Free Stuff For Family And Friends now live.

Ever had the feeling you’d like to give away your excess items to family and friends. I decided to do just that and use technology I know to make it easier and also show others how easily it can be done.

I decided to set up a blog called FreeStuffForFamilyAndFriends. I know quite a few tricks of using a blog so that made it relatively easy. The advantages of the approach I’m using are:

1. I can take a photo of an item on my mobile phone, send the photo to the blog and the item is immediately available.
2. I can provide an email address to family and friends and they too can list their items.
3. If people want to be automatically notified when a new item is added it is easy to add them their email address or use the RSS feed.
4. I can monetise the site using Google advertising and earn a little from complete strangers anywhere in the world.

The best part is if family and friends find items they’d like I free up some space and the item goes to a good home.

If you’d like assistance in setting up a blog to promote your excess items to your family and friends (or for any other purpose) this is another service I’m happy to provide.

Kelvin Eldridge

Online Connections

www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Call 0415 910 703 for computer advice and support.

 

Alert: You have received a secure message - National Australia Bank

I’ve received a number of emails with the subject “You have received a secure message”. The attached file “SecureMessage.zip” contains malware which is not currently detected by most antivirus software packages. Don’t open the attachment. You should delete these emails.

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

 

Nokia 620 Australian release date

When Nokia released their Smartphone range in around October 2011 they didn’t start shipping them to Australia until around March 2012 and by June 2012, anyone buying the new Nokia mobiles found they were effectively superseded devices. Microsoft had orphaned the devices as they wouldn’t be able to be upgraded to the Windows 8 Phone operating system. I doubt anyone really wants to know the mobile they bought three months earlier for nearly a thousand dollars was obsolete.

Things appear to have settled down now. Microsoft seem to have their Windows 8 Phone operating system where they want it. Nokia have a number of devices, but what interested me was the budget version of the Nokia 620 I noticed that was launched later in 2012 but not yet mentioned in Australia.

I’m really over spending $600-$800 for a mobile phone which is superseded in six months and if you want to use the latest software and features you need to buy a new handset. With nearly all the smartphones now we simply don’t know when Apple, Google or Microsoft will bring out a new operating system which won’t work on our rather expensive mobile phone. Since there is no certainty the only certainty you have is the choice you make and for me that means spending less to get what I need now.

The Nokia 620 has been announced as part of Stephen Elop’s visit to Australia and will reportedly be available mid-February for $329. The Nokia 620 is now promoted on the Australian Nokia web site as coming soon where you can also read the specifications.

The Nokia 620 is just one of many options for mobile phone buyers.

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

 

UPDATE: The Nokia 620 doesn't have the ability to operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot. For my use this rules this device out.

MyAnswers: Aldi Bauhn DVD Maker quick summary

The following MyAnswers solution 2308 is now available:

Aldi Bauhn DVD Maker quick summary. I purchased the Aldi Bauhn DVD maker to convert old mini VCR tapes holding our old family movies to digital format for storing on a hard disk. I share what I found.

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
MyAnswers
(An Online Connections service.)

Cost of petrol to drive a given distance.

The other day I was at Bunnings to buy a curtain wire. I needed a 2m wire. When I went to the local Bunnings they didn’t have the 2m wire in stock which was $3.90, they only had the 5m wire at $6.90. As I went out to the car to drive to the next closest Bunnings I thought, is it better to pay the extra money, or is it better to drive to the next closest Bunnings.

Whilst we could argue all day over the cost of running a car, for me the cost of petrol is the immediate direct cost and all other costs are either fixed costs or variable indirect costs. All the fixed costs and most indirect costs of owning a car are already sunk once you decide to buy a car. So the only easy figure to use is the cost of petrol.

I thought for me having a quick calculator for the cost of petrol usage could come in handy. Paying more for an item in one location rather than paying less in another location which is further away often isn’t intuitive for people, but if people have some facts the decision becomes much easier.

I decided to write the Car Cost Calculator and make it available on the internet.

So should I have paid more or gone to the other Bunnings?

The distance to the other Bunnings was 13km and then 11km home. So the shortest route was around 24km. Using the Car Cost Calculator the cost of petrol is estimated to be $3.73. So forget about wear and tear on the car and the time involved, the cost of petrol alone would have been more than paying for the longer wire. So I went back inside and purchased the longer wire and returned home.

Out of interest I decided to check the cost of driving to the local shopping centre which is roughly a return trip of 7.6km. The petrol cost is $1.18. The cost of zone 2 Myki fare is $2.42. For every additional person who goes to the shops with me the Myki cost increases whereas the petrol cost increase is minimal. By the time I walk to the bus stop I’d already be at the shops. For short distances and trips where there are more than one person the cost of petrol is much less than a Myki fare and far more time efficient.

The Car Cost Calculator isn’t meant to be an fully costed tool but a quick and easy tool for myself and others who wish to check the cost of petrol usage for a given trip.

Enjoy,

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
JustLocal – Cost effective advertising for local businesses.

Alert: Melbourne Mom woman making Earns $6,795/Month Part-Time. (Work-at-Home-Digital)

I received an email today from a person I hadn’t contacted for quite some time. The email had no subject, a link to a site and her full name was the only content.

I decided to check out what my friend had sent me, but I was suspicious. The link took me to an article on what looked like the CNBC news site. The article was titled “Melbourne Mom woman making Earns $6,795/Month Part-Time”. (Please note that I didn’t use my regular computer. I used another device which I felt was unlikely to get infected should the site be a malware trap waiting for me to access the site.)

Further investigation showed the site was a fake site designed to look like the CNBC new site.

The concern for me is for my friend. Her name is very unusual and for me to receive an email from her, could indicate that one of her email accounts has been hacked and that a scammer has access to her contact list. The last time I saw my friend use this email address was over five years ago. The email address is a yahoo.com.au email address.

This type of attack is very concerning. The attack is very targeted aimed directly at a person’s contact list. We tend to trust communications from our friends, but this is an example of why even emails from friends and family should be treated with suspicion.

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

Aldi indoor bike trainer

I thought I'd let others know, if you are thinking of buying one of these units, which goes on sale next Wednesday, keep in mind you need smooth tyres. If your tyres have deep tread the trainer is far too noisy.

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

Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 release date.

Another hint that Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 is getting closer is the release of the Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 10.

The Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 10 is used to stop the automatic updating of Internet Explorer by Windows Update. This is important in large organisations where they don't want to risk breaking web applications by installing a more recent browser.

Looking back, Internet Explorer 9 was released on the 14th of March 2011. The blocker toolkit was released on the 10th of February 2011which is roughly a month before.

This may mean that we might expect Internet Explorer 10 sometime in March, but I still hold out hope for an earlier release.

I'm looking forward to the release of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 as it means more people will be able to take advantage of the preferred Australian English spelling I provide, if as expected spellchecking is built in.

I already supply the preferred Australian English spelling to users of IE10 under Windows 8 via the site www.australain-dictionary.com.au.

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

Apple 128GB iPad available starting Tuesday 5th of February.

According to the Apple site, the new iPad 128GB model will be available in black or white from the 5^th of February.

The Wi-Fi model will be $869 and the Wi-Fi+Cellular will be $1,009.

Keep in mind the 128GB of memory isn’t fully available to the user.

It is interesting the new iPad model has been announced just days before the Microsoft Surface Pro, which includes 128GB model, is released. Again quite a bit of memory in the Microsoft Surface Pro isn’t available to the user.  

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

 

Microsoft Office 2013 release date rumoured to be January 29 2013.

According to what I’ve read on the internet, Microsoft Office 2013 will be released for general consumer and businesses on January 29^th 2013 in America. Checking the Australian Microsoft Online Store Office 365 is currently marked as out of stock. I suspect this means it is yet to be released in Australia.

When considering Office 365 there are a range of options so it can be confusing. The best approach is to determine what you need and review the options that meet your needs. Microsoft appears to be pushing their subscription model and it does appear to be good value for money, but the only problem is you don’t own a licence and once you stop paying you have to assume you no longer have access to the software. Many of my clients are still using Office 2003 and if you spread the purchase price over nine years, Office 2003 has been very cost effective for them.

The Microsoft Online Store provides a good amount of information on the software options available and is worth reading. Keep in mind the prices in the online store are recommended retail and some retailers may offer discounted software.

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

 

Nexus 4 still out of stock on Google Play Store.

The announcement that Harvey Norman is the exclusive distributor/authorised reseller for the Nexus 4 is a bit of a concern. Until recently I could find the Nexus 4 on the Play Store using an Android based tablet. Now I can’t find any of the Nexus range using the Play Store on the tablet.

I’ve included the following link which was found using my Windows 8 based notebook and is included here for others who may be interested in the Nexus 4.

Nexus 4... Read More

My concern is, will Google phase out Nexus devices from their Play Store using local reseller partners and as a result the price ends up getting bumped up considerably. On the Play Store the Nexus 4 with 16GB is $399 plus delivery (currently out of stock), but Harvey Norman’s price will be considerably more at $496. The price on the Play Store for Americans is $349USD (sales tax needs to be added) so even at $399 Australians are paying more than Americans. One American wrote they purchased the Nexus 4 16GB unit including sales tax and delivery for under $400 and given the exchange rate we should be able to just as good in terms of pricing.

This just gives me a bad feeling that Australian consumers may be locked out of the cheaper price with large Australian retailers negotiating exclusive rights. I could be wrong and the Nexus 4 may yet still become available on the Google Play Store, but I don’t think this is looking good for Australian consumers.

For me this puts me off Harvey Norman and buying anything at Harvey Norman. First Harvey Norman lobby hard for the GST threshold to be removed or lowered for those buying direct from overseas and now selling products at much more expensive prices that Australians could previously purchase the Nexus 4. I’ve purchased a lot of expensive products from Harvey Norman over the years but this is starting to put me off Harvey Norman. Whilst I’m probably jumping to conclusions I’ll wait and see what happens. Only time will tell.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with your computer problem.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Coles Mastercard offers instant $10 off your Coles Supermarket shop.

I was asked about the $10 off your Coles Supermarket shop offer when using the Coles Mastercard. This is a major benefit that is being promoted but you need to read and understand what the offer is really about. The offer isn’t $10 off, it is $10 off when you redeem 2000 Flybuy points.

Flybuy users already can get $10 off by using Flybuy dollars so the major feature of the Coles Mastercard currently being promoted isn’t that big a deal. The one difference is it would appear you can get the $10 off instantly without having to go to the effort of going online before you shop and converting points to Flybuy dollars.

To me however this major feature of the Coles Mastercard isn’t a particularly good reason to get a Coles Mastercard. Review the features of the card compared to your existing card or another card you are considering and you may or may not find the card to be a better option. I’m not saying the Coles Mastercard isn’t a good card or not, but just that the offer of $10 off instantly (which still requires using 2,000 points) isn’t as good as it first appears because people may mistakenly think it is $10 off without the connection to using 2,000 points. For those who wish to have the convenience of using the points instantly rather than first redeeming a reward online, the convenience alone may be worthwhile.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Helping local businesses with cost effective local advertising.

Update: I was contacted by a member of the Coles team and asked if I could add the website address www.colescreditcards.com.au to make it easier for those interested in a Coles Mastercard. I'm happy to add the link as they've been very helpful and we're happy with the Coles Mastercard and their service.

Alert: eBay Group Deals: $600.00 NEW iPhone 5 32GB Black / White Unlocked. Check this and other eBay Deals items on sale.

Today I received an email with the subject “eBay Group Deals: $600.00 NEW iPhone 5 32GB Black / White Unlocked. Check this and other eBay Deals items on sale.” Most people have probably received many of these fake emails over the years. What I thought was interesting is the iPhone offer is now 33% off. If I recall correctly many of these emails for years ago had ridiculous prices. As the price becomes closer to the real price this type of ad make trick some people so please be on your guard when receiving any offer via email.

The technique I use is to hover my mouse over the links. I use Outlook as my main email client but pressing down on a link for an extended time when using an iPhone will display the link in a new dialogue. I’d recommend not clicking on a link as visiting the site could simply be another trick designed to infect your computer with malware.

You should delete this type of email if you receive one.

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

Doncaster Computer Repair

If you need assistance with your computer and live or work in the Doncaster area, then give me a call at Online Connections. I live in Templestowe which is just five minutes up the road. Being local I’m able to respond quickly and be at your home or business often faster than you’ll wait on a telephone support line. There is no call-out fee or fixed minimum charge so you only pay for the time it takes to fix your problem.

Unlike large support organisations you deal directly with me so you receive consistent high quality support and not a different person every time you have a computer problem.

I look forward to being of assistance.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Doncaster computer repair

Peninsula link opening Friday morning

According to a news report tonight the Peninsula link will be opening on Friday morning between 4am and 6am. The report also said sections of the link will be progressively opened.

With much of summer still to go it will be interesting to see how much time is saved using the Peninsula link. I look forward to testing out the new link sometime this summer.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au

 

How to avoid others using your online presence (e.g. your blog) to promote themselves at your cost.

Today I received a comment on my blog that looked fairly legitimate. Just so you know I’d say 95% plus of comments I receive on my blogs are from spammers attempting to place a link to their site in some way. Often the link is not obvious. The following comment was posted on my Australian English dictionary blog today.

“Hi there! Have you ever dealt such a situation when a person has robbed you online and took your personal ideas? Can't wait to see your answer. “ by Nicole the writer.

Had I accepted the comment this would have linked to a site which is a WordPress blog. The articles on the blog look legitimate. There are no contact details on the blog titled “Silly Secrets”. No name, nothing. As best I can tell this blog has ads provided by WordPress and it would appear the only purpose is to get people to the site in the hope they click on ads, which in turn generates income for the creator of the blog. The problem here is the blog spam this person is generating only exists because WordPress provides a mechanism for the spammer to make money.

I’m more than happy to receive legitimate comments, but filling up other peoples’ blogs with irrelevant comments is equivalent to spamming people. Spamming is general illegal but at this stage there appears to be no mechanism to stop blog spamming. If WordPress cut out the source of revenue for these spammers their activities would soon cease.

 

It should be kept in mind blog spammers could have a range of reasons to put links on your site. It could be as simple as trying to make money, to redirecting people to phishing and other malicious sites.

To protect your users and your reputation you can do the following:

1. Don’t automatically release comments on your blog.
2. Review each comment.
3. Some comments look very legitimate and it can be hard to identify spammers but you should make the effort.
4. Often blog spammers put a link in the body of the comment.
5. Often blog spammers use their blog profile link which is a link to another site and this link is often not apparent in the comment you see. It only becomes apparent if you look for it using the blogging software or check the comment on your blog after you release the comment.
6. Search Google for a short section of text to see if the same or similar comment has appeared in another blog. Keep in mind spammers use software known as spinners. Spinners automatically generate blog spam by replacing words automatically so the same basic sentence or paragraph is automatically changed to use different words. In this case the first search I used was too long and yielded no results. Then I searched for “took your personal ideas” and found another entry the same on a different blog. A quick check using a search engine will often reveal that most comments you’re receiving are blog spam.

In the past I’ve seen the same comment on tens of thousands of blogs and every day I receive dozens of blog comments which are spam.

Some people when they set up a blog are happy to start receiving comments. The first comments are often compliments and so they accept it. But using compliments is a common technique used by blog spammers. We all love praise, but as they say, false praise is no praise at all.

Take the time to review comments. It does take effort, but the end result is you’ll have a higher quality blog which others will read and trust. When I see blog spam in a blog I visit, the message I get is the owner of the blog doesn’t really care and personally I’d prefer to do business with someone who cares.

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

Alert: Jetstar Check-in Details

Today I received a number of emails with the subject “Jetstar Check-in Details“ and an attachment “Check-in-Details.zip”. The attachment is malware. You should delete these emails.

Users of Jetstar and Qantas (as are many well-known businesses) are common targets with emails containing malware or phishing scams so please take care.

Also this malware is not currently detected by most of the antivirus programs commonly used in Australia including the program you are probably using. New malware is likely designed to get past antivirus programs and is unlikely to be detected for up to 48 hours. The only protection you have is common sense. Don’t open attachments unless you are expecting the attachment from a person you know and don’t click on links in emails. With links open your browser and go to the site.

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

Flybuys - Earn 50 BONUS POINTS when you download the flybuys Toolbar

Today I received an email from Flybuys offering 50 bonus points if I install the flybuys Toolbar, plus a point for every two searches. As a computer consultant I regularly suggest to customer to remove unwanted toolbars. Most toolbars people have installed got there without deliberate intent by the user and once there, they’re not quite sure how to remove them. Some toolbars trick people into installing them.

The main reason toolbar makers want you to install their toolbar is when you search using their toolbar (which often also hijacks the default search engine) is when you click on ads they make money. Often the toolbars don’t display search results you’d receive if you used the search engine such as Google Australia, so results can sometimes be unexpected.

The flybuys offer however offers you direct compensation for installing the toolbar. The question you need to ask is whether the offer is worth the effort and whether you are happy with the functionality.

You receive:

50 bonus points.
Up to 100 points per month.
Using the figure that 2000 points equals 10 flybuy dollars each point is worth approximately half a cent. Thus the bonus is worth 25 cents and the points each month 50 cents. In the first year this could be worth up to $6.25.

In return you give:

Screen space in your browser.
Change to using Yahoo. (Over 95% of people in Australia currently use Google.)

I decided to test the toolbar. I received an installation error “Internet Explorer raised Unhandled Exception” installing under Windows 8 with Internet Explorer 10. A concern because since something didn’t work correctly you wonder if anything has harmed your computer. After the error the toolbar appears to function normally. The temperature is not currently working for me but generally I prefer using the Bureau of Meteorology site for weather information.

Yahoo will receive your search information and a third party organisation FreeCause also receives your search information. Exactly who gets what information is very hard to determine by you as a user. You can read the privacy policy information for each site but you have to ask yourself is it worth the time for the small amount being offered.

A couple of features I thought were interesting, is you can immediately see your points total and each time you reach a point for searching you are alerted and you can see how many points you’ve accumulated.

I’ve often felt that giving all your search requests to a single search company such as Google means they know a great deal about you. If you kept the address area set to search using Google and the toolbar to search using Yahoo, you can easily send half your searches to each and reduce the amount of information each company has on you. In addition I find Google and Yahoo often provide different results and having two search engines easily accessible may assist in finding better information.

Personally I’d suggest to clients to keep their browser as free as possible of third party toolbars. If there is a specific reason to install a toolbar then go for it, but otherwise a clean computer is faster and easier to maintain.

I hope this article helps others to determine whether or not to install the Flybuys toolbar. Really at the end of the day the benefit is around $6 a year and that isn’t a great deal of money.

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

Alert: Pictures of Prime Minister of Australia Son Naked - The Australian

Today I received an email with the subject “Pictures of Prime Minister of Australia Son Naked”. This email is an obvious fake and I do hope no one falls for it. The Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, has no children.

The link (castanhalshows.com.br/wp-includes/picture.scr ) is interesting to me as it shows how easy it is for people to infect their computer. The link is to a folder which would normally be associated with WordPress, which is blogging software installed on many sites. WordPress is commonly hijacked to perform what is known as drive-by attacks. That is you visit a site that has malware installed and you infect your computer. The owner of the site is often not aware for some time that their site is being used in this way.an online blogging.

I hope curiosity didn’t get the better of you.

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

Papa Loui's Pizza & Pasta menu trial now finished on JustLocal

Every now and again I run a trial for a local business to show them how I can assist their business on the internet. The result is nearly always the same. Even though the page/site is used by hundreds of customers the business in the end they really aren’t interested.

In the case of Papa Loui’s Pizza & Pasta the log showed dozens of people a month using the online menu. Small local business however don’t seem to understand all that is required is to gain a single new customer (or lose an existing customer to a competitor) would pay for a single page menu site on the internet.

I continue to look for local businesses who value how I can help their business. If you own a local business in Templestowe, Templestowe Lower, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Eltham, Montmorency, or Lower Plenty, and would like a low cost presence on the internet, including local promotion, please feel free to contact me.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for a low cost presence on the internet for your business.