Decoding the new economy

Apple after Steve Jobs: ABC Weekend computers

Sep 082011

radio programs for techonology, web, social media, cloud computing and computer advice

The September 11 ABC 702 Sydney Weekends segment discussed what Steve Jobs’ stepping down as Apple CEO means for Mac users.

Simon Marnie and Paul Wallbank looked at why Steve Jobs was important to Apple, who will be taking over and whether this affects whether you should buy an Mac computer, iPhone or iPad.

Listeners’ Questions

As usual, we had plenty of great questions from listeners and some of them we promised to get back to, these included the following.

Removing Mackeeper

Cheryl called about MacKeeper warnings that keep popping up on her Apple computer.

MacKeeper, and other variants like MacProtector and MacSecurity, are known as malware – software designed for malicious reasons – which has been the bane of Windows computer users for years.

Removing Mackeeper is relatively easy and Apple has released a security patch to fix it. Details and download are available at the Apple Support website.

Wiping an old computer

The most valuable thing on a computer is the data, so it’s important to wipe any system before disposing of it. Deborah asked how to wipe her old Mac system before she left it out for her council’s e-waste collection.

If you have an OS X or OS 9 disk, you can completely wipe and “zero” the disk to make it extremely difficult for someone to recover any data from the old computer. Apple have detailed instructions on this at their How To Zero All Data On A Disk page.

Warning! Before following these instructions, make sure you have backed up all important and valuable data.

How to disable automatic Windows Updates

Updating your computer, whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, is very important as new security bugs are found all the time. Gary though was finding his system automatically installing Windows Updates often disrupts his work.

It isn’t a good idea to totally disable the Windows Update service as those updates and patches are important, but you can change the settings so they are downloaded but not installed until you choose to do so.

Microsoft’s Knowledge Base describes how to change the Windows Update Settings, we recommend the download updates but let me choose when to install them option.

Next 702 Weekends tech spot

Our next Weekends spot is scheduled for 23rd October when we’ll be discussing how to backup your valuable data. Check the Events Page or subscribe to our newsletter for any changes to the 702 Sydney programs and any other upcoming radio shows.

ABC Nightlife: The Spare Room Tycoon

Aug 112011

Our retailers, the media and many other industries are struggling as a new generation of entrepreneurs are springing up from home and changing the way we shop, work and socialise.

Whether you’re looking at starting your own business or looking to grow an existing business, you need to understand how these free or cheap online social media, local search and cloud computing services can help you.

Join Paul Wallbank and Tony Delroy on ABC Nightlife to discuss how our work and business is changing and how you can use these powerful online social media, local search and cloud computing tools.

Aspects we’ll discuss include;

How can someone take on the big boys from their spare room?
What sort of costs are involved?
How difficult is it to setup an online business?
Are juggling home and business demands likely to cause problems?
What are the challenges of keeping the kids off your home systems?
How do you stop hackers and security risks?
How can existing businesses adapt to this new world?

If you’d like to add to the list or join the conversation with your on-air questions or comments are welcome, phone in on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

702 Weekends: Understanding Hacking

Aug 062011

radio talkback & discussion on technology, the web and social media

In the week after 73 organisations have been compromised by hackers, the August ABC Weekends computer spot with Paul Wallbank and Philip Clark discussed the wave of hacking attacks, how it affects you and how we can protect our home and business networks.

We also looked at how spammers and scanners are moving onto social media platforms and where services like Facebook and Twitter could be going next.

Callers had a range of questions and comments and we promised to get back to the following;

Removing malware

Bagwhat called about a computer that keeps showing a warning from “XP Internet Security 2012″ that his computer has viruses.

This is a classic malware problem and we’ve covered how to clear it in our Removing A Trojan page on the IT Queries website.

Of all the programs we discuss Malwarebytes is the most effective, however a serious infection will use usually require hitting the problem with a range of solutions.

Transferring email contacts to an iPad

David asked how to import contacts from his Mozilla Thunderbird email program into his iPad, the process for doing this requires three steps which we’ve covered at IT Queries in How Do I Transfer Contacts To My iPad or iPhone.

The iPad forums and Apple’s support website have more detailed information on how to transfer data between the applications and devices.

Junk folders in Windows Live Mail

One of the delights of having a decent junk mail filter is you never see the dozens of pointless emails that arrive in your inbox each day. So when an update damages your spam filter, as Windows Live 2011 did for Sue, then it’s a real irritation.

The repair for this is actually quite straightforward, and we’ve covered this in Windows Live Mail Junk Folders Not Working at IT Queries.

Once it’s finished, you’ll be asked to reboot the computer and the problem should be fixed after the restart.

Reinstalling an Antivirus

Norton Antivirus is bugging Sharon to buy a new versions of their software and she wanted to know if it was worthwhile.

The free Microsoft Security Essentials is a good substitute for Windows computers so there’s no need to update the Norton service.

With Nortons it is important to completely remove the program as it will clog up the system, so make sure it’s properly uninstalled and then run the Norton Removal Tool to make sure all the Symantec services are no longer on the computer.

Our next ABC 702 Weekends program should be on Sunday, September 11 at 10.10am which we’ll confirm closer to the date. Subscribe to our newsletter or watch our webpages for upcoming events.

ABC Nightlife: The Year of the Hack

Jun 302011

It’s beginning to look like 2011 will be remembered as The Year of the Hacker as we see thousands of people affected by computer security problems at big corporations and government departments.

As we trust more of our data to online services like cloud computing applications and social media platforms should we be expecting these organisations to protect our private and financial information?

Tony Delroy and Paul Wallbank from 10pm on Thursday, June 30 2011 discussed what is happening to our valuable data in the online world.

Aspects included;

What exactly is hacking?
Who are these hackers?
Why are we seeing so many hacks happening?
How do these data problems happen?
Big corporations seem to be affected, is this something small business should watch out for?
What can we do to protect ourselves?
Should we be careful with social media platforms as well?

Listen now

If you missed the program, it’s available for podcast or download at the Nightlife Website.

Useful resources

If you’re concerned that your personal details have been leaked in the latest round of security, the Should I Change My Password site checks if your email address is on the available list of compromised accounts.

Removing malware

One of our callers, George, asked about a virus that was diverting his son’s computer to an unwanted web site that loads when the system starts.

The computer has been infected with what we call a page hijacker and it can be removed with the free Malware Bytes program.

Sometimes the infection can be a bit more persistent in which case we have instructions on Removing A Trojan at our sister IT Queries website.

Upcoming programs

The date of the next Nightlife tech spot will probably be August 4, but that’s to be confirmed. If you’d like to keep up to date with upcoming appearances, visit our Events page or Subscribe to our newsletter.

Add your views

If you’d like to join the conversation with your on-air questions or comments are welcome, phone in during the show on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

The show goes to air across the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Local Radio Network. Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

ABC Nightlife: Our Digital Future

Jun 012011

Our digital future

In the last week the Federal government announced their National Digital Economy Strategy while at the Sydney Opera House the Digital Sydney project was launched. In New York the city has appointed a digital commissioner and London has launched their Tech City community.

Clearly our governments think the future is digital. But what does that mean and are their plans achievable? Join Paul Wallbank and Tony Delroy to examine how our society, economy and businesses are changing in the digital era.

The program details

The podcast of the program is available for a limited time at the Tony Delroy’s Nightlife homepage.

Aspects we discussed included;

Why are our governments suddenly talking digital?
What are the digital industries?
How are they changing the way we live?
In what ways are existing industries coping with these changes?
What are the barriers to setting up new industries?
How do we create regional business hubs?
How important is broadband in these developments
What tools can we use to start new online business?

Listeners’ Questions

YouTube not playing

Rod asked about his computer not playing YouTube clips. This is usually due to problems with the Adobe Flash software on the computer.

To fix it, first uninstall all the versions of Adobe Flash on the computer. Then run a computer cleanup on the system. Finally reboot your computer then reinstall Adobe Flash Player.

Multiple business accounts on one computer

Running a number of businesses from one office can raise some difficulties, Jane called to ask if she can have different email accounts that have each businesses customised address block.

The answer is “yes” if you’re running Microsoft Outlook, you can setup separate accounts that automatically add the correct business information. Microsoft explain how on their web site. This feature has been around for some time although instructions vary between the different software versions.

Choosing the right Internet plans

Two of our callers, Shirley and Margaret, called about the limits and costs of their Internet connections. This is understandable as both prepaid wireless and satellite Internet plans can be very expensive.

Where possible it’s best to go to fixed plan with shaped excess usage, where rather than being charged when you go over the monthly data limit your connection is slowed.

It does take some research to find the right service and we recommend Whirlpool’s Broadband Choice website to find the plan that suits your needs.

Software and websites referred to in the program

Ccleaner: Free computer clean up tool (remember to back up your data first)
Adobe Flash Player
Microsoft Outlook email signature setup
Whirlpool Broadband Choice

Next program

The next Nightlife program should be at 10pm on July 14. The topic we’ll discuss will be posted on the events web page and in our weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get all the details of upcoming radio segments and workshops.

ABC 702 Weekends: The spies in our pockets

May 102011

You don’t have to be an FBI suspect to have your car tracked, recently the GPS manufacturer Tom-Tom admitted it sold users’ traffic data to Dutch police which was used to set speed traps and security researchers discovered Apple’s iPhone is storing location information that is used by Apple for research purposes.

On the 15 May 2011 702 Sydney program, Philip Clarke and Paul Wallbank discussed are our phones, GPS and other electronic devices tracking us and some of the things we should be aware of when using mobile phone and other GPS enabled technology.

We had a full board of callers and promised we’d get back to some of the following;

Images not showing in Internet Explorer

Kim called about her computer not showing images in Internet Explorer running on Windows Vista. This could be simply a matter of ticking the Show Pictures check box in the Advanced tab of the Internet Explorer Options settings. We explain how to do this, and how to handle further similar problems, on our IT Queries website.

Free Backup options

One of the most irritating things to lose when a computer crashes or you replace it are your email and contacts. Arthur asked about backing up this important data in Windows Hotmail Live on his Windows 7 computer.

Unlike some of the earlier versions, Windows 7 comes with its own backup program which Microsoft shows you how to use it on their website. Make sure you choose to backup your profile as this will save all your email, contacts and favorites along with your computer settings.

Once you’ve created the backup, we’d suggest using an online service like Dropbox or Box.net to keep a secure copy of these files.

Fixing a slow computer

Kristina asked about speeding up her computer that’s running slowly, particularly when Outlook 2003 is open. The first step is to backup your Outlook data which is saved in a PST file, just in case something goes wrong.

Next you should uninstall any programs and add ins that might be interfering with Outlook then run the Mailbox Clean Up Tool to get rid of anything you don’t need.

Having cleaned up Outlook, it’s time to run the Outlook Inbox repair tool which will fix any inconsistencies in the PST data store.

Once you’ve cleaned up Outlook, it’s time to do a general clean up of the computer that will flush out anything unnecessary on your system. Follow this with a drive check by running chkdsk which will clean up minor problems with the way your computer has saved data.

With all of these clean ups done you should have a much fast computer, if you don’t it may be time to call a computer technician.

Next 702 Sydney Weekend segment

We’ll have the date of the next 702 Weekends up on our events page in the next few days. The next Nighlife spot will be on June 16 where we’ll be discussing how to secure your data against incompetent organisations.

If you’d like to get advanced notice of radio programs and other events, subscribe to our newsletter at the right of this screen.

ABC Nightlife computers: What is cloud computing?

May 042011

Our regular ABC Nightlife radio spot explained cloud computing and had a look at the Sony PlayStation Network security problems.

The tech industry loves nothing more that to baffle us with new terms and one of the biggest terms we’re hearing is cloud computing. Paul and Tony discussed what cloud computing is and what people are using it for.

Aspects covered included;

What exactly is cloud computing?
Isn’t this just another name for the old mainframe computing systems?
What are the benefits of cloud computing?
Can you really save huge amounts of money?
What are the applications you can use?

A lot of what we discussed is covered in The Connected Business post and we’ve listed some useful cloud computing tools which can be used in the home or office at Ten Business Uses for Cloud Computing.

You can listen to the program’s podcast via the Nightlife website. We promised some of the listeners that we’d get back to them on the following topics;

What is my computer downloading?

Margaret called about her prepaid broadband usage being inconsistent, some days her system downloads more than on other days.

This is probably caused by email downloads and security updates. You shouldn’t avoid the program patches, but you can overcome the email downloading problem by using a webmail service like Hotmail or Gmail.

How do I check my computer is secure?

Two callers, Peter and Katherine, were unsure about how secure their computers are and asked how can they can be sure their systems are safe to use. We’d suggest downloading MalwareBytes and follow our Removing A Trojan instructions however if that’s too complex, it might be worthwhile calling a computer technician.

Viewing new PDF files on an old system

One of the problems with having an older computer is that newer files sometimes can’t be read by them. Rob called in to ask how he can read Adobe PDF files on his older Power PC Apple Mac.

The answer is to use Google Docs and upload the PDF into it as the service can read newer documents. If you’re using Gmail as we discuss above, then files sent with newer attachments will automatically open in the Google reader service.

The next Nightlife program will be on June 16. If you’d like to suggest topics contact us or join the conversation on the night with your on-air questions or comments by phoning 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

ABC Nightlife: The business web revolution

Mar 172011

The March Nightlife technology segment looks at how the web is changing business as consumers go online and cheap, easy to use tools make it easier than ever to set up an effective Internet presence.

The podcast of the program is available for download or listening to from the Nightlife website. Some of the programs and online services we refer to on the program are listed below.

Last year’s Sensis e-business report found over two thirds of Australians had made a purchase online. Increasingly, customers are using the web to find shops and services rather than the phone directory or local classified adverts that local businesses have relied upon in the past.

At present only half of all businesses have a website despite customers using the net as their main way of researching purchases and finding local merchants. This is partly because of the cost, time and complexity involved in setting up a web presence.

Today it’s possible to set up a free website in half an hour and be listed on the main local search engines within an hour. On the March ABC Nightlife Tony and Paul looked at how to get online and use these tools.

Aspects we discussed include;

Can you really build a web page for free
What’s replacing Yellow Pages
How do businesses list on these services
Are they a substitute for a web page
Do consumers actually use local search
How to remove Norton 360
Protecting yourself online
Dust build up in systems
The next version of Windows

Our next spot is on April 28. Visit the events page or subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with other ABC segments we might be doing.

Useful Links

Some of the software and webpages we discussed on the program included.

Getting Australian Business Online
Adding your website to Google Listings
Listing your business with local search
Norton 360º Removal Tool
Windows Scripting Host (for Windows XP)
Malwarebytes virus and spyware removal tool

If you have any suggestions for our April 24 show, please contact us. We love to hear your ideas and comments.

If you are in Sydney, our Web for Beginners seminar still has spaces available. In three hours, you’ll have your business online with an effective Internet presence.

Facebook explained

Feb 022011

Tony Delroy and Paul Wallbank on the February 3 ABC Nightlife across Australia technology segment looked at how Facebook is taking over the world.

A recording of the program is available from the ABC Nightlife website until February 10.

Aspects we discussed included;

Is Facebook really worth 50 billion dollars
Where are they making money?
Can we trust them with our data?
How do we protect ourselves when using Facebook?

Your views are welcome and if you’d like to join the conversation with your questions or comments phone 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702 or twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag

ABC Nightlife, 15 December 2010

Dec 132010

Join Rod Quinn and Paul Wallbank for a look at what the Wikileaks Cablegate affair means to Internet users, including some serious questions for businesses moving onto the cloud.

The recording from the show in now online through the Nightlife website. It will be available until at least 22 December.

Aspects we discuss include;

How secure is our business information in a digital world?

Can we trust Internet providers to do the right thing

How reliable is cloud computing when Amazon can shut Wikileaks down?

Why writing unflattering things about your friends and business colleagues is rarely a good idea

Dealing with unethical telcos and Internet providers

Listeners’ questions
As usual we had plenty of listeners calls, these included the following who we said we’d get back to;

iTunes not recognising an iPod

Removing Installshield

The Paypal “horse float” scam

Your views are welcome and if you’d like to join the conversation in future shows with your questions or comments phone 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702 or twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag

Listeners’ Questions

Removing Mackeeper

Wiping an old computer

How to disable automatic Windows Updates

Next 702 Weekends tech spot

Similar posts:

Similar posts:

Removing malware

Transferring email contacts to an iPad

Junk folders in Windows Live Mail

Reinstalling an Antivirus

Similar posts:

Listen now

Useful resources

Removing malware

Upcoming programs

Add your views

Similar posts:

Our digital future

The program details

Listeners’ Questions

YouTube not playing

Multiple business accounts on one computer

Choosing the right Internet plans

Software and websites referred to in the program

Next program

Similar posts:

Images not showing in Internet Explorer

Free Backup options

Fixing a slow computer

Next 702 Sydney Weekend segment

Similar posts:

What is my computer downloading?

How do I check my computer is secure?

Viewing new PDF files on an old system

Similar posts:

Useful Links

Similar posts:

Similar posts:

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