CST News

Well the weather has certainly chilled down now with a few recent frosts. However, it is June and I guess colder weather is to be expected. In fact I guess it will get colder yet. It is hard to phone Mum in Brisbane and she says how nice the temperatures are – about 20 – 26 degrees every day. But then who wants to live in a city of more than 2 million people? Not us – that is why we choose to live in rural New Zealand.

Having said that however, Sue and I decided to put off our weekend away in Te Anau last month – the weekend the forecast was for gale force winds and heavy rain. It was nice to sit at home with the fire on and watch the rubbish weather. We had the weekend off first weekend this month. Te Anau is certainly quiet in June – no need to bother booking an evening meal at the restaurants! But it was nice to get out and have a good walk and really nice to look at those magnificent mountains.

Life at CST continues to tick along with work to keep the guys busy and sales to keep me busy. However we will never turn down another sale so come in and see us for the best advice and best products in town.

Which reminds me of the Milton lady who bought a laptop in Dunedin and asked us to set it up for her – a fair enough request which we are so happy to do.

However when we got the laptop out of the box, it was dead so a trip back to Dunedin for the customer and we get the replacement a few days later. We set the system up and delivered it back to her in Milton as we were working there anyway. Next day she phones and says she could not get her printer working so another trip to Balclutha with printer and new laptop. We once again delivered as Sue was going to Dunedin.

Add the kilometres and time we spent on this saga. It would have certainly been cheaper to have bought a more expensive laptop from CST and paid the support fee rather than all the trips backward and forwards between Dunedin, Milton and Balclutha.

See the newsletter below for some good deals that you will not have to drive to Dunedin for!

 

Virus News

I noticed on the TV3 News recently comment about the latest virus to sweep the world – called Game Over Zeus. How it works is far too complicated for me but suffice it to say the FBI believes that between 500 000 and one million computers in 12 countries are infected and the virus has been responsible for the theft of over $US100 million.

Have a look at this item from the NZ Herald. It is easy to read and understand and gives useful tips for avoiding the problem.

What Can You Do?

• Update your operating system (Windows for most of us)
• Update your antivirus
• Think twice before clicking on links or attachments in unrequested emails.

For those who run Apples and think they are immune, think again. We have just had our first Apple with the Cryptolocker virus I mentioned in the last newsletter. All the major antivirus companies are now supplying Mac versions so Apples are not immune any longer.

 

Items For Sale

We have a couple of second hand items for sale – you do not even need to go to Dunedin!

2 drawer filing cabinet

Computer Desk

Both items are as new and we will take any sensible offer.

 

Weather Forecasting Stone

I remember as a youngster (LOTS of years ago) going on holiday with the old folks in South Canterbury and seeing a rock hanging off the signpost to Hanging Rock near Timaru. This reminds me of that.

Incidentally, even Google Maps does not know about Hanging Rock in South Canterbury, but Google does – try it.

 

Software For Free

We are often asked for software to do this, that or the other. Sometimes people object when they find the price of commercial software. However here is a package you can use for editing photos, resizing them or doing other simple stuff. It is not heard to use – in fact it is the package that I use to produce the graphics for this newsletter.

What is even better is that it is free. It is called Irfan View and can be found and downloaded from here.

Have a go – it is easy. If I can do it, most of my customers can too.

 

Optical Illusions

For those of you who have been reading my newsletter for a while, you may remember my small mind quite likes optical illusions.

Try these – there are 109 of them here.

 

Is This For Real?

 

Is It Cold In South Otago?

Check these pictures out – we don’t know what cold REALLY means.

 

Google quick tricks

Google is probably still the most commonly used search engine, but few people know about the other clever functionalities it has.

For instance, instead of asking Google to find you a good dictionary, use Google! Just type “Define” followed by the word you want a definition for into the search bar. Not only does it give you the meaning of the word, it also gives you a bunch of synonyms, its origin and the option to translate it into any language you choose.

Similarly, you don’t have to ask Google to find you separate measurement or currency converters – the search engine will do all the converting for you! Simply type, “What is 36 inches in centimetres” and there you have it.

You might have been familiar with the above two Google tricks, but here’s one that very few people actually know about: Google can also check flight information for you! Just type the name of the airline and the flight number. You’ll have all the information you need right there – where it’s going, the scheduled landing time, the arrival gate and more.

 

 

Windows 7 Upgrade Special

We have been able to source full versions of Windows 7 at reasonable prices in the last few days. Bring your old Windows XP computer in and we will look at it and if it is worth upgrading we can do this cheaper now. Come in and see what sort of deal we can do.

 

 

Thought For The Day

Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together. (Marilyn Monroe).