Corella Computer Services

16/02/2026

As we have been saying for a while, "Australia's most damaging cyber incidents stem not from sophisticated hacking, but from fundamental access failures. Attackers exploit forgotten or exposed credentials (passwords and usernames) gaining legitimate access that bypasses technical defences. The real breach begins with access that should have been revoked, rotated or constrained".

Put another way, if the padlock is weak, it does not matter how much you pay for fences and gates. Some business's pay a lot of money to "Cyber Security" experts when the weakest link is sitting at the keyboard. So many home users waste hundred's of dollars annually on protection they don't need, then take a call from a scammer and allow them access to their computers. These scammers are not "hackers" and your computer did not "get hacked", you opened the door and let them in.

The largest cyber breaches have rarely been sophisticated and were often preventable.

12/02/2026

Supposedly "when you stop learning, you start dying", so I attended a Microsoft AI conference this morning at the Crown Towers Barangaroo. One of the best work events I have been to but the highlight of the day was the motivational speech from Steven Bradbury, winner of a gold medal for speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He was both good and funny (the two often do not go well together). He passed his Olympic gold medal around and shared the story behind what is now known as “Doing a Bradbury” — achieving an unexpected or unlikely success. Persistence and preparation can get you so far, but often you need luck on your side.

09/02/2026

Nice feedback, but unless I make some phone calls, I am not sure who sent us this message from our web page. Thank you. Much appreciated.

02/12/2025

More email problems, Telstra this time. This is the short version:-

Another day, another problem that could only really be fixed by the internet provider, but the first four support personal failed, until the fifth, Luke – Telstra Employee number: e0023xx. Luke, you deserve a pay rise.

I went home with a headache, and left behind a very happy customer. I must also point out to all those that go on about overseas call centers and “I am going with Aussie Broadband so that when I have a problem I get to talk to an Aussie”, all three tech’s I spoke to were Aussie, but only Luke really tried to help.

25/11/2025

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 (𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻)

Currently experiencing yet another problem with Optus email, with numerous clients having issues sending emails. The emails remain stuck in the Outbox. Even the second level Australian support are denying that the problem is theirs, with the lady I spoke to today claiming that Microsoft, Apple and Gmail prevent emails from being sent from their devices at times due to Spam. A preposterous notion, but she would not listen to reason, she knew best. When I asked her why Microsoft, Apple and Google (the operating system manufacturers) only seem to do this to Optus emails, well she was not happy and said something along the lines of "she can't speak for everybody else". Well of course she can't, this problem does not belong to everybody else.

This is an Optus problem again, and just like the last time they went around blocking port 25 (usual port used for outgoing email) they were absolutely no help at all. Fortunately, I did get the email going for two clients today using port 587, but the technicians I spoke to were completely unaware of port 587. I have no confidence that this is a long term solution, the long term solution is take your email elsewhere, preferably an outlook.com.au email address, make this your default, and forward your Optus email to this new account. After you have established this new address, you are no longer bound to Optus (by email address) and you can switch to someone that gives a damn about you.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/215825608882836

13/10/2025

We had a very distressing service call yesterday. One of our local senior citizens had been on the phone with a scammer posing as a "Windows technician" for over two hours. When I arrived, the scammer was still on the line and actively accessing the victim’s computer remotely.
I immediately disconnected the internet, but not before having a short, heated exchange with the scammer. He then threatened to "crash the computer," before abruptly hanging up. In the two hours prior, the scammer had accessed several financial accounts and even attempted a $1000 transfer via PayPal.

Please warn your elderly or less tech-savvy friends and relatives. If they receive a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft or "Windows," tell them to hang up immediately. Microsoft will never call you out of the blue. Also, if you see warning messages on your screen telling you your computer is infected and instructing you to call a number—don’t call anyone. Instead, turn off your computer immediately.

On a laptop, hold down the power button for about 20 seconds.

On a desktop, you may need to physically unplug it from the wall.

Upon restart, it's more than likely that the message has disappeared. If not, give us a call.

02/10/2025

Our Telstra nbn250 plan was upgraded to nbn750 about a week ago. No complaints so far and a bit of a rebuttal for those stupid, ill informed people (blinded by politics) that said such speeds were not possible on a HFC NBN connection. Other internet providers are offering speeds of up to 2000Mbps on the same HFC connection. We have come a long way since an ADSL connection of 5Mbps was considered OK just 12 or 13 years ago (the previous old dial-up system was 0.056Mbps at best).

For those of you wondering what a HFC connection is, it's when NBN is delivered to your home via a mix of fiber-optic and coaxial cable technologies, and is the usual NBN connection method in areas that were previously well served by the old Telstra cable network and Foxtel Cable. The NBN Corporation purchased the cable network from Telstra and re-purposed it for NBN.

18/09/2025

Well "Fred" is a happy boy today. Happy with his new Windows 11 computer, and happy that he did not have to worry about setting up anything or transferring everything over, and happy that he purchased a new mini PC (that's it under the screen) from us to replace his tower, rather than a laptop.

Why get a laptop to replace a tower if you do not need portability? Contact us for more info.

09/09/2025

We get a few calls from regular clients asking about purchasing a laptop and what do we recommend? The first question we ask is "do you require portability?", and to clarify, it's usually followed up with "will you be roaming around using it or just leaving it in the same spot all the time?" The answer is usually NO, they do not need or want portability, it's just that they are either downsizing, or want a new computer and their offspring and friends suggested a laptop to replace their tower based computer.

There is an alternative, and these days, we put a lot of these in homes. You keep using your existing screen, or use any screen size you want. It's OK to make do with a 15.5 - 16" laptop screen when you have to, but why do it at home, when home is the only place you intend using your computer. Yes you can plug your laptop into another screen, but again, if you are never using the portability of a laptop, then why use one?

Look at the tiny computer (commonly referred to as a "NUC") below the screen, and it will drive multiple screens. Note that these are not an alternative to a tower in all situations, eg gaming.

Interested in a new NUC based computer? Contact us for more info.

02/09/2025

We are getting a new wave of phone calls from clients with fears that Telstra are discontinuing their email service. This appears to be the same false rumour that has been going around for years now, most likely re-triggered by those scam emails that go like this:-

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬.

𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐖

Again, these emails have been going around for years, and the purpose of them is to harvest your email password. This leads to attempts to sign into various other websites using these harvested credentials, it is surprising how many people use the same password for everything.

𝐀𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞.

Visit this Telstra page to find out more about email scams:-

Combat email scams with these tips: spot phishing, avoid malware links and report suspicious emails. Safeguard yourself with Telstra's cyber security solutions.

22/08/2025

All holidays must end, even "partly working" holidays like we just had. We certainly won't miss the "Suspected Spam" phone calls waking us up from 2am (due to the seven hour time difference). Clients ringing were never a problem. Unnecessarily apologic in some cases (well sometimes I answered the phone in a dazed state), and I would have to explain that if we did not want calls, then our phones would have been silenced. However we are very happy to have missed much of Sydney's horrid anti-social winter weather.
So it's back to normal for us on Monday 25th August. Jet lag and all, it will be a busy week, together with an increasing number of Windows 10 obsolescence enquiries. Please do not panic, Windows 10 will not cease to operate any time soon.

One of my holiday snaps below.