As we enter the "colds and flu" season we naturally think about viruses and the ailments that attend as we try to ward off the unwanted effects of sickness. Many of us prepare for this by getting "flu shots" or taking other preventative measures. But unlike us humans, its "virus season" every day of the year for our laptops and desktop computers.

With the recent spate of natural disasters, evacuations, etc my mind has turned to protection of your most valued documents and being able to source them from elsewhere if evacuated or if the originals have been destroyed. With this thought in mind I’d like to discuss a few simple tips that can help.

We are pleased to advise that our third Repair Centre located at Bundall on the Gold Coast has opened on May 3rd 2011. It is centrally located at Shop 3A, 47 Ashmore Road in the heart of the shopping precinct. 

The world of geeks is abuzz at the moment with the news that Windows 8 is likely to be released in late 2011 or early 2012. The first question is why would Microsort release it less than 2 years after Windows 7?. The answer seems to be that Microsoft is scrambling to keep up with the changes in technology.

At home at night as I sit and watch TV I am amazed at how many ads there are on TV that target our fear of germs, and also the threat of disease. I notice now there’s even a automatic hand-wash dispenser so you can avoid getting germs on your hard wash dispenser.

Over the Christmas break I read in a newspaper a story entitled “Does Not Compute” relating to the NSW Governments’ experiences with the 130,000 laptops rolled out to high school students and teachers under Julia Gillard’s “Digital Education Revolution”.  It was a disturbing report.

In December 2010, PC & Tech Authority released the results of their annual survey of technology users. They focused on brands rather than individual products and compiled results from almost 13,000 responses over 15 categories. More than 7,000 survey participants said they’d bought a laptop for the home in the previous two years.

Many computer users may not be aware of a class of computer virus called “Fakeware”. Fakeware or “Rogue security software” 

A couple of weeks ago Fix My Laptop got a call from an “Indian” call centre. I took the call. The guy said to me “Microsoft has reported to us that your computer is badly infected with viruses and has been compromised by “Trojan Software” that is downloading and uploading your valuable data”. That call got my attention because I knew this was “a hoax call”.

We have had some recent high profile examples of users of Twitter and Facebook and other social networking media brought unstuck by the careless sharing of thoughts or information best kept private.