Is American spelling causing you a problem in Microsoft Office, Word or Outlook?

Many people mention they have a problem with American spelling in their documents. I’ve heard of lecturers frowning on students using American spelling, from a number of people attending different tertiary institutions.

The problem isn’t the spelling, it is that most people assume that spelling words with “ize” is using the American spelling. In Australia we have the unusual situation where we have two or more ways to spell thousands of words. For example “organise” and “organize” are both correct in Australia. However the preferred spelling is “organise” and if you use “organize”, people will often consider the spelling is wrong.

It is now very easy to use the preferred Australian English spelling with the Exclude file I make available for Word 2003, Outlook 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010 (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access). The Exclude file marks thousands of words as incorrect spelling so you can easily use the preferred spelling, which also has the advantage of resulting in consistent spelling in your documents.

For more information visit the Microsoft Exclude page.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Helping Australians one word at a time.

Alert: Facebook app Pink Your Profile being a virus is a hoax.

A person said to me they'd been told they were concerned they’d installed a virus into their iPod Touch by running a Pink Your Profile app. I investigated this and found this was a hoax. The Pink Your Profile app appears to have been a legitimate app from CUA (Credit Union Australia) to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

My initial thought was the person had run the app on their iPod Touch and it was very unlikely this would be a virus. Performing a search on the internet found the following page on the Hoax Slayer confirming this was a hoax.

Hoax - Facebook 'Add Pink Tinge to Your Profile' Virus Warning... Read More

If you are told about a virus I suggest that before telling others, that you first do a search on the internet. In addition, be careful of the sites you visit as part of your investigation because they could be malware sites set up to trick you. A number of clients now send requests to check out a suspicious email when they’re concerned.

A hoax like this is usually little more than a nuisance. But it is possible if people were to believe the hoax, that they may end up paying to have someone check their computer when in fact there was no need to incur the cost. If you receive a suspicious email, before letting your family and friends know please take a moment to do a little research. If you don’t you may end up causing unwanted and unnecessary stress, or even an unnecessary repair cost.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with computer problems.
No problem too small.

Blog comment spam

Every day I receive comments on my blogs from spammers which I delete before my readers also end up being spammed. I received the following comment which I thought I’d share.

Neat blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your theme. Thanks <link to site removed>

I see a lot of people who start a blog, share this type of comment with their readers without realising they’ve been blog spammed.

A compliment is often used to make people feel good about their blog and thus they accept the comment on their blog. I suspect a lot of those writing blogs also leave their blogs completely open for anyone to post a comment. I’m finding, at a guess, possibly up to 95 per cent of comments on blogs are spam. The aim of the comments is to either gain a greater presence in Google with links to a site, or to have people click on a link and visit the site.

 

I decided to check this comment and see how often it had been posted on blogs. To do this I chose a reasonable portion of the comment (Neat blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?), placed quotes around this text and performed a search using Google.

For search results from Australia, there were 2,890 results returned, and for results from the web, there were 487,000 results returned.

This is just one example of blog spam. Nearly half a million blogs have been spammed with just this one message. If you think about the number of spam blog comments occurring across the internet this is a massive problem.

To avoid this issue bloggers should think about removing automatic approval of comments on their blogs and to review comments before releasing them. If bloggers make it harder for spammers this avenue won’t be attractive to spammers and this will make it easier for all bloggers.

If you think it doesn’t matter, I recently clicked on a blog spam comment which had an address to a site in Australia, this immediately redirected me to a site in India, which then immediately redirected me to a site in Russia.  I didn’t wait to see what the result was going to be but I have no doubt the intent was malicious. Blog comment spam may contain a link to malware.

If you run a blog, please consider removing automatic posting of comments.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Helping small businesses with their computers and internet presence.

Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 announced

Nokia World 2011 is underway in the UK. Nokia have announced two Windows Phone 7.5 devices, the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710.

The press release is available at the following site.

http://press.nokia.com/2011/10/26/nokia-showcases-bold-portfolio-of-new-phones-services-and-accessories-at-nokia-world/

I found it interesting Australia does not appear in the list of six countries for the initial release, or even the second group of countries, but we'll most likely see the devices sometime in 2012.

I recently went into a couple of Telstra stores to check out the latest version of Microsoft Phone 7.5 and all that was available were a couple of old devices. I still haven't been able to check out the upgraded operating system. That's not a good sign for Microsoft in Australia.


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

Repco GearUP USB Car Charger Kit Universal gets the thumbs down.

Recently I purchased a Repco GearUP USB Car Charger Kit Universal which is a USB car charger kit which plugs into a car’s cigarette lighter and has two USB sockets for charging. Normally I stick with products I can purchase from my suppliers, but in this case because of the low value of the item, I decided to purchase one of these units on special for $9.99, reduced to half price.

I plugged the cable provided into my iPhone and the adaptor into a portable 12V battery designed to jump start a car and also provide power to accessories plus a number of other features. To my surprise and disappointment the iPhone 3GS reported it wouldn’t work with the device. I then plugged in the cable which came with the iPhone and it worked. Next I decided since it was a dual USB charger to plug in the iPhone 3GS and an Android mobile phone and charge both at the same time. Instead of the iPhone being charged, it was still losing power over time, whilst the Android phone did start to charge. I worked out you can only charge one device at a time.

It wasn’t worth the trip half way across Melbourne to where I purchased the unit, so like many people who purchase products that don’t live up to expectation, this one will probably end up in a draw and I’ll purchase a reputable product through my computer suppliers.

I didn’t expect to receive what I’d consider a substandard product from Repco, so I didn’t mind taking a chance. But from now on I’ll stick with the products I know and trust.

How many computer related devices have you purchased that don’t measure up to your expectation and end up in the draw?

At Online Connections I generally stick to devices and brands which have proven themselves across my client base over time. Often that doesn’t mean paying more. A good product can cost the same as a poor product. Marketers will often use the line “you get what you pay for” to encourage you to buy a particular product. To me what is important is the product proves itself in the field. Those are the products I’ll recommend to clients.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/
Call 0415 910 703 if you require assistance with your computer.
Serving Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Google Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) announced.

I read the following announcement (Samsung Galaxy Nexus ... Read More) on the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus with the latest version of Android 4 and can’t help wonder what that means for the stocks being held of current Android mobile phones. I’ve noticed a number of Android based mobile phones being sold are based on Android 2.1. Even the new Amazon Kindle Fire is based on a fork of Android 2.3.

If you’re considering an Android mobile phone keep in mind the version number. I’d suggest avoiding Android 2.1 and prior mobile devices. Android 2.2 for me meant Skype worked and Android 2.3 I believe is when they brought out the quite useful hotspot feature. It really is hard to keep up with the frequent and small changes. I know a person who purchase a new Android mobile to end up with Android 1.6 and since they wanted to use Skype, they weren’t able to.

Android 4 is the version which purportedly brings the mobile phone and the tablet operating systems back into a single operating system.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is being released in parts of the world in November. That is quite a way from the Christmas buying season, so there is still plenty of time for new devices to hit the market.

The most important thing is to make a note of the version of the Android operating and make sure it has the features you want for your needs.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with computer problems.
No problem too small.

MyAnswers: Facebook app doesn't work after upgrading Apple iPhone 4 to iOS 5.

The following MyAnswers solution 2180 is now available:

I upgraded my Apple iPhone 4 to iOS 5. Now when I go to click on Facebook it does nothing and I can't get Facebook to work. What can I do?

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

MyAnswers: I'm worried my computer is about to die. How do I back up my Outlook data?

The following MyAnswers solution 2177 is now available:

I'm worried my computer is about to die. How do I back up my Outlook data?

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

MyAnswers: What's the best simple database for contact to use? Outlook or Excel.

The following MyAnswers solution 2176 is now available:

What's the best simple database for contact to use? I have access to Outlook and Excel.

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

MyAnswers: Add business to Google Places. Nothing happens with Find Business Information.

The following MyAnswers solution 2175 is now available:

When I try to add my business in Google Places I enter the country, my telephone number and then click on Find Business Information and nothing happens. I can't get past the Find Business Information screen.

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

MyAnswers: Acer One netbook A150 wireless connects to wireless network but doesn't work.

The following MyAnswers solution 2173 is now available:

Acer One netbook A150 wireless connects to wireless network but doesn't work.

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

MyAnswers: A list of articles on iOS 5

The following MyAnswers solution 2172 is now available:

A list of articles on iOS 5 I've found on the internet which I felt may be useful to others.

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

MyAnswers: Notes on the Applie iOS 5 operating system used on an Apple iPhone 3GS.

The following MyAnswers solution 2171 is now available:

Notes on the Applie iOS 5 operating system used on an Apple iPhone 3GS.

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

Apple iPhone 3GS iOS 5 update failed. The iPhone could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3200)

I’ve been running the iOS 5 update which is now available. Unfortunately after nearly an hour the update failed and I needed to start again. The message I received was something along the lines of Apple iPhone could not be restored at this time because server could not be contacted. I had to laugh. I always say to users to record the error message and I didn’t record the exact details to share with others. The following is the message when it occurred a second time.

I then ran the update again and whilst the backup process takes some time, at least the download wasn’t required again.

Then I received the error message The iPhone <my iphone> could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (3200).

Looks like this is going to be a long update.

I’m sharing this update experience because this is what happens in the real world. Often a task for a client which should take perhaps an hour, can balloon out. It isn’t the client’s fault. What I do undertake is I’ll do my best, no matter what it takes. So far this update has taken around two and a half hours, plus the previous time to update to iTunes 10.5 and still isn’t complete.

I suspect a potential issue will be the load on the Apple servers at this time may cause issues. For those not in a hurry to update, waiting until the load reduces is a good idea.

Back to the update.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
No problem to small.

iMessage is the interesting new feature of Apple's iOS 5

There are around 200 changes with the iOS 5 update and a couple caught my eye. The first will be iMessage. iMessage has the ability to reduce the cost of messaging other iPhone and Touch users which is good, but being limited to only Apple products means it won’t be as useful as it could be.

The other feature I’m interested in is the ability to create a keyboard shortcut for frequently used words. Now if that allows me to create a shortcut for my email addresses, that will be a handy addition.

What’s your favourite new feature?

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

 

iOS5 release date for Australia. iOS 5 is now available for download. Downloading iOS5 has begun

The Apple iOS 5 update for iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S), iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch 3rd and 4rth generation is now available. Downloading appears to have started around 5 hours ago, which would have been 9am Pacific Time, or 3am in Melbourne, Australia.

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

MyAnswers: Upgrading to Apple iTunes 10.5 failed on Apple Software Update 2.1.3.

The following MyAnswers solution 2170 is now available:

Upgrading to Apple iTunes 10.5 failed on Apple Software Update 2.1.3.

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

Opera Mini 6.5 released

Opera have just announced the release of Opera Mini 6.5. This will be available soon on Android and in time on the Apple iPhone.

More information is available on the following page.

http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?nid=20118460&cid=null&bcid=&bid=-264


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

What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?

The Sandy Bridge range of processors is the current line of processors promoted by Intel. I read this article and felt it may be useful to others. The interesting tip I got out of this article was to watch out for computers built using the Core i5-661. The i5 has four cores except the i5-661 has only two. Whilst this article might not make it easier to buy a computer, at least you’ll know the differences between the i3, i5 and i7 CPUs.

Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 CPUs have been around for over a year now, but some buyers still get stumped whenever they attempt to build their own systems and are forced to choose among the three.... Read More

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with computer problems
No problem too small.

A brief summary of JustLocal for Templestowe residents and businesses.

I wanted to share with others in Templestowe what JustLocal is about. I’m a computer consultant with a large amount of expertise across a range of computer related disciplines. I find the best way to show others is by example.

What I did is what anyone with a small amount of assistance can do. The difference between myself and others is I assist people and charge for my time. I share my knowledge so people aren’t tied to myself or my services. My hope is that by looking after their interests they’ll appreciate the services I offer. I’ve found it to be an approach which works well because others don’t work that way.

To  explain JustLocal for residents and businesses in Templestowe, I decided to build a web page. For any business this is very easy to do. If you can design a single page brochure to promote your business, your brochure can be reproduced with minimal time and cost as a web site to let others in your area know your business exists.

In this case I decided to register the domain for http://www.templestowe.biz/, set up hosting space, point the domain at the hosting space, create a web page and then upload the web page. In a couple of hours the page was live on the internet. I literally just set this up and it is live within minutes. You should however wait usually 24 hours to make sure the domain has filtered through the internet.

I have a number of low cost approaches I can show people how to set up a presence on the internet. Some approaches they can maintain themselves with minimal technical skills. All that is required is some basic training and some support when required. Other approaches require a little more training and some software.

With some basic training and support you can literally have a web presence up within 24 hours and your only out-of-pocket cost could be the domain, which costs around $10-$30 a year depending on the domain you wish to use.

I’d encourage every small business to get a presence on the internet. It looks so much more professional to send out emails for a business using yourname@yourbusinessname.com (or .com.au) than yourname@gmail.com or yourname@hotmail.com. By using a domain every email you send out helps promote your business. I find people do check out your web site based on your email address.

A lot of people put thousands into a web presence and the only business that makes money is the web developer. I believe people should start small and as your investment generates business for you, then reinvest some of that money and evolve your presence.

If you don’t have a web presence and want something to get you started give me a call. My aim is to use my skills to help others cost effectively promote their business on the internet.

If you just wish to read a little more about JustLocal then visit http://www.templestowe.biz/.


Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/
Call 0415 910 703 if you’re local require assistance with a web presence.

Comparison of the Apple iPhone 4 versus the Apple iPhone 4S

I felt the following article comparing the specifications of the Apple iPhone 4 to the Apple iPhone 4S was quite good and may be useful to others.

iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 4S... Read More

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with computer problems

Apple iPhone 4S, iOS 5 and iCloud press release, no iPhone 5.

The Apple iPhone 4S launch has now been held and I’m sure most people will be surprised to hear there was no iPhone 5 launched today. When you sit back and think about it, it makes sense the Apple iPhone 4S is an incremental update to the iPhone 4. The following is a link to the Apple press release.

iPhone 4S Features Dual-Core A5 Chip, All New Camera, Full 1080p HD Video Recording & Introduces Siri ... Read More

According to the press release, the Apple iPhone 4S will be available in Australia from Friday October 14^th. The iOS 5 software  will be available on October 12^th for iPhone, iPad and Touch customers.

Except, and I suppose it is a pretty big except, except for there being no iPhone 5, there wasn’t really much of a surprise in the announcement with much of what was announced being announced earlier in the WWDC 2011 (World Wide Developer Conference) held in June. The updated iPhone 4S contains the type of update you’d expect in terms of processor and camera improvements.

Since LTE (4G) is not yet established, I tend to feel we’ll see LTE in iPhone 5 and perhaps NFC. These are technologies that will become more prevalent next year and it makes sense to include the technology when it is mainstream.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with computer problems

Apple iPhone 5 release announcement Australian time

The Apple iPhone 5 announcement is to be held at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino at 10am on October 4. For others in Australia interested, this is 4am Melbourne time.

I purchased an iPhone 3GS because at the time it had the best browser, but I find the limitation of the Upload button being disabled to be one of my biggest issues which puts me off continuing in the future with an iPhone. For me the best smartphone will be the smartphone with the best browser with the least number of restrictions.

With the Apple iPhone 5 announcement I suspect the release of iOS 5 for previous iPhones will also be announced. I’m looking forward to seeing what has changed. The iMessage application looks interesting and there are a few other features which will be interesting to use.

Only a little over four hours and we’ll all know a lot more.

As a caution, do keep in mind if you only use a 3G data plan, upgrading iOS could easily cause you to exceed your limit and cause bill shock. I spoke with the local Apple store a while ago and the staff didn’t think it would be an issue to upgrade using their free wireless access. You should check first and make sure it is OK.

Until tomorrow.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Providing help with PCs, tablets and mobile phones.

MyAnswers: How to turn off the sound on Apple 3GS iPhone until the alarm goes off.

The following MyAnswers solution 2164 is now available:

I'm wondering if there's a way to turn off the sound on my phone (Apple 3GS iPhone) until the alarm goes off.

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

Google Chrome (PWS:Win32Zbot) treated as a virus by Microsoft (MS) Security Essentials is a false positive

I read reports, that overnight users were having their Google Chrome browser blocked or removed from their computer by Microsoft Security Essentials. An update to MS Security Essential incorrectly treated the Chrome browser as a virus. You can read more from the Microsoft site here.

I don’t have Google Chrome installed on my computer so I didn’t experience the issue.

I would suggest forcing an update of Microsoft Security Essentials as soon as you start your computer. I’ve verified the update the fixes this issue will be installed.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you need assistance with your computers.