for a computer or the router, people use to connect to the internet. Temporary action was taken by the FBI in November 2011 to provide a solution, but that solution will be closed down in July.

I’d suggest you should check your DNS settings for your computers and your router and make sure they aren't set to one of the following values.

Rogue DNS IP Ranges
85.255.112.0 - 85.255.127.255
67.210.0.0 - 67.210.15.255
93.188.160.0 - 93.188.167.255
77.67.83.0 - 77.67.83.255
213.109.64.0 - 213.109.79.255
64.28.176.0 - 64.28.191.255

You can use the site provided by the Australian government (www.dns-ok.gov.au) to check your computer, but I'd suggest a manual check will be more thorough. The reason is the ISP you use may have taken action which means, whilst you may be infected, you may not be able to tell.

It is stated it is expect that around 10,000 Australians (about 4 million worldwide) will not be able to access the internet when the FBI removes the temporary solution to the problem on the 9th of July 2012. Whilst that will cause inconvenience, the side effect will be those who are infected will know and then need to make the necessary changes.

If you need assistance checking your DNS settings, I'm available to assist people in the Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and surrounding area. The cost to check your DNS settings will vary depending on how many computers you have and the type of router you have, however it shouldn’t be that much.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for assistance.
Providing support in Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham
and the surrounding area.

 

 

MyAnswers: How can I recover my domain (.com.au) password?

The following MyAnswers solution 2210 is now available:

How can I recover my domain (.com.au) password?

Click here to obtain the solution.

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Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)

Free Parking today at La Trobe University for Graduation

Students at La Trobe University are graduating today. One concern is always with parking, so I asked the people directing traffic and they said the parking for the next three days was free. Certainly makes things a little easier.


Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.

Laptop repairs Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and surrounding areas.

Most laptop repairs are problems with software and not the actual hardware. If you have a hardware problem with a laptop computer it can often be very expensive and if it is an older laptop, often it may not worth repairing. If you have a problem which isn’t hardware and is software related, then a repair can be very cost effective.

For example one client had a HP netbook which when it was started did nothing but come up with a blank screen. HP advised the price would most likely be around $550 to replace the motherboard, which was more than the cost of many new netbooks. Another seemingly simple problem where the user damages the power connector can also be an expensive repair because of the work involved.

As long as your laptop computer can start to the bios or Windows screen, there is a good chance your computer can be repaired.

It is a good idea to get a quote for a repair. Many businesses will quote a fixed price. I recently heard of one company who comes up in the Google ads on searches, charged retirees $250 for a 15 minute job. I don’t consider that appropriate.

My approach is to set an upper limit so the client knows worst case what to expect. An older computer only has a certain value and it is crazy to spend too much money on a repair. In some cases it takes more time to do the repair and to me that is good luck for the client. When it takes me less time, that is the time I charge the client, so in both cases the client comes out a winner. On a couple of occasions where I’ve investigated a problem and found I can’t fix the problem because it is a particular type of hardware failure, there has been no cost to the client. I simply return their equipment and thank them for using my services. I see no reason, if I don’t provide value to a customer, that they should be out of pocket. Other businesses have done that to me and I know it doesn’t feel good, so it isn’t something I’ll do to others.

If you have a computer problem, give me a call and I’ll look after you to the best of my ability.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require computer assistance.
Covering Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding areas.

How much electricity does a computer use and thus its cost to run?

When I reviewed the electricity usage of appliances around the house, one device which stood out in terms of electricity usage I must say I’d never really thought about.

I’d turn the computer on in the morning and leave it on all day. I work from home so for me having the computer on made sense. Often I’d even have a couple of computers on. The children even had their computers on as well. But the real surprise wasn’t when the computers we on, it was when they were off.

An off computer isn’t off. It is in standby and it keeps consuming power. The LCD screen looks off, but again it is in standby consuming more power than you’d think. Those additional devices such as the printer, the scanner, the external drive, all sitting there sipping away at the power and ready to immediately jump into action at your beck and call, even when you are asleep.

All those devices even when not used are in standby up to 24 hours a day in some cases (such as when you go away for the weekend) and all consuming power which is costing you real money.

Yet amazingly the answer is simple. When you power down your computer turn it off also at the switch on the wall. When you power off the devices at the wall you save power, you also prevent the situation of a brown out where the power drops and your computer ends up in an unknown state and doesn’t want to work and you also reduce the chance of a power spike taking out your computer during a storm.

Determining how much your computer is costing you when it is running and how much it is costing you when it is in standby is very easy. You can purchase a cheap power meter for under $30 and measure the power usage in watts. Then use the Electricity Cost Calculator I provide,  enter the power usage, the time the device is on, or the time it is in standby and the calculator will let you know the daily cost and the yearly cost. If you use your electricity retailers tariff you’ll get an even better idea.

I’d highly recommend that everyone should measure how much the devices in their home are using. We’ve reduced our daily electricity usage to around 6.5kWh down from around 12-14kWh per day. From what I’ve read the average power usage for a home is around 18kWh. We now save around $400 to $600 a year off our electricity bill and it all started with the purchase of a low cost power meter. We’ve added a couple of convenient foot switches and one remote control power switch (all quite low cost), some simple changes to how we turn devices off and the impact on our power bill has been significant. I know I prefer the $400-$600 in my pocket than the power company’s.

I wrote the Electricity Cost Calculator to help me when selecting high cost energy efficient lights compared to the lower cost normal lights. The calculator helped me make better purchasing decisions. I found the Electricity Cost Calculator was also very handy for working out the cost of appliances we had running in the home which helped me make informed cost saving decisions. I’d found the government and media would focus my attention on what they wanted (such as installing solar panels for their carbon certificate scheme) where I could achieve the same or better result with almost no cost.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Call 0415 910 703 if your require computer assistance.
Covering Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.

MyAnswers: Which anti-virus software would you recommend either free or paid?

The following MyAnswers solution 2209 is now available:

Which anti-virus software would you recommend either free or paid?

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Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: Which PDF writer software would you recommend?

The following MyAnswers solution 2208 is now available:

Which PDF writer software would you recommend?

Click here to obtain the solution.

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Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz
(An Online Connections service.)

Electricity tariffs increase in January has now been adjusted in the Energy Cost Calculator

In January the price for electricity from my retailer increased as it did for a lot of people. The biggest increase which people often don’t notice, was the Service to Property Charge which increased by a staggering 25%. For me that’s another $62 added to the bill which I can’t control. I can control my usage, but when the increase is added to the Service to Property Charge that has nothing to do with usage.

I’ve now updated the Energy Cost Calculator with the latest peak energy rate which is 22 cents per kilowatt hour. The Energy Cost Calculator allows you to determine how much your devices are using over a year and the cost. It really is amazing how just a few cents a day saved on a single device can add up to quite a bit over the year.

When comparing electricity prices don’t forget to compare the Service to Property Charge as well. The best approach is to take a couple of bills and do the calculation for each bill with each of the electricity retailers you are thinking of using. I’ve seen some retailers with quite high Service to Property charges, whilst their usage rate compares well or better than others, it was when the full calculation was done they were shown to be worse than a higher usage rate.

With basic changes to our families electricity usage we’ve move than halved our electricity bill and now use around 6.5kWh per day. By using a low cost power meter and the Energy Cost Calculator, I was able to determine which devices were using how much energy, the cost per year, and with some basic changes, we now make considerable ongoing savings.

You can check out the Energy Cost Calculator at http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/energy-cost/.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Outlook Express French spell check (spelling check) fix for British and Australian users

If you’ve installed Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Office 2010, then you’ll now find the spelling check in Outlook Express only offers French spelling as an option. The options of English (United Kingdom) and English (United States) are no longer available. The other situation is if you’ve set up or purchased a computer and never installed a Microsoft application such as Office or Works, then the Outlook Express spelling check will also not be available.

Both of these situations are easily fixed using a program I’ve written. The program provides American spelling and British spelling. Whilst British spelling is sufficient for Australian users, those who have access to an older version of Office 97 or Word 97, are also provided with instructions on how to obtain the Australian dictionary so they can have Australian English spelling.

You can find the program at http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/oespellcheck/.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/