Corella Computer Services in Sydney, Australia | Computer repair service

Corella Computer Services

Locality: Sydney, Australia

Phone: +61 2 9543 6859

Address: Sutherland Shire Based 2234 Sydney, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.corellacomputers.com.au

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25.01.2022 A computer installation today. New HP screen with an Intel NUC configured and programmed by us. Great setup and much better than an All-In-One. If you don't know what an Intel NUC is, it's a computer, a desktop tower replacement. That's it on the right hand side under the screen. There are no other components to this system. Interested in a new computer and don't need portability? Talk to us.

25.01.2022 Often when making a purchase, a decision is based on the bottom line, the dollar cost, not the actual cost. For example, one may purchase a cheap notebook computer that run’s slowly and last’s two years, while someone else pays 50% more but gets a faster computer that lasts 100% longer. Who is the smart one? Similarly, some purchase a computer from a mass retailer then waste a weekend setting it up, it may even extend to calling in a friend and a case of beer (or dinner). Wh...en we sell a notebook or desktop computer, it comes to you de-cluttered, optimised, and set-up with a user profile ready to go. Yes, somebody that knows what they are doing could do a half job at this in about 30 minutes, these computers are usually easy to spot, the date is in US format (M/D/Y) because they could not be bothered setting the computer to the correct region. It takes longer to do it properly and make the Windows 10 Start Menu a useful feature, install a few add-ons like Google Chrome, Acrobat reader, codecs (so you can play most if not all types of video’s), plus Microsoft Office and anti-virus software (if purchased with the computer). This pre-configuration is included in all our computer sales, we don’t just shuffle boxes out the door and leave it up to you to sort out. Harvey Norman do offer a product called Windows 10 Signature Edition and they charge $299 extra for it. It’s is basically just Windows 10 with the manufacturer’s pre-installed junk programs removed (eg 30 day trial anti-virus programs and other trial software). Our pre-configuration is much more involved and is included in every sale at no extra cost. For an additional fee, we can also migrate your data from the old computer to the new computer, and often perform this service just prior to delivery of the new Think about that next time. We may not be the cheapest, but we may be the best value.

25.01.2022 AVG don't have a bad anti-virus product. Problem these days is that both paid and free versions nag you with prompts for other "add-in" products. Products that deviate from protection and go off into maintenance, an area well covered by free programs like CC Cleaner. Furthermore they now renew by stealth (just like Norton's products). One of our clients just received a notification that his credit card will be automatically debited $179.99, up from $98.99. He thought he cancelled this service two years ago. AVG's parent company is AVAST, AVAST have a much better, business grade product called "Cloudcare" . Previously a AVG branded product, we have Cloudcare on over 500 computers, both home and business, and there are no nags (currently) and it is very competitively priced. PM or call us on 9543 6859 for more info.

22.01.2022 Note to anybody purchasing a Windows computer from a large retailer that also sells furniture. Especially those unfamiliar with Windows, like the former Apple Mac user I came across last week. You do not need to purchase $598 worth of VPN, virus and malware protection. They paid this on top of about $1200 for an underpowered ACER all in one computer. I can understand why people switch to Macs when they purchase computer packages like this one. They could have purchased a far... better computer with an Intel processor, and spent less for far better protection, and still come out of it hundreds of dollars cheaper. This retailer took these people for a ride, $299 for a VPN subscription, and another $299 for Windows 10 Signature Edition (legal scam), in the end, I left the computer running the free built-in Windows Defender program for their anti-virus protection. Hardly Normal. They should be ashamed of themselves.

22.01.2022 A new installation we completed recently. Seven workstations, all with Samsung 34" curved screens. These screens replaced dual 19" screens. Split screen software allows three programs to be viewed simultaneously.

22.01.2022 The ACCC released their latest quarterly broadband report a couple of weeks back. A huge surprise, Optus now has the fastest average download speeds, overtaking TPG who continue to slide down in average download speeds. Aussie Broadband have also slipped, possibly because they are not increasing bandwidth (the size of their pipe) to keep up with more subscribers. We are on a Telstra HFC NBN connection, and most times (including peak) our download speed varies between 90 and 95 Mbps, ie, 90 - 95 % of our NBN100 service. So bear in mind that these are average results. https://www.accc.gov.au//Measuring%20Broadband%20Australia

20.01.2022 NBN MISSION ACCOMPLISHED After a few hiccups, finally switched a client in Mangrove Lane Taren Point (one of the worst areas in the shire for ADSL) from ADSL2 to NBN. No more frustrating 2Mbps (sometimes worse) for this office. 45Mbps now on NBN. Staff should work at least ten times faster now.

20.01.2022 So you received an email from "Nortons" that looks just like this picture. Of course it's a scam. Clicking on that picture in the email will take you to some dodgy site. Delete immediately.

20.01.2022 One of the more frustrating things we get, is people not understanding the difference between Google Chrome (a program), and Google (as in www.google.com). Fair enough when they ask the question, no problem explaining. It's when you are trying to tell someone over the phone to use Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer, and the problem will probably go away, and they come back with "oh but I already use Google". They ignore the "Chrome" part that I just mentioned, and wan...t to move on to the the next possible cure for their problem, sometimes not listening at all to what I am saying, but they want me to say something that will make the problem go away. Reminds me of the time a very close relative wanted me to guide her over the phone with a problem. I suspected that this would be difficult, my suspicions were confirmed when my first instruction was to click on the Start button. "Where's that?". Going in remotely can often be quicker, but some people don't realize that fixing a scanner problem will require a human on site. Now, for those of you that have read this far, I am sure that you know the difference between Google and Google Chrome. In case you don't:- Google - is a large corporation that rose to prominence with a great search engine that destroyed the search engines before it, like "Hotbot" and "AltaVista". Unfortunately, the Google Corporation called this search engine "Google". When you want to look for something, you go to this page called "Google" and you look the damn thing up. Google Chrome - A web browser program put out by the Google Corp. It's is now the most popular program for browsing the web, surpassing Internet Explorer which has been left way behind, but still widely used. So you see, you can use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer or any other browser to access Google the web page, two different things. You do not want to use www.hotbot.com for searches, someone walking past may get the wrong idea. It's been a long day. If somebody today had of slown down a little and listened, the problem would have been resolved six hours earlier, and at no charge.

19.01.2022 Supply and installation of a new computer system at Milperra 09/06/2020. Twin Samsung 27" screens with tower under the desk

19.01.2022 A new customer asked why I though his computer was slow and expressed surprise when I replied that it was most likely a disk drive problem (look at the date on his hard disk drive). Unfortunately, he thought a new disk drive was installed by his previous computer people (at Bankstown) last year. Umm, sorry to say but you were ripped off. Now to clone his old hard disk drive to a fast solid state drive.

19.01.2022 Want to know whenabouts your perfectly good and underutilized cable broadband will be replaced by a NBN service? Maybe you are on a ADSL2 service, and are looking forward to NBN (as you should be)? Look here for the latest projected installation date:- https://www.nbnco.com.au/connect-ho/check-your-address.html

18.01.2022 When you sell a computer to a customer and then not hear from them for eight years, you can't help feeling you may never hear from them again. Maybe they jumped ship and purchased an Apple computer, you know, they are more reliable and last longer than a Windows computer right? Well today I visited a customer after an eight year absence, and there was the computer I sold him. Still going, still with the original disk drive, just needed the email fixed and a little clean-up. The email problem was not even computer related, the internet was down. What sort of computer was it? One we built, a "Corella" computer.

18.01.2022 Beware of fake Officeworks invoices sent by email. Don't let your curiosity get you in trouble, just delete. Wish I could get one back on these scammers.

17.01.2022 A warning to my business clients. Don't go with Red Telecom for your phone and internet service. They are hopeless. Even though you get a nice Australian voice answering the phone, they are still hopeless. They use iPrimus for internet, (as do Commander), and when your internet has a problem, they know nothing, it's all good at their end, and you can't talk to iPrimus because you are not their customer. They can't even tell me what DNS server settings their NBN modem should be dishing out. They told me 192.168.1.1 which is the modem IP, when I told them that this was incorrect, they left me on hold for 50 minutes until I hung up. This customer cannot wait until the contract expires. The Google reviews make interesting reading.

16.01.2022 Windows 10 updates often cause problems so be warned, the latest big update (there are usually only a couple per year) has arrived. Referred to as the Windows 10 May 2020 update, it will update your Windows 10 to version 2004. Never turn off your computer during an update, and in the vast majority of cases, everything will still work OK when it has completed. https://www.windowslatest.com//windows-10-may-2020-update/

16.01.2022 So Microsoft's Office365 is down. Another casualty of Covid? Just goes to show, the cloud can break occasionally, just like your old on-premises server. After all, the cloud is just somebody else's server. "The cloud is great until it isn’t. Usually, being able to use all your software and access your files no matter where you are is very handy. But it also means that any glitch or outage to something like Microsoft Office 365 will seemingly grind the whole world’s productivity to a halt." https://www.gizmodo.com.au//workers-rejoice-microsoft-off/

15.01.2022 A fake email from the National Australia Bank. Not too smart these scammers, check out the senders email address. Still, some people fall for this. Note also, that some email programs do not reveal the reply address, just the name that they want to appear. I vet all our emails via a program called Mail Washer, it reveals everything.

15.01.2022 New computer installation in a brand new house at Cronulla this morning. What you see here is a modern desktop computer. That small box below the screen on the right hand side, that's the "tower". The screen has built-in speakers. The little box PC is manufactured by Intel and is called a "NUC". We fit your choice of disk drive and memory (RAM), program it up, and install it for you, with a new screen, mouse and keyboard, or your old add-on's. NUC's are a great alternative to a laptop where portabilty is not required. We get many clients that do not want a tower because of the space it takes, then purchase a laptop only to connect it to a large fixed screen. No need to compromise, get a NUC. The NUC can even be attached to the back of the screen. Contact us on 9543 6859 for more information.

14.01.2022 For those of you still deciding who to go with on NBN, the ACCC has released it's latest "Measuring Broadband Australia" report, available here:- https://www.accc.gov.au//Measuring%20Broadband%20Australia The bottom line is that TPG looks like it has the best download speed, but Optus and Aussie Broadband are very close behind. Optus seem to have more outages than anybody else. An interesting stat in the report for those that bang on about Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) being superior to everything else, the report shows that on average, it is just 0.03Mbps faster than HFC (with the current plans). For those that don't know, HFC is short for Hybrid Fibre Coaxial, and it is where they use the old Foxtel cable for the connection to your house.

13.01.2022 We have not changed the office to an NBN connection as yet. It's hard to give up a 117 - 120Mbps download speed on Telstra cable for closer to 90Mbps max on NBN, and pay more for the privilege of this "superior" technology. We have tried to migrate to NBN, but it seems too difficult. The nice aussie girl from W.A. does not seem to be too familiar with NBN speeds, and wants to put us on a whopping 42Mbps with the promise of a faster speed afterwards. We all trust Telstra right? They always deliver what they promise right? Unfortunately, if I get the right answers from TPG or Aussie Broadband, that's where we will be going.

13.01.2022 Have your own business email address and getting bombarded with junk mail (AKA SPAM)? If you have C-Panel access, there is a way of minimizing this rubbish. No ongoing support costs involved, just some preliminary guidance and set-up, and you should be able to handle it from there. Call us for more info.

13.01.2022 So you think you have a mobile phone plan with "unlimited data". Throttled but "unlimited"? Dodgy practices. Between March and June 2018, Optus, Vodafone and Telstra advertised mobile data plans with a headline claim of ‘unlimited’ mobile data, but the services had speed caps imposed on particular uses or after a certain data threshold was reached (among other limitations): Optus’ ‘unlimited’ plan imposed a 1.5Mbps speed restriction on tethering, streaming and downloads. Heav...y data users could also be deprioritised during congestion. Vodafone’s ‘unlimited’ plan provided an initial data allowance at usual speeds, after which all usage was speed capped at 1.5Mbps. Telstra’s ‘unlimited’ plans provided 40GB at usual speeds, after which all usage was slowed to 1.5Mbps and slowed further during busy periods. https://www.accc.gov.au//telcos-on-notice-about-false-and-

12.01.2022 In case you have not heard, and you are with one or the other, TPG and Vodafone are merging. https://www.channelnews.com.au/breaking-news-tpg-vodafone-/

11.01.2022 Just like everybody else, we get loads of junk mail. It's a chore to keep it manageable. There is not much you can do when you are using an internet provider supplied address (eg, [email protected]), but those with a hosted email service (eg [email protected]) usually have filtering options at their mail provider. There, you can attempt to filter out certain words, or email address's, and/or redirect this unwanted or potentially unwanted email to another account. On rare occasions, our favourite trick when the "unsubscribe" function does not work but we do have a valid email address, is to redirect a senders spam mail, back to the sender. Just like I had to do a few minutes ago to a persistent finance company in Brisbane. I hope they enjoy their spam mail. If you have a hosted email service, we can help you with this.

10.01.2022 Last Friday's installation at Menai. A great looking system comprising of an Intel NUC Mini-Computer, Microsoft mouse and keyboard, and a Hewlett Packard screen featuring a pop-up webcam, built in speakers and height adjustment. We prepared this one with a 1TB solid state drive and an Intel Core i5 CPU. We even put a shot of Garie Beach on the desktop. For those that hate cords, this is the system for you. No need to get a laptop unless you want the portability.

09.01.2022 Great day to be in the Sydney CBD delivering and setting up this fantastic HP Elitebook 360 notebook with Thunderbolt dock.

07.01.2022 AVG Cloudcare Anti Virus Software:- Some of you may know that Avast Software purchased a majority stake in AVG AntiVirus some time ago and have been operating as a single company since October 3, 2016. Many of our clients that are using AVG Cloudcare, may have noticed a recent branding change. Avast have rolled out many program updates since 2016, but recently rebranded AVG Cloudcare to Avast Business Cloudcare. So if you see that funny looking orange icon in your System Tray..., don't panic. Subscriptions are unchanged, and your level of protection is unchanged. This major automatic program update also includes spam email filtering. This can be adjusted or turned off in settings if you find it to be a bit over zealous. The update process will uninstall the older AVG version. The very popular (but very nagging) AVG Free program appears to be safe from rebranding at the moment. We have installed Cloudcare on well over 500 computers, and aside from the occasional installation glitch, have found it be very effective. It is well priced, and does not prompt you to waste money on other programs.

06.01.2022 Serviced a nine year old computer today. A minor problem with Google Chrome. This computer does get used regularly, and it still has it's original hard disk drive. We have quite a few of our "Corella" computers out there that have given similar service, or even longer. If it is running Windows 10, and performance is OK, there is no pressing need to update, as long as you do regular backups of your important files to an external, or cloud based drive. So when somebody tells yo...u that Apple Macs last longer than a computer running Microsoft Windows, be mindful, longevity has more to do with the quality of the internal components, and very little to do with what operating system the device is running. Yes Macs do usually have quality internal components, but fortunately, Apple don't have a monopoly on quality components. Talk to us if you are in the market for a new Windows PC. See more

05.01.2022 Another very tidy Intel NUC based computer supply and installation today. This one replaced a laptop that was never moved from the table. What you see here is a complete computer package. I asked the client why she wanted to put up with a small 14" - 15.5" laptop screen if she did not care for portability.

03.01.2022 We get this rubbish a lot:- "computers only last a couple of years now don't they?" True in many cases when you purchase low grade computers for $700 or less. Often, when people are let down by a junk PC, they swear they will never buy a Windows PC again, because Macs "don't have problems" . Maybe they should have purchased a decent PC in the first place. The Pentium CPU badge fools many people these days. A long time ago, Pentium referred to a top line processor, not any... more. We just completed a minor repair on a computer we built for a customer nearly thirteen years ago. It's used all day every business day, and yes, it's had a few minor repairs along the way, but nothing serious or unexpected (you have to expect a disk drive failure at some stage). It's still doing it's job and not giving our client a good reason to replace it. Need a new computer built to your requirements, or a laptop with pre-configuration (so that you do not have to unpack and sort out)? Call us.

03.01.2022 We are getting a lot of calls regarding this end of Windows 7 support. It's a bit like the Millenium bug all over again (the Y2K bug that never arrived). It put the wind up a lot of people, some upgraded their computers, and in the end, nothing much happened really. Furthermore, even if something did happen, there was no need to think the computer was going to go belly-up at the stroke of midnight as many were fearing. The reality is, what is happening with Windows 7 is akin... to a warning from your mechanic, that as of a certain date, your engine will be more susceptible to bad fuel than it is now. Go to the wrong servo, or be a bit careless, then your engine will develop a problem. A problem that likely can be fixed. At some point, the fuel providers may refuse to serve you. Earlier this week, I replaced a Windows Vista computer. One that we had built and supplied to Ron Smith (yes that is his real name) back in June 2009. Did Ron's computer die because Microsoft stopped supporting Vista back in April 2017? Nope. Did it die because Vista was crap? No (and Vista was not crap, it was shipped with a lot of crap computers though). It died because the power supply failed. An easy repair, but Ron decided it was time to move on to a shiny new computer. 10.5 years is a good run after all and it still had its original disk drive and was getting slow. Basically, Ron's old computer was marked "Do not Resuscitate". Many aging Windows 7 computers are in this category. Make sure that your important files are backed up as you always should and run it until you need to upgrade hardware (too slow, too old, not doing its job). At some point, Google may decide to no longer support Chrome on Windows 7 and it will place a message across your browser near the address bar. When this happens, that is a good time to upgrade. By then, most of the Windows 7 computers will have lived a long useful life and be ready to go to computer heaven. Re the engine analogy, if it is an aging home or non-essential work computer, you do not have to panic. Wait, and if you do get that bad batch of fuel, replace or upgrade then. Chances are that it will not happen. If you really want to upgrade to Windows 10, we can help you. Just saying that you don't have to out of fear. We would love to hear from you regarding upgrades or a new computer.

02.01.2022 Getting spammed? Many business's are unaware that they do have some email filtering capability within their email hosting, often referred to as C-Panel. The attached pic shows just a fraction of the key words we have added over a long period. Some of these are directed to a spam address and checked, some are just outright deleted and never seen. But I did something the other day that I have not done before. We have been getting a few emails from an Australian company offering... to lend money (probably at 30% interest rate). Despite unsubscribing, they kept keep coming, so I put a forwarding rule in. Any emails from these time wasters will be forwarded back to them. We won't see their crap emails again (for now). Getting hammered by junk mail? Contact us for help with mail filtering (does not work with internet provider type address's such as bigpond.com or optusnet.com.au). See more

02.01.2022 Microsoft Edge, the much disliked internet browser that is included in Windows 10, finally received a massive make-over recently. It is now based on Chromium, the same backbone used in Google Chrome. It's so much better than the useless old version, no need to install Google Chrome now. It will update automatically in due course, but you can get it here:- https://www.microsoft.com/edge?form=MA13DE&OCID=MA13DE

02.01.2022 Best result I have ever seen from an NBN100 connection (and it's via the supposedly inferior HFC). Finally getting close to the download speeds we used to get with Bigpond Cable.

02.01.2022 Still trying to decide who to go on the NBN with? You think all NBN providers are the same anyway? Think again. ACCC has released its latest Measuring Broadband Australia report which revealed generally improved speeds on fixed-line NBN services in the last quarter. For the first time, outages were included in the report and while many experienced one outage of 30 seconds or more per day depending on retail service providers (RSPs) Optus customers reported more than 1.5 outages per day on average. Optus, what the hell is going on there?

01.01.2022 We had a call from an older client of many years last week, we will call him Dick, who has only ever run a free anti-virus program and found $100 charged against his credit card by this anti-virus vendor. We told him to get a reversal as he had been misled (obviously as he did not know what the transaction was for). I explained that we could offer him a two year subscription with a better product for quite a bit less than $100. Mind you, this person never wanted to pay for ...anti-virus protection in the first place Well he rings up his bank, and they tell him that his money has gone to a legit organization, and therefore, it’s not a scam. He calls us back to tell us it’s all legit, and infers that we were trying to mislead him. So now he is either subscribed to these useless utility programs but continuing with a free anti-virus program, or he has upgraded to the paid version of the anti-virus, which will continue to nag him to purchase the rubbish utility programs. Eventually, he will probably be paying about $150 a year to not be nagged (but he will have full protection). Don’t be like Dick, if you really want to run a free anti-virus program, do so, and don’t fall for the upgrades, and if you do upgrade to the paid version of one particular anti-virus program, you will still be nagged. We can provide you with something better with no nags, except for a message from us around renewal time (usually every two years). Contact us for more info.

01.01.2022 The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today released their fourth and last report for the year 2018. They compared actual speeds achieved during November, on the fastest consumer NBN speed plan available. These are usually advertised as up to 100Mbps The average download performance delivered to users on the NBN during November 2018 was 84.3% (of the possible maximum), with a minor decrease to 82.8% during busy hours (between 7pm and 11pm). In real-world... terms, this means that a user on an NBN plan of 50Mbps download speed is likely to receive average speeds of 42.2Mbps, but this speed will probably decrease to 41.4Mbps between 7pm and 11pm. More info at the accc website, but not happy that at some stage this year, my very own broadband speed will drop from 116Mbps via Telstra Cable service to 83Mbps via Telstra NBN service. That’s progress. The results show a big improvement from Optus, https://www.accc.gov.au//Measuring%20Broadband%20Australia See more

01.01.2022 This is the internet speed a hell of a lot of money will get you. Out of our price range.