To my friends in Christchurch, my colleagues, my school mates, �I need to tell you about a great concept that will help the people of this great city to recover.

In Brisbane�s recent floods, Danielle Crismani realised that homemade food would warm people�s hearts. She didn�t realise that as well as the joy of the recipients, the home bakers themselves would be filled with joy from just being able to contribute, many with young children at their feet.

The Mud Army was a term being used by the media to descibe the volunteers that helped thousands of Brisbane residents prepare for and recover from the flooding from the Brisbane River (after the Toowoomba flash floods Mon 10 Jan 2011).� Like mud, the name just stuck.

I had the privilege of being part of the �uniformed division� of the Army in my SES orange overalls.� After watching the news of our regional Queensland towns being flooded, and just wanting to get out to help them, I (along with hundreds of others) was needed in my own backyard.� The weather forecast had not been good, but I had no idea that I�d ever see the Brisbane River get so high.� I also had no idea that the general public would roll up their sleeves and help.

Logitech Australia Product Tester � Harmony One Remote (Dec 2010)

Logitech Australia reached out to its social media community and asked for volunteers to test some of their products.� I was accepted as one of the �chosen few� and here is my completely unbiased report on their product.� Enjoy!

On arrival, the Harmony One remote was staring at me through clear plastic, just waiting to escape!� The packaging did a clever job of hiding all of the boring bits (software installation CD, instructions, charge cradle and cable), whilst leaving the feature product on clear display.� The plastic was a bit of a mission to get in to� or maybe that was just my impatience!

Our friends at the Kaseya NOC have decided not to rollout out a Microsoft security patch just released for Internet Explorere 7 machines (on Windows XP).� They�ve seen some issues once it�s been installed and there are a few blog sites with people reporting problems.� Suggest hold off installing this one for a while until it�s sorted:

�Post: We have noticed that after applying the patch KB2416400 (MS10-090), when browsing a particular site, all links stop working following clicking a link to open a java script pop-up window. Hitting F-5 to reload the page restores functionality of the links. So to avoid this miss-functionality we have denied this patch from all Virtual Manage machines.

.. and you can�t get an access to them without making of what we need!

Read �How to decrypt� txt-file on your desktop for details

Just do it as fast as you can!

Remember: Don�t try to tell someone about this message if you want to get your files back! Just do all we told.

*Eeek*� If your computer�s desktop has suddenly turned very pale and is displaying the above message, I hope you have a good backup*.

Not an original blog entry this time, but advice definately worth sharing from the security experts at AVG � thanks Lloyd!

Melbourne and Amsterdam, 13 August 2010�� It should go without saying that the best way to deal with malware is, of course, not to get infected in the first place.

Lloyd Borrett, Security Evangelist�for�AVG (AU/NZ)�says, �Being aware of what products are being targeted by the bad guys may help you as well, so it may be useful to know that at the moment Adobe products are virtually the number one target across the world with millions of PCs being hit by infected Adobe PDFs. Others are being pwned via Adobe Flash ads via Facebook and other social media web sites.�

If you�re thinking about starting a business (congratulations!!), then technology might be the very last consideration on your mind.� With a long list of tasks in front of you (like getting a logo and stationery designed, finding an office, and working out your marketing plan), you may just requisition your home computer to start running your new business.��Let�s�look at some of your very first technology decisions.

New computer or your home PC?�� For a while, your home computer may be adequate to handle the necessities of your business.� However, if your computer time is conflicting with the children�s need to surf the internet for their homework, it may be time to consider a dedicated business computer.� Study any system specifications carefully and check the manufacturer�s websites.� Many �cheap� retail deals are superseded models, cannot be upgraded easily or may not connect to a bigger computer network, which will all be important as you grow.� Also, talk to your accountant about any tax benefits that may be gained from leasing instead of purchasing your IT assets.

Thanks to Kate Booby at Spinefex (www.spinefex.com.au) for alerting us to this one!

�I thought I should bring your attention to a scam that we have 3 separate cases of occur within our immediate friends/family.

All of these people had advertised to sell items (2 x cars, 1 x horse) and had been contacted by email and phone calls from a buyer.

The buyer has asked to pay for the items through paypal (and the sellers had to set up paypal accounts) because the buyer is overseas or can�t use their internet banking (one case the man said he was on an oil rig, another was overseas).� Paypal is generally a safe & secure way to receive funds or pay for items.

If your technology stopped working, would your business stop functioning too? Is your business totally reliant on the information stored on your computer systems or could you continue to deliver 95% of your products and services and catch up on the computer work later? No matter which end of this scale your business is at, you will fare much better during a major technology outage if you plan in advance, before it happens. This month we take some of the mystery out of Business Continuity Planning.

Written for the Computer Troubleshooters franchise for distribution to our global client base:

Microsoft�s release of Office 2010 has been somewhat overshadowed by the recent Apple iPad release, however the new version of Office has some fantastic improvements that are worth shouting about. This month, we highlight a few of the features that will make your life easier.

Work better together�� Do you e-mail files for people to review, managing revision numbers and tracking editing changes? Or do you use technology like Google Apps for internet-based sharing and collaboration? With Office 2010, your document can now be shared easily on the internet and edited by multiple people at the same time (for real-time co-authoring). This feature alone may change how teams work together internally and how businesses work with their customers.