CST News

A very quiet month so far for the computer business but Sue has been really busy with In2Learning and Cellfield. ProSouth in Dunedin continues to be busy though so all is well.

Sue and I are planning on having the Otago Anniversary weekend off with family in Te Anau. No doubt lots of walking and lots of eating but a bit of “time out” will be good. This is most likely our favourite part of the world.

Just Popped Into My Mail

Have a look at the picture below – looks so realistic and so plausible. So I thought this is the ideal opportunity to have a quick lesson.

Read through the mail and spot the errors – from the top down!!

• Why would Australia Post send email from an address at rolodex.nl (nl = Netherlands)
• The package numbers in the subject and the body of the email are different.
• Three addressees shown – all are Tony and all receiving the same parcel
• The genuine sender is unlikely to send a zip file as many users would not have a clue how to deal with it. This is a bit technical but meant to confuse the average punter into clicking on something they do not know about.
• I am not expecting a parcel from Aussie.
• If it has been delivered, why does it need customs clearance? Surely clearance would come before delivery
• The English in the sentence about the paid service is terrible
• No official signature at the bottom of the letter

So in spite of piquing the reader’s interest (Who is sending me a parcel and what is it?), this makes no sense. So just bin anything you get like this. This one is not even good.

Ransomware

The previous article was just the introduction. This nasty stuff is the icing on the cake. What scareware does is scares you into buying a product which you do not need – you know the format – if you do not use this product you will get all these problems. Our product only costs $20.00 and will give you heaps of protection.

The next layer of nasty is ransomware. What ransomware does is lock up files on your hard drive and then provide you the key to unlock them if you pay a fee. In other words you are being blackmailed into paying a fee to fix the problem.

Paying the fee does not mean they will unencrypt your files anyway.

Paying the fee simply supports these pirates

The current ransomware product is a thing called Cryptolocker. It will encrypt pretty much any user file on your computer – word documents, pictures, spreadsheets, movies, myob files etc and then ask you for a large fee ($500 – $750) for the key to unencrypt them.

What can you do to prevent attack?

• Install, update and use reputable antivirus (talk to us – we can help here)
• Back up everything to an external storage device – especially important for businesses or those unique photos you will never be able to replace. See us here too.
• Update everything
• Health check your computer
• Alert others who might be affected.

What to do if you are affected

Disconnect your computer from the internet

Disconnect any USB storage devices attached to your computer

For most users, contact professional help.

Have a read of this website – easy to read and follow.

A Moment in Time

Talking earlier of one off photos.

Laser Printers

We frequently get customers in the shop buying ink cartridges who complain at the cost of the colour cartridges. When we talk with them, we find that the main use of the printer is black and white printing. So I suggest a laser printer. The ones we suggest are simply black and white but have amazingly cheap running costs.

It is not unknown for inkjets to cost 50 cents or more per page depending on how much of the page is covered in ink. Lasers by comparison only cost a few cents – maybe 10c per page.

We have just put in one of these at home

Retail Cost:     $171.35 inc GST

Toner:              $170.00 inc GST BUT prints 1600 pages

That equates to about 10.6 cents per page. I have an ancestor of this model above my desk in the office here at CST. We bought it when we set up the shop in 2002. It has now printed over 70 000 sheets and is still going strong (touch wood).

A significant number of people are now running two printers – a cheap black and white laser and a colour inkjet. We set the laser as default and then the users pick when to use colour. Running costs are much reduced.

As a side issue, the big printer companies still recommend using their own cartridge replacements and still will not honour the warranty if you use generic ink. I am not sure of the legality of this and make no comment on it. But I do know that most printers we write off have non branded cartridges in them. And why would you spend lots of money on a nice new car and then put cheap oil into it?

Amazing Sand Castles

I have not seen many like this at Kaka Point.

Optical Illusions

Those who have been reading my newsletter for a while will know I am keen on optical illusions.

Have a look at these ones.

More Printer Stuff

I have just found this article on using genuine cartridges which fits in well with the article above about printer costs.