But Macs don't get viruses ... or do they?

Today 1 in 5 consumer PCs is a Mac so they are a tasty target for hackers, spammers and criminals.

See these two brief videos for more info: Do Macs get viruses?


and this: What does a Mac threat look like?

World Cup 2010 - be aware of the scams!

Our close friends at Sophos - the IT security experts sent us this link to important information regarding scams that appear around World Cup 2010 time that you or someone you know may be exposed to.

People who usually have little or no interest in soccer may turn into soccer fiends when the world Cup starts.

And if you can change your behaviour -- quite innocently -- in "real life" because the World Cup is on, you run the risk of changing your behaviour online -- to your own risk -- at the same time.

Clicking dodgy links, running to five different little-known websites to compare odds, checking who's playing whom and when, trying to find crowd-shot video of dodgy refereeing decisions, looking up historical data to prove England really are rubbish, and more.

If you want to be prepared, read this:
http://www.sophos.com/blogs/duck/g/2010/06/10/world-cup-2010-scam-odds

Do you need to know your internet IP address?

There are a number of reasons why you might need to find your internet IP address and it only takes a few seconds to do.

Go to:
http://www.whatsmyip.org/

and when you arrive on the site your IP address will be prominently displayed on the top of the page.

Simple as that.

5 tips to help keep your passwords secret

Treat your passwords with as much care as you treat the information that they protect.

Use strong passwords to log on to your computer and to any site where you enter your credit card number, or any financial or personal information—including social networking sites.

1. Never provide your password over e-mail or in response to an e-mail request.
2. Internet "phishing" scams use fraudulent e-mail messages to entice you to reveal your user names and passwords, steal your identity, and more.
3. Do not type passwords on computers that you do not control
• Computers such as those in Internet cafes, computer labs, kiosk systems, conferences, and airport lounges should be considered unsafe for any personal use other than anonymous Internet browsing.
• Cyber criminals can purchase keystroke logging devices which gather information typed on a computer, including passwords.
4. Don't reveal passwords to others
• Keep your passwords hidden from friends or family members (especially children) who could pass them on to other, less trustworthy individuals.
5. Protect any recorded passwords
• Don't store passwords on a file in your computer, because criminals will look there first.
• Keep your record of the passwords you use in a safe, secure place.
6. Use more than one password
• Use different passwords for different Web sites and services.

How strong is YOUR password?

Test your password with a password checker

Are you wondering if the password you created is good enough?

A password checker evaluates your password's strength automatically.

Click on the following link if you want to check your password's strength:

https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx?WT.mc_id=Site_Link

How to Create Strong Passwords

Strong passwords are an important protection to help you protect your data.

Keys to password strength: length and complexity

An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.

• Whenever possible, use at least 8 characters or more.
• The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better.
• Use the entire keyboard, not just the letters and characters you use or see most often.

Create a strong password you can remember

There are many ways to create a long, complex password. Here is one way that may make remembering it easier:

Start with a sentence or two (about 10 words total). Think of something meaningful to you.
For example take he following sentence:
"Long and complex passwords are safest. I keep mine secret." (10 words)
Turn this sentences into a row of letters. Use the first letter of each word.
= lacpasikms (10 characters)
Add complexity. Make only the letters in the first half of the alphabet uppercase.
= lACpAsIKMs (10 characters)
Add length with numbers. Put two numbers that are meaningful to you between the two sentences.
= lACpAs56IKMs (12 characters)
Add length with punctuation. Put a punctuation mark at the beginning.
= ?lACpAs56IKMs (13 characters)
Add length with symbols. Put a symbol at the end.
= ?lACpAs56IKMs" (14 characters)

Common password pitfalls to avoid

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords.
Avoid creating passwords using:
• Dictionary words in any language.
Words in all languages are vulnerable.
• Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
• Sequences or repeated characters.
Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
• Personal information.
Your name, birthday, driver's license, passport number, or similar information.
Protect your passwords from prying eyes
The easiest way to "remember" passwords is to write them down.
It is okay to write passwords down, but keep them secure.

Make long URL addresses usable!

Have you ever sent someone a huge url (address) to a website and wished it didn't look quiet as complicated?

Here is a fantastic tool called Tiny URL which is available free of charge to anybody and is very easy to use, that turns big urls into short ones. Here is an example of how it works:

You can turn this URL:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?t
ype=3&campid=5336224516&toolid=10001&customid=tiny-
hp&ext=unicycle&satitle=unicycle

into this tinyURL:

http://tinyurl.com/unicycles

Which one would you rather cut and paste into your browser? That's the power of TinyURL!

Play any video file with ease

Have you ever struggled to play a video file?

You now have two perfect options to solve this problem.

Go to http://www.download.com/ and download either one of these free products. Once you have installed them they will play 98% of any video formats you may have.

They are:
- GOM Media Player
- VLC Media Player

GOM for example plays formats including DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF, AVI, and MOV, and common codecs like FLV1, AC3, OGG, MP4, and H263.

If you need confirmation that these products are trustworthy, you will see that both of them have been downloaded a staggering 20 million times!

They have some other impressive functions but you can explore them yourself.

As always, if you need any help or advice, just contact us on 1300 885 200 or at support@btechnologies.com

Information technology progresses faster than you think

This is a video follow up of the YouTube hit 'Shift Happens' with some fascinatings facts about the progression of information technology.

Who is LINKING to my website?

One of the essential methods to help your website rank well in search engines results - that is improving your SEO or Search Engine Optimisation - is to have sites linking back to yours.

There is plenty of information on the web about how you can do this but here is a very simple tool that you can use to find out who is currently linking back to your website.

Go to Yahoo's website and enter the following into the search field:

"link:http://www.yourcompanyname.com"

so for example we would enter: "link:http://www.btechnologies.com"

You will then see all of the websites that are linking to yours. You can also play around a little bit further by using the drop down boxes and selecting different options on the results page.

Where has all the space gone on your computer?

You want to find out how much space your music collection is taking up?
You want to find out why you can no longer fit downloaded movies onto your harddrive?
Here is the answer...

You laptop or PC has a certain amount of hard disk space which you can store files on. In a standard computer you can find out how much that is by clicking on 'my computer' and right clicking' on the 'C' drive. Select 'properties', and you should now see the size of your hard disk and also how much free space you have available.

But if you want to find out where the space has actually gone on the computer, which files and folders are what site... then you need "TreeSize Free 2.3" This is a small program that's free to download and easy to use.

Once you have downloaded and installed it, you run the program and it will start to give you the size of each folder. Each folder can be expanded in Explorer-like style to see the size of its subfolders.

Something to note: You will not be able to open files from this program, and the program doesn't remember the data it collected so you have to run it from scratch every time you want to see the size of your folders but this is no big deal as I don't expect that this is something that you would need to do often, the process doesn’t take long and it can run in the background whilst you do other things.

How to get this program:
1. Go to http://download.cnet.com/
2. Enter "TreeSize Free 2.3" and scroll down to find it amongst the results
3. Press 'download'
4. Save it somewhere and run it to install it

Protect your data in 3 simple ways

Here are three simple steps to ensure that when you walk away from your computer, people will not be able to see what you are working on.

1. Set up a password so you have to log on everytime you start the computer. This is the most basic protection you really should have in place - and most workplaces already have this.

You can password protect individual files, folders or the whole computer.
Create strong passwords that:
- Are at least 6 characters
- Include upper and lowercase letters
- Contain at least 1 special character (@$*>?) and/or numbers

To set up a password there are a number of ways but an easy one is to press these 3 buttons at the same time; 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 'Delete' and click on 'Change password'

2. Set up a screensaver with password protection - this means that when you walk away from your computer a screensaver will automatically start after a preset number of minutes and when you are ready to start work again, you will have to enter in your password to be able to access your work.

To turn on your screensaver with password protection, go to the ‘Control Panel’ and look under ‘Display’. Go to the ‘Screensaver’ tab, where you will see the available options. Set the amount of minutes the system should wait before it start the screensaver when the computer is not being used. Tick the box for password protection.

3. Finally before you walk away from your computer at work or in a public place, press these 3 buttons at the same time; 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 'Delete' and select 'Lock Computer'. In this setting all your files remain exactly as they are, but noone will be able to see them or access them while you walk away. When you come back you simply enter your password and you can continue working as before.

These are just 3 simple techniques you can use to protect your data!

Let us know if you have any other handy tips like this. Remember the team at B Technologies is here to help.

Keeping Microsoft Windows updated is easy, free and important

For Windows users, you should regularly install Microsoft suggested critical updates!

If you have a Windows operating system installed on your computer you should ensure that it is set to receive automatic updates as they are released. These updates are released as security and performance issues are identified on a regular basis, so receiving the updates is a very important process.

To ensure you have the latest updates RIGHT NOW, you can go to http://update.microsoft.com/. You will first be asked if you want to do an express or custome installation of any critical updates. I usually select 'custom' so I can review all of the available updates. By reading their descriptions I can decide whether I need them or not.

Once you have selected one of the buttons a scan of you system will start automatically which will identify all available updates to your system. You should install any critical updates and sort through the optional updates to see whether you really need them or not.

The same concept applies to any other programs THAT YOU TRUST. If you know that the program is safe, it is advisable to now and again check for any updates as these are usually released by the developers to fix any issues that have been identified or to add new features.

Remember this is all free.

9 easy steps to solving most hardware problems

Should your equipment fail to turn on, be recognised by your system, or function properly, follow these 9 easy steps to address some of the most common hardware issues:

1. Determine that equipment has been assembled correctly, by consulting your product manual or referencing the manufacturer's Web site.
2. Confirm that your device is securely plugged in and receiving power. For equipment that relies on an A/C (wall outlet plug) power adapter, you can double-check that the outlet is functioning correctly by plugging in another device and checking if it starts up or begins charging.
3. Check to see whether equipment is properly connected to your PC by making sure all cables are properly plugged into the correct ports.
4. Verify that hardware is turned on.
5. Look for error messages displayed on either the equipment itself or on your desktop. Solutions for many of these can be found in your product manual or by searching on Google.
6. Install or reinstall drivers for the device. Windows automatically searches for drivers when new devices are connected and notifies you of any available updates. It may be necessary to manually install them yourself, if these files are contained directly on the device, on a CD/DVD sold with the equipment, or on the manufacturer's Web site. To activate setup, just double-click on the driver installation program. You may need advice, if the installation program fails to run.
7. Confirm that you're using the latest drivers for your hardware. Manufacturers routinely issue patches to correct errors and inconsistencies that users encounter. To do so, simply check the Download or Support section of the manufacturer's Web site.
8. Reboot your system and test the device again.
9. If all else fails, contact the hardware manufacturer's customer support department.

Remember, the team at B Technologies is only a phone call away.

Find out the speed of your internet in seconds

Have you ever wondered what speed your internet connection was at any time?

There is a free online tool that can help you find out the speed of your internet in seconds.

You simply go to http://speedtest.net

DO NOT click on the top bar which mentions 'free scans' and 'turbo-charge your internet performance'. This wants to provide you with something that you do not need.

In the middle of your screen there is a map, and on the top of the map there is a small rectangle with the words 'Start Test To Recommended Server ...' Click this box and the speed test will happen automatically in about 30 seconds.

The test will provide you with an upload and a download speed.

How to tell if a website is truly secure or not

Someone sent me an email with some very useful information that I wanted to share with you all about the difference between http:// and https://

This is one of the ways that you can check whether a website that you are about to enter your credit card details into for example, is secure or not! So it’s this simple:

The main difference between http:// and https:// is it’s all about keeping you secure

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a protocol (a language, in a manner of speaking) for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients.

The important thing is the letter S which makes the difference between HTTP and HTTPS.
The S stands for "Secure".

If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://

This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular 'unsecured language. In other words, it is possible for someone to "eavesdrop" on your computer's conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site.

This is why you never ever enter your credit card number in an http website!

But if the web address begins with https:// that basically means your computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on.

If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should automatically look to see if the web address begins with https://

If it doesn't, do not enter sensitive information like a credit card number.

You can also see the Wikipedia article on the subject

Protect your emails - backing them up is simple but if you lose them they are gone forever!

Following on from our last blog post, we have been asked by several clients about how to backup their email. There is a different answer for those using Mac, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Vista but I will start with the most common; Outlook 2007/2003/2002.

First you need to download a backup tool from the official Microsoft website. This is a small file and will take less than a minute to download. To install the file:

1. Turn off Outlook
2. Save the file to your computer
3. Run the program

To back up your emails you can find the instructions on the Microsoft website or follow these instructions:
1. Start Outlook
2. Under the 'file' menu you now have a 'backup' option, select it
3. In the new window select 'options'
4. here you have 3 selections to make:
1 - if you want an automatic reminder to help you backup regularly, check the box under the 'reminder heading, and select the number of days.
2 - under 'backup files' select which email folders you want to backup.
3 - Under 'file location' select the location where you want your emails backed up to. When you are done press 'OK'.

It’s that simple. Now the key is that when your computer has done a backup, you need to save the backup file onto a CD, DVD, USB, external hard drive or another computer to make sure it is safe in case something happens to your data.

BACK UP YOUR DATA REGULARLY!

P.S. To backup your files on Vista you can follow the instructions via this link.

Email Tip - Have you ever sent an email to the wrong email address?

When you start typing into the 'TO' field of an email, usually the email program you are using will give try to complete the email address that you are typing.

So if I start typing 'D' for example, I am given the opportunity to select from all the email addresses that I have used before, that start with 'D'.

But what happens if someone has changed their email address? Sometimes we end up selecting the wrong email address and send to a person's old email or work email.

There are two things you can do to avoid this:

1. If the person you are writing to is an actual 'contact' of yours, edit their details and remove any email addresses that are no longer used. You can do this by searching your address book and finding their name, or by double clicking on their email address in the 'TO' field (which will also take you to their contact card).

2.You can remove any old email addresses in the 'TO' field of a new email, by typing in the first letter of the email address, scrolling down to the email address using your up or down arrows, and pressing 'delete' when you have the email address selected that you want to get rid of.

Remember, sometimes even our email addresses need a spring (or summer) clean.

To contact us visit our website or email us at info@btechnologies.com

What are the differences between CDs and DVDs?

There is a link on Dr Marc Dussault's blog about what is the difference between CDs and DVDs. This link is to the BigPong Help Centre where there is a full explanation about:

- What the main differences are between the two
- How much information and what kind of information various CDs and DVDs can hold
- What do all those names such as CD-R, CR-ROM, DVD+RW mean

So if you ever wondered about CDs and DVDs and all their differences, check out this link.

To contact us visit our website or email us at info@btechnologies.com

Protect your customers' privacy

If you are sending out emails to multiple recipients at any one time, you will probably want to enter their email addresses' not into the 'To' field of your email but in the 'Bcc' field. This means that none of the recipients of the email will see each other's email addresses.

This has many benefits:
- It protects the privacy of your clients by not providing their email addresses to others - seeing your email address being sent to a hundred people can make people very upset
- It ensures that your email is seen as more personal (rather than being one of a hundred recipients)
- It protects your valuable client list and doesn't expose it to other businesses who may now sell to them before you get to do so