Monday, January 27, 2014

Is The New Daily site unwittingly exposing their users contact list?

Today I received an email from a user of my Australian dictionary files, with a link to an article on The New Daily site. The article was interesting and relevant for those interested in the Australian language. More specifically, it was about the different words we use in different states to describe the same thing. The preferred Australian English spelling dictionary is about identifying the single preferred spelling of a word in Australia where there are multiple spelling variations.

I decided to add a comment to the article. Normally I just sign up with my email address but I thought, I'm using Facebook (this is not a recommendation for Facebook) and thought I'd test submitting the comment using my Facebook ID. I was presented with the following.
The New Daily uses the Disqus service to handle comments.

Here is my concern. Why is Disqus asking for access to my friend list? There really isn't even any reason for Discus to be asking for access to my public profile or email address. Initially I thought it is OK for Disqus to have my email address because they'd need that for verification. But then I thought, do they really. If I'm verified by Facebook then there is no reason for Disqus to even have the email address.

This reminds me of when I read an article about a leading social networking site a few years ago which had 20 million users, but stated they had 400 million. How could a site have 20 million users but claim 400 million. From what I gathered, they considered everyone on their active users mailing list to be their users as well, even though 380 million users had never signed up for the service. The problem is that everyone that signed up to the service was also giving the site access to their entire address book to find friends who were also using the service. From what I could gather,  everyone in the users address book, even if they weren't users of the social networking site, were now also considered customers. The social networking site, had decided that everyone in the address book for a user was now also their customer. The only way that could be valid in my mind is they kept the contents of everyone's address book after it was scanned.

I decided there was no way I'd enter the comment and use Facebook under those terms. I cancelled and signed up using my email address and a nominated password. That means all The New Daily site and Discus received was my contact details and not the contact details of others.

If you're using a free service and something doesn't feel quite right, for goodness sake stop and think for a moment. If it doesn't feel right it probably isn't. Free services come at a cost. Often you don't know what that cost is because you aren't made aware, as they don't want you to know because that is part of their business model. If you are made aware, the real cost may be obscured by generalised legalese.

Did you sign up to Facebook or any other social networking service and give the site permission to access your address book to locate friends. If you did, that site had to upload and scan all your contacts. Do you know what they've done with the entire contact list and not just the email addresses of friends also using the service? I didn't think so. I certainly don't know, but when one social networking site claims 400 million users when they actually have just 20 million, it does beg the question. I'd be fairly certain your entire contact list is being stored somewhere on someone else's server, and you've passed on your contacts's details without asking them if it is OK.

It may not be as convenient as entering in each contact when you join a social networking site, but I believe it is rude to pass on family, friends and business colleagues contact details without their permission. Laziness is no excuse for being rude.

Hopefully people reading this article will stop and think about the new world order where no one seems to care about the information they pass on about others without their permission. We've become so selfish that basic courtesy is being exchanged for a free service.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Alert: Filezilla corrupting graphics files uploaded to the internet

I've been a user of Filezilla for quite some time. Today however something strange happened. I used Filezilla to upload a graphic file (PNG) and only part of the image displayed correctly. Thinking it may be the way the file was created, I re-edited the file a number of times, even using different image programs. The result was the same. The file looked OK on the computer but when uploaded for use in a web page, the web page did not display the image correctly.

I then decided to try Windows's built-in FTP client and once I'd uploaded the image, the web page displayed as it should have. To me this is a concern. I've not changed the version of Filezilla for some time so it simply doesn't make sense. By removing Filezilla out of the process everything worked.

Because this issue wasted perhaps an hour and a half of time I thought I'd pass the tip on to others. If you find your images look OK on your computer, but aren't displaying correctly when uploaded using Filezilla, then try a different upload tool. 

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

MyAnswers: Save money transferring your domains if you're using one of the more expensive companies or you registered your domain some years ago.

The following MyAnswers solution 2451 is now available:

Some domain registration companies charge existing customers up to 5 to 7 times for renewals than you can get with other equally good domain registration companies. Sadly this is the leading companies in Australia. If you have single .com.au domain you can save nearly $100. For multiple domains the savings continue to add up and since this is a recurring charge, the savings mount up in the future as well. I recently moved three .com.au domains for one client which were easy to do, and a .biz and .com which were more time consuming. Overall however the saving exceed the cost and every year from now is a saving.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

MyAnswers: How to transfer contacts from iCloud to Contacts locally on Apple MacBook Air.

The following MyAnswers solution 2450 is now available:

How do I transfer all my contacts from my iCloud account to Contacts locally on my Apple MacBook Air?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Alert: Accounts Department - Electricity Payment

I noticed a new social engineering scam I'd not seen before. The body of the email is the follow.

Dear Sir/Madam!
Your annual kWh usage report for 2013 was formed. The limit for electricity consumption was exceeded by you.
We will prolong your discounted energy tariff,if you pay the debt promptly.  Below you may review your updated electricity bill

Even though this is a poorly written scam attempt, the concern I have is many people are moving to energy retailers where they offer discount and you pay an amount each month towards the bill. Most people don't see the information as time progresses and just assumes it's working as it should. However if they get a notification letting them know they've exceeded their budget they may get tricked.

Always treat every email you receive as a potential scam, even if it appears to come from someone you deal with.

The best advice I can give to people is to trust your instinct. If there is a thousandth of a second where the thought enters you mind that doesn't feel right, then slow down and be more thorough. Nature has given us instincts that have evolved over millions of years and they tend to work better than the best computer minds. Most people say to me after they've infected their computer something just didn't feel right. You know what, they were right.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703 for computer support.

Friday, January 17, 2014

MyAnswers: Facebook error message for new account 'Please enter a valid email address'.

The following MyAnswers solution 2449 is now available:

When creating up a new account with Facebook I get the error message 'Please enter a valid email address.' The email address is valid and works perfectly. What options do I have?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

TyrePower loses potential business as a result of their website.

Tonight I was checking online sites for tyres. Tomorrow I'll make a purchase. A pretty common exercise I'd say for most of us.

However what surprised me was the following screen.


When a website doesn't work there goes the business, in this case, around $500 worth of potential business.

When computers fail in the office it is a pain and often inconvenient. But when your online presence fails you  lose actual or potential business. Joomla is the software in this case which is free. But perhaps the question is free at what cost. I like free software but nearly all free software I've used I've had to accept much bigger compromises than commercial software. Often the savings on free software far exceed the time spent working around issues.

The question then is, is your free software costing you real money?

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

PS. I don't sell software or hardware. I've used and recommend plenty of free open source software over the years, but in the end, nearly all of the free software ended up being replaced by commercial software. Interesting!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Update: Microsoft will continue to provide updates to our antimalware signatures and engine for Windows XP users through July 14, 2015.

Some welcome news from Microsoft. Microsoft will continue to support Microsoft Security Essentials until July 14, 2015.

Microsoft has announced the Windows XP end of support date of April 8, 2014. After this date, Windows XP will no longer be a supported operating system. To help organizations complete their migrations, Microsoft will continue to provide updates to our antimalware signatures and engine for Windows XP users through July 14, 2015.... read more.

Personally I think Microsoft are short-sighted. They're forcing people off Windows XP. The will offer large corporates the ability to have support at a high premium, but in my mind if they are willing to provide any support to anyone then why not provide the support to everyone. Do it once for someone that same work can be reused for everyone. Perhaps Microsoft could even offer that end users could purchase a year to year update for $10. There are hundreds of millions of XP users and even if a small percentage took up the offer that's a lot of dollars. To put this in perspective I believe Microsoft charged OEMs $10 per copy of Windows XP they installed on Netbooks. If that is true $10 was enough for an entire copy of the licence, so what not for a yearly update.

I estimate over 100 million good computers can't be updated and Microsoft is effectively shafting these users. To me that's not right. With over 30% of Windows users using Windows XP, which is perhaps around 400 million, this is the worst example ever of a company dumping on their users. I for one will find it hard to respect Microsoft again for such behaviour. Microsoft has always been my preferred business operating system but now they've well and truly lost that advantage. I've never been an Apple fan, but right now I'm writing this blog post on an Apple MacBook Air. I'm now equally happy using and suggesting an Apple or Microsoft based system depending on the type of client and their needs. Microsoft through their own actions have reduced their standing in the marketplace.

Another year is welcome. At least this means reasonable malware protection. Google has also said they'll support Google Chrome on Windows XP for another year. Outlook Express hasn't been updated I suspect since 2006, so really that means some protection in terms of malware, an option for the browser, and not much difference with Outlook Express. A percentage of computers get infected now so the end-of-life only introduces one more weakness. That is, as other products are updated and released this may give malware writers the ability to exploit a weakness in Windows XP. I certainly don't go into the details of what the patches are that come out, so I don't know how a user would be affected.

If you are going to keep using Windows XP you are accepting some risk. Make sure you perform a regular backup so your data is safe. Maybe even install a better firewall such as ZoneAlarm so if you do get infected and the malware tries to connect out the firewall may alert you. Perhaps grab a copy of some free software which can create a restore image for you. That way you can quickly restore your system if you get infected.

This one change in policy from Microsoft in my mind makes a huge difference. Is the need to purchase a new computer or operating system for an older computer as important now. I think that need has just been reduced to a degree.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703 for IT support.

Crossword dictionary. Would anyone be interested if I developed a web app to help solve crosswords?

I like to write fairly simple calculators and make them available online for others to use. If you visit www.justlocal.com.au you'll see that I've been quite busy writing calculators to do a variety of tasks. In essence, I use these dictionaries myself, so for me they serve a purpose and if others use them too, that's great also.

I envisage the crossword dictionary solver would enable you to enter the number of letters and then enter the letters you already know. If the list of matching words is under a certain number, then the list will display.

Before putting too much time into developing a crossword dictionary solver using the preferred Australian English spelling, I thought I'd ask you, my readers. Let me know if it would help you by leaving a short comment against this blog post. Thank you in advance for your feedback.  

Kelvin Eldridge 

MyAnswers: What is the Apple Mac's equivalent to the Windows delete key?

The following MyAnswers solution 2447 is now available:

There is no delete key on an Apple MacBook as there is on a Windows keyboard. The Apple delete key acts like the Windows backspace. Is there an equivalent to the Windows delete key?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: How do disable the creation of the thumbs.db files in Windows 7 Professional.

The following MyAnswers solution 2448 is now available:

How do disable the creation of the thumbs.db file in Windows 7 Professional. This may be desirable in some situations. Recently this created an issue when performing a backup from a Windows 7 Pro virtual machine running on an Apple MacBook. If you're editing web pages on Windows you may find yourself uploading thumbs.db files to your website and some of these can be quite large.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Thinking about writing an app. Make sure you do your research otherwise you could just be wasting your time and resources.

People often suggest that since I can develop software that I should develop apps. They have been convinced there's gold in them there apps. That's exactly what the large companies would have us believe. Have you noticed there's no real statistics available so you can make an informed business decision as to whether you should develop an app or not. I thought the following research by Gartner may put things in perspective.

Fewer than one in ten thousand mobile apps are actually going to make any money for their developers in the next couple of years, beancounters at Gartner have warned.... read more.

In essence that means that only the top 100 apps will make money. That top 100 does change over time but that also means those apps making money probably need to make money over a short period of time. It also means that given there's a million apps available in the Apple store, there's nearly a million apps (less a few hundred) that will never pay for themselves or the effort involved. Apple of course is laughing all the way to the bank because they make 30% of everything, and even if your app only makes $100, of that Apple gets $30. For a million apps that's $30 million dollars for them and $70 for the app developer. 

All that is really happening for most developers is they are purchasing a Mac for development (Apple wins), paying for a developer licence (Apple wins), and spending a huge amount of their resources in terms of time and lost income (developer loses) and transferring that energy to Apple (Apple again wins at the expense of developers).

Don't think only Apple is doing this because the same is true for Google and Microsoft's app stores. It is just that Apple has so far done it more successfully than the others.

If you like the odds of being one in ten thousand (you were top in your school weren't you, OK make that the region) then go for it. But do keep in mind the story of the turtle and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Business isn't a gamble. It is about making calculated decisions and determining the level of risk which is acceptable. If you do decide to go down the road of app creation then I deeply and truly wish you the best of fortune. It is always good to see the long shot come home.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703 for computer support.

MyAnswers: Sending an email using Apple Mail and get the message 'Cannot send message using the service secure3194.hostgator.com.'

The following MyAnswers solution 2446 is now available:

When trying to send an email using Apple Mail I occasionally get the message 'Cannot send message using the service secure3194.hostgator.com.' Not sure why it works sometimes and not at other times.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Sunday, January 12, 2014

MyAnswers: Keys to press to edit a multiline text field in Microsoft Access table running in a Virtual Machine on a MacBook Air running OS X Mavericks.

The following MyAnswers solution 2445 is now available:

In Windows when I want to edit a text field in Microsoft Access I press Shift+F2 to display the text in a separate windows. On the MacBook Air running OS X Mavericks and running Office 2013 in a virtual machine this doesn't work. What keys do I press to show the text in the separate window to edit. Editing a multiline text field in the raw table layout doesn't work. Where you think you're editing isn't where the correction is done. It is out by a number of characters so it is impossible to edit.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Suzy Lopez from Mobile Computer Geeks blog spamming to generate business.

When dealing with a computer support person or group you are often trusting your business or private information to the business when you require support or computer repair. If a computer business is using suspect business practices to promote their business then you should steer clear of them. Suzy Lopez from Mobile Computer Geeks just added the following to my blog. I removed the link so others don't visit their site.

Hello Kelvin.
I always try to keep myself updated regarding to the computer issues. Your blog will help me a lot in computer repair.
Thanks
Suzy
<link promoting their site removed>.


The post on my blog does not contain usable information and simply provides a link to a MyAnswers solution I make available for clients.

Computer businesses know more than anyone what they are doing is unprofessional and wrong when they simply write comments on another business' blog to promote their own business. If businesses like Mobile Computer Geeks use questionable businesses practices for self promotion, then you should question their integrity and avoid them. Before using a computer business, perform a search using Google and see if they've been blog spamming to promote their business. Blog spamming is a good indication they are not a professionally run business.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703

PS. You may also wish to check any links or images of the person posting the blog spam. In this case the photo wasn't of the person but one which can be found on many sites across the internet, so in all probability not the actual person. Legitimate businesses don't use photos of others to promote themselves. Also the Google+ profile contains no other information. Again another indication it isn't legitimate and just blog spamming.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Alert: Gmail update: Reach more people you know

It appears Google has now given Google+ users the ability to spam others and you don't need to do a thing. I find it almost unbelievable (OK perhaps not unbelievable) that companies like Google simply introduce features that default to fully on and not off.

I get it. If Google (or Facebook, any any of the big services) introduce a new feature chances are almost no one will use them. In effect the features fail because no one is really interested. However if you default to the feature being on then most people are pretty lazy and will leave the feature on. Thus the feature is an instant success. At least in their eyes.

Google has just opened the doors to instant spamming Gmail users. I really don't care to be part of Google's Google+ service but somewhere along the way I probably needed something and enabled it. Short of dumping Google (which I'd love to do but they have services I need to use for practical reasons) I have a Gmail account. Thus now if I did nothing anyone with a Google+ account can send me an email. Yes that's potentially a world of spammers. They don't even need to already know me.


As you can see this new setting in your Gmail account allows anyone on Google+ to email you via your Google+ profile. If you don't want unwanted emails from people you don't know (or perhaps I should say more emails) then turn the feature off.

Go to your settings in your Gmail account.
Select the General tab
The ninth setting is Email via Google+
Change the setting as you see fit.

In my case I really don't want anyone to contact me via Google+ so my choice is 'No one'.

The click on Save changes.

If you know someone that uses Gmail pass a on link to these instructions. Chances are if they need your assistance to know of this change they won't know it has happened and won''t realise why. Yes Google has just sent out an email to their users, but who really reads their emails anyway, let alone understand the implications of what they are doing.

Gone are the days when companies appeared to provide services for their customer's needs. But then again we use to pay for the services, so it is all part of the compromise. As they say 'we are the product'.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call: 0415 910 703

Biggest regret in my IT career would be participating in open source projects.

Sometimes you look back at your career and think you could have done things differently. But the past is the past so it really doesn't matter. Once you move on you tend to forget anyway. However I do have one regret and that is contributing to the open source projects. I figured when you help others, others will help you. What I found was completely different.

One person who I exchanged emails with put it very clearly for me to see. He said, "I take what I want and give what I want". To me that is just greedy and is largely how I now see open source. Notice how 'i' is mentioned a number of times. It is never about what someone else may need.

In my case I had a client who had many tens of thousand of dollars of illegal software which had most likely been installed by their previous IT support person. I assisted the client in purchasing what they needed to become legitimate. To provide additional but not mandatory functionality I selected OpenOffice.org for the client. This approach saved the client around $30-$40,000 in software purchases. At the time there was no Australian dictionary for OpenOffice.org and only a British dictionary. The problem is if an Australian dictionary became available and the client started to use the Australian dictionary, any old document would no longer spellcheck correctly, so potentially every document would need to be updated and that wasn't acceptable. In my own time and at my own cost I built the Australian dictionary. This was a couple of weeks worth of work for no income. Some could say I got paid installing the software, but the reality is I didn't need to create the dictionary and if I hadn't, OpenOffice.org would not have been used. I then decided to contribute the work to the open source community. I was hooked on assisting the community. I tend to be like that. I had hoped that this may lead to some additional work but nothing came from it.

Then the Firefox project took a copy of the work. They had no desire to contribute back. Google Chrome took a copy of the work. Again nothing back. Even Coles Myer contacted me with regards to the licence and gave nothing back. Yes hundreds of thousands of people use my work every day and gave nothing back. One company with thousands of users contacted me for the dictionary but as soon as they heard the dictionary was open source I never heard back from them.

I got sucked into the romantic notion of contributing to the greater good by some very slick companies and individuals. Had I known better I would not have done it. When you see companies like Mozilla/Firefox and Google making hundreds of millions or billions, and you know they've given nothing back to assist you directly, it is a reminder every day of decisions that could have been better. I have no regrets with any of my career choices with the businesses I worked for. I contributed and was paid in return. With open source I now feel I was simply used.

I share this story because often people convince the next generation entering IT, those IT people needing experience, to build their skills by working with open source projects. The problem is this simply uses the time and energy of young people and based on my experience, they are unlikely to get anything back in return. The only people I saw making money from the open source projects were those who worked for the companies encouraging others to give away their time for free. These people are building their businesses at the expense of others. In addition, those wanting a career in IT may potentially be damaging the future of their career and the career of others in IT. When you give away your time you are in effect taking away someone else's income.

I'd highly recommend to people looking to gain experience to look for commercially related work. People and businesses are attracted to open source software because it is free and they save money. They don't want to spend money. They will however spend money on commercial software. If it wasn't for Microsoft software and the ongoing support required, I would not have made money over the last two decades and been able to support my family.

If by sharing my experience it helps a single person make a better decision in their life then this post will have been worth it.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703

MyAnswers: Myki overcharges in a known situation.

The following MyAnswers solution 2444 is now available:

I've noticed Myki to be overcharging and once you know you can avoid this particular overcharging situation.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: How to use Apple Mail to submit posts to Blogger and not have paragraphs double spaced.

The following MyAnswers solution 2443 is now available:

When I send a blog post to Blogger using Apple Mail the paragraphs are double spaced with two lines. How can I use Apple Mail to post to Blogger and have paragraphs single spaced?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Running Microsoft Access applications on an Apple MacBook Air.

I'd never really considered running Microsoft Access applications on an Apple Mac until recently. I purchased an Apple MacBook Air and wondered if I could run my Microsoft Access business applications on the MacBook Air.

After a bit of research I decided first to run Windows XP with Office 2007 on the MacBook Air. This all worked. I then decided to run Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2013. Now while there are some compromises, I'm now able to use the portability of the MacBook Air, the long battery life, but still retain the ability to run all my existing Microsoft Access applications.

With Windows XP soon to reach end-of-life, now is a good to review whether or not the MacBook Air or Apple Mac computers are a good option for you.

If you require assistance going down this path call someone who has tested this approach and is using it on a daily basis.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call: 0415 910 703

Monday, January 6, 2014

MyAnswers: Electricity usage for a Westinghouse 120 litre freezer FR121S-L*2.

The following MyAnswers solution 2442 is now available:

How much electricity does a Westinghouse 120 litre freezer (model FR121S-L*2) use to run and thus how much are running costs a year?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Sunday, January 5, 2014

MyAnswers: Error message STOP: 0x000000ED (0x8A3137B8, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000,..) on Windows XP computer which keeps restarting.

The following MyAnswers solution 2441 is now available:

Windows XP computer keeps restarting. A blue screen flashes up so quickly I can't see what it says. I share a technique I use to capture and see the error message. The error message in this case was STOP: 0x000000ED (0x8A3137B8, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000,..).


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: Computer keeps beeping and the message 'USB Device not Recognised' appears. When that happens the mouse stop working for a short while.

The following MyAnswers solution 2440 is now available:

My Windows XP computer keeps beeping and the mouse stops working and then starts working again every few seconds. A message keeps popping up saying' USB Device not Recognised. One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognise it.'


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome start with qvo6.com site.

The following MyAnswers solution 2439 is now available:

Every time I start Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Firefox I go to a qvo6.com site which appears as a search screen and not Google, which is my home page.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: Windows 7 computer freezing at start-up logo. Problem Signature 07: CorruptRegistry and NoRootCause reported.

The following MyAnswers solution 2438 is now available:

Windows 7 computer freezing at logo. When I can get into Startup Repair I get the message the computer can't be repaired automatically and Problem Signature 07: Corrupt Registry is mentioned. Another time I receive Problem Signature 07:  NoRootCause.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: How to determine a user's password for a Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 computer so you can repair their computer when the password is not provided.

The following MyAnswers solution 2437 is now available:

Received a client's Windows 7 computer today to repair but unfortunately they never provided their password. Not a problem. Within a few minutes you can recover passwords from Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 computers. If having a password on your computer makes you feel safe, think again. It literally only takes a few minutes to determine the password. Please note. For this solution you'll have to provide a reason for requesting the solution and the solution is only available for current clients, not people I don't know.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Get to Google faster. Update your default search engine. Sure/No thanks


I don't know about you, but those messages from Google every time I visit their site annoy the living daylights out of me. Surely after hitting No thanks dozens of times they'd get the message. Thank goodness I don't have to put up with them as much as my clients, even when my clients have set Google as their home page.

I use Search Australia which is a search engine I created. Search Australia uses Google's services some I'm still getting the results from Google, but the results shown are for sites with Australian domains. I can still search all of Google by putting a 'g' before what I want to search for (or b for Bing and y for Yahoo), but most of the time I search I want Australian sites. I don't want to see sites from overseas companies that have such a strong presence they dwarf the results from Australian sites. If I want to check the road rules I don't want to see the results from UK sites.

Best of all, no nagging from Google. No nagging to make Google my default search engine and no nagging to switch to Chrome. If Google's nagging is annoying you then set Search Australia (www.AdvancedSearch.com.au/SearchAustralia) as your home page. I now also have Search Australia as the default when open a new tab. The less I use the Google home page the happier I am.

Kelvin Eldridge 
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Ph: 0415 910 703

Saturday, January 4, 2014

MyAnswers: Microsoft Security Essentials install error 0x80070643 on Windows 7 and a technique I used to successfully install Microsoft Security Essentials.

The following MyAnswers solution 2436 is now available:

When trying to install Microsoft Security Essentials on a Windows 7 computer it failed with the error 0x80070643. I'd previously tried to install MSE on the computer but gave up and installed another product. This time I found a technique which worked and allowed MSE to be successfully installed.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
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Thursday, January 2, 2014

MyAnswers: Keyboard shortcut to use to get from an operating system in VirtualBox back to OS X application.

The following MyAnswers solution 2435 is now available:

When using an operating system in VirtualBox is there a keyboard shortcut which enables me to get back to Apple's OS X applications?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

MyAnswers: How to set up Apple Mail on OS X to access Microsoft Live/Outlook.com email account.

The following MyAnswers solution 2434 is now available:

How to set up Apple Mail on OS X to access Microsoft Live/Outlook.com email account.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

MyAnswers: Having trouble changing the name of tabs on Excel spreadsheet.

The following MyAnswers solution 2433 is now available:

I am having trouble changing the names of the tabs on my Excel spreadsheet. I've turned the protection off.


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
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MyAnswers: Which save option to use when updating Excel 2003 spreadsheets to Excel 2010.

The following MyAnswers solution 2432 is now available:

I am currently updating my Excel 2003 spreadsheets to Excel 2010. When I go to save which options should I use?


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Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au/myanswers/
(An Online Connections service.)