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By Lindsay

PC-TECH.BIZ has merged with Kiss IT Ltd

www.kissit.co.nz

Behind the scenes of NZ Mobile plans

By Lindsay,
It's time to look at my mobile phone plan, as the 2 year anniversary is up.  Lets go and look at the plans available from the 3 main mobile carriers.  Hmmm...

What do I get for $60/month (my current Smartphone Plan)

Telecom - 100 mins, 300 txt, 1Gbyte data, up to $250 off a mobile when signed up to a 24 month term.
Vodafone - 100mins, 2500 txt, 1Gbyte Data, up to $300 off a mobile, plus 1 NZ Best mate (1000mins)
2 Degrees - 210 minutes,  2500 txt, 150 Mbytes data, plus 100 minutes per month for life.


My current plan with Vodafone has been called 'retired'.  It's similar to the Vodafone plan above, except I get free PXT's, and 3 Gbyte Data/month.

My analysis of the above plans is as follows:

1.  Bear in mind I looked at only 1 plan per telco that was closest to what I already had.  Each telco had many many plans, including pre-paid, and some with additional add-on packs etc.  Also there were special offers based on handsets.  The situation is very very confusing for someone thinking of moving or renewing.  Also the churning of old plans to be replaced with new plans also adds to the confusion.  Confused? 

2.  Vodafone seem to offer the best deal, especially with the best mate add-on giving you an extra 1,000 minutes per month.

3.  There really isn't any competition amongst the telco's.  I suspect that they are all happy to extract maximum return from their customers.

4.  What happened to the data plans?  I think that the mobile networks are hitting bandwidth overload, and that alternatives such as Skype and Viber, were seriously affecting the normal call minutes.  And PXT's have dissapeared as a free option (I currently have 1000 pxts/month).

I will remain with my current 'retired' plan in the meantime.

How to Protect your notebook data

By Lindsay,

Notebooks are very popular amongst thieves. You may think that becuase you have a user password to log onto your notebook that your data is safe. Not so. 20 minutes and a cup of coffee and your notebook hard drive is an open book to a 13 year old with just a small amount of IT knowledge. The key concept is that even though your notebook has a log on, by taking out the hard drive and connecting it to another computer access to the data on that hard drive is just a click away.

The answer is to have a program that encrypts the hard drive. You will typically have an added pass phrase to start the computer, then your normal log on is required. But the encrypted hard drive cant be read by any other computer, and the encryption can't be cracked by anyone - ever. I use Truecrypt myself (www.truecrypt.org) although versions of Windows come with BitLocker (which does the same thing), or utilities in notebooks that also do the same thing.

Coming up in the September newsletter

By Lindsay
In this issue - Security and Privacy

• How to protect your notebook data.
• How to email encrypted files.
• How to have a conversation without being bugged.
• How to browse the web anonomously.
• How to keep a secure copy of important data off premises.
• Employee tracking.
• Cheap web cam monitoring.
• Dealing with the USA/UK with privacy issues.

 

Only available in the newsletter, due out 3 September.  Sign up now.

Setting Out of Office replies for Outlook 2010

By Lindsay,
Out of office replies for Outlook 2010 is a great feature for informing customers and co-workers that you are away for a period of time. 

First off in Outlook 2010 go to the File tab, then Info, then click on the Automatic Replies (Out of Office) button;

You are then presented with the following window;

So your options are:

Date and time range - pretty obvious.
Separation of people inside and outside the organisation - Great, you can have separate messages.

Lets look at the Outside my organisation settings, as these are the most important.

Now this is the most important part.  For reasons of security I would not tick the Anyone outside my organisation.  Alternatively a pretty generic reply such as away for a few days may cover it. 

 Have an alternative contact point in the message.  Do not specify exactly when you are away.

There are other options as well, look at the Rules button bottom left.  There's not a lot you can't do with rules.







Simple and low cost web cam solution

By Lindsay,
I've been playing around with the D-link DCS-930L webcam.  For about $150 it allows you to set up an unattended webcam (i.e. doesn't require a PC to use), that you can use to monitor a location, and be able to monitor the camera from anywhere in the world, either on your computer or Iphone.

A great feature is the ability to define areas for motion detection.  It will then email you with some still images (usually 3 before the motion was detected, and 3 after).

It doesnt try to be a high end video surveillance system, but if you need to watch something, and want notifications if something moves, then this is a very good and ultra low cost start.

In this months newsletter

By Lindsay,
Case studies, and a special offer to newsletter subscribers only.