Computers

I have a business information blog website set as my homepage.� Today when I started up Internet Explorer, the page content would start to load, I�d see all of the text, and then the tab would �crash�, stating that the page had caused a problem and it was going to try to reload it.� After a couple of attempts at this, I got:

Website restore error.� Internet Explorer has stopped trying to restore this website. It appears that the website continues to have a problem.

Instead of taking me in a constant reload loop, IE had given up.

I should have listened to my husband.

Armed with my shiny new copy of Windows 7, I was keen to install it onto my laptop to see if the claims were true that this new operating system would give my laptop a new lease of life.  “Remember to take an image* of it first”, called hubby.  I logically thought this through and reasoned that all of my important files were in My Documents which is synchronised to our server, therefore there was nothing else on the laptop that I needed to keep.  I even thought about my digital certificate file from the ATO, and remembered that I’d previously made a backup copy of this file on another location on our server.  So, with all of my bases covered, I began to format my hard disk.

So many people I know are cynical about Microsoft�s �Windows Updates� .. that is, if they even know it exists.� Valiant attempts by Microsoft to make these updates deploy automatically (to your internet-connected PC) have hit some snags � the installations don�t always work and sometimes they can even break the functionality of corporate applications.� To ease the headache for system administrators, Microsoft�instituted �Patch Tuesday� .. being the 2nd Tuesday of every month when all the newest, tested updates would be sent out.� This lets systems administrators know when they will be hit and gives them a chance to test the latest updates in a lab against their corporate software programs, before releasing�them into the bigger corporate network.

A lot has happened since my last blog entry.� Mortgage approval, in-laws 7 week stay, birth of new baby, end of rental lease, moving back in with my parents and storing a houseload of stuff at a friend�s, oh and continuing to run our small business.� So you�ll forgive me for not posting earlier�🙂

I am getting back into the swing of things with my writing committments, amongst which is the customer newsletter distributed globally through our franchise.� With Windows 7 now released, our early Oct edition was a quick glimpse into why you might bother with the new OS � well, as much as a glimpse as you can get in 500 words.

HP is recalling more than 3,000 rechargeable battery packs used in laptop computers due to a potential fire hazard.  The voluntary recall comes after the company received reports that a fault in the lithium-ion battery pack could cause it to overheat.  HP Australia estimates 3,405 potentially affected battery packs have been sold in Australia.

There have been 19 instances of overheating recorded worldwide but none in Australia.

The company is recalling battery packs sold individually or used in HP Pavilion notebook computer models:

I�m going to keep this post brief so you can just get straight to the video on YouTube and watch.

Matt Cutts from Google gives you his search engine optimization tips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gscFgaMTm48

-SCuffy

It’s official – the Queensland state Police have investigated complaints and found the Support On Click offering is a scam (when they call and pretend to be Microsoft).  Here is the official press release, with a link to the police website:http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/Media+Releases/2009/04/New+scam+targets+computer+users.htm

The Queensland Police Service has issued a warning about a new scam targeting computer users.

The scam involves people taking a call from a person working at a foreign call centre. The victim receives a call from the offender, who claims to belong to a software support company that has been requested by Microsoft to fix problems on the victim’s computer.

It’s that time of the night (usually around 6:30pm) and the phone rings.  A lovely Indian voice from Support On Click tells you that your computer has serious problems which must be fixed by paying them a subscription fee for a remote support session.  Would you be suspicious?  What if the caller told you that they were actually from Microsoft, or that they were calling on behalf of your internet provider (even mentioning BigPond by name)?

Thanks to the team at First Class Accounts for passing on their experience with a downloaded update from MYOB.  Could have been due to the file becoming corrupted during the download process.

After downloading and installing the new MYOB from the internet (Accounting Plus V18 or Premier V12), someone went to shut down her computer and found it would not reboot.  Looked like the MYOB download had severely damaged her Registry.  The IT guy repaired the problems, but not without 36 hours downtime on her system!!!  He said that hers was the second system that he had seen with similar problems after downloading the new MYOB!!

Am I tempting fate by saying the current volume of ‘standard’ PC problems is rather low at the moment?  By ‘standard’, I mean the usual suspects – hardware failures, viruses and Windows corruptions.

You think that would worry a computer service company – think again!  We’re loving the more interesting side of our business … talking to customers about whether a server is the right move for them or not (see www.ctaspley.com.au/news.htm), establishing system health monitoring and preventative maintenance, and adding new technology components that really have an impact in a business (spam filter for a start!).