Help Me Net NZ

26/03/2026

Venture capitalism models in Big Tech keep leaving small business owners high and dry. OpenAI's latest announcement about dropping Sora is just another example.

While all the hype is telling you to go all in on AI systems at the expense of skilled employees and time and resource....ask yourself.... How long will these tools be around? And what happens when the price triples?

Tool dependency in a business can be an issue in a tech world

24/03/2026

Here's what I think all the guides to leaving ChatGPT got wrong.... They didn't go far enough. I break down all you need to know to take your work with you over at Witchdoctor

One hundred and sixty-eight weeks. About three years. Roughly a third of that on a paid account. I know my ChatGPT history the way you know a relationship: the early excitement, the growing familiarity, the slow accumulation of small frustrations you start cataloguing only once you’ve already half-decided to leave.

This is a considered exit, not a rage-quit. And Anna Butterfield of Help Me Net NZ lays out a very practical guide to switching to Claude that Claude’s own onboarding won’t give you. Copy-and-paste prompts included.
Link in the comments.

24/03/2026

Be very wary buying products from sites you find on social media

Malwarebytes has exposed a huge network of more than 20,000 fake online stores designed to steal payment details and personal data.

These sites look like legit retailers, complete with product listings, reviews, and checkout pages. But behind the polish, they either deliver nothing or send cheap knock-offs. The real goal is harvesting your data for fraud and resale.

The operation is highly industrialised. Thousands of domains run off just 36 IP addresses, using cloned storefront templates powered by Sellvia on WordPress. Many use “.shop” domains and recycle identical designs under different brand names, making them quick to spin up and hard to shut down.

Fake shop scams are booming, with incidents up nearly 800% year-on-year in early 2025. Social platforms like Facebook and YouTube remain key entry points, luring users in with ads and too-good-to-be-true deals

12/03/2026

Time to lift for internet browsing game. Choose a browser that protects your privacy. I wrote a full breakdown of the options for you, available now on Witchdoctor.co.nz

https://www.witchdoctor.co.nz/2026/browsers-privacy-guide-2026

Not all browsers are out to profile you. Rather than treating your behaviour like gold dust for advertisers, some software developers are still fighting the good fight to put privacy and user choice front and centre. Here’s our no-nonsense rundown of the best browsers that respect your privacy, and won’t sell you out for a few extra ad dollars.

19/02/2026

Sick of autocorrect fails? 🙄 Introducing Piki, the dictation tool that masters NZ English & te reo Māori. - Runs 100% on your device - No data leaves your phone See how it works ➡️ and download now from your App Store. Hiku Media

19/01/2026

nz

🐍 SNAKE ALERT 🐍

Fake domain renewal invoices are doing the rounds

A client just received an invoice for $180/year from “Domain Notifications | DRNS New Zealand” for a domain renewal they didn’t order.

🚩 Red flags to watch for:

You didn’t request the renewal

The sender isn’t your usual domain provider

The price is wildly inflated (🇳🇿 .nz domains are usually ~$50/year)

Urgent or official-sounding language

Your domain renewals should only come from your actual registrar (the company you bought the domain from).

Scammers often scrape email addresses from public WHOIS records. Adding Domain Privacy Protection hides your contact details and dramatically reduces spam and scam attempts.

When in doubt - check first. Ask your web person.

Snakebites happen when you panic or lack knowledge. Having an experienced Guide can help you through the Online Wilderness

OnlineSecurity HelpMeNet

26/11/2025

In this season of gratitude, let us honour the simple grace of the unsubscribe button.
And the reminder - we just shouldn't sign up for so many things.

26/03/2025

Sometimes you just need a simple one-pager to show people where to go when they're looking for you.

Especially if you've got a lot of projects, or wear lots of hats.

Or like me, you just can't keep track of your own links...

Need a simple one-page website to help people find you?
There's a super-easy, super-quick solution for this and prices start at $350.
Comment below and I'll reach out with all the details.

24/03/2025

Facebook is not dead...
More than half of New Zealanders use it daily.

💥 58% Facebook
💥 31% Instagram
💥 Only one in ten use TikTok, Snapchat or Reddit daily - but are they the audience you're aiming for?
💥 Those aged 50 and over are more likely than average to spend their time checking and sending emails and reading news.

It's all here in Internet NZ's 2024 insights.... (link in comments)

So while you may have heard that this is in or out or whatever, and you're lost and confused about what to do about your online presence, let's talk.

Let's find out where you're at, what you've got in place, what's working for you, and where you are trying to get to. We'll look at the options, build a map on how to get there and break it down into easy steps that suit your fitness level, time and budget.

✨Message me for more.

Photo by Annie Spratt on UnSplash

21/03/2025

On Paekakariki.nz:
"Paekākāriki Informed Community (PICI) are thrilled to announce the appointment of three outstanding locals to help guide our community website platform forward. We salute them! Jenny Clark has taken over as fortnightly email newsletter editor (if you aren’t getting this you really should subscribe), Jude Galtry as Stories Editor and Fiona Gunter-Firth as website manager. Mark Amery continues to provide guidance as needed on behalf of PICI with Anna Butterfield of Help Me Net our technical manager. To get in touch, provide listings or stories, to help or join our awesome group of supporting local businesses being promoted, email [email protected]."

12/03/2025

From theory to reality: My piece on dark patterns for Witchdoctor warned about subscription traps. Now, HelloFresh is in hot water with the Commerce Commission. Consumer NZ's Jessica Walker says they're making this a priority. Knowledge is power, folks!