If you run Java based applications you may see this error message at times.

Try Googling this error and you see any number of complex answers that otherwise hint at one of the most likely reasons for seeing this error.

Java apps require an amount of volatile memory to run. If you have recently ran a Java app or saved data in the app and then try to re-run the app at a later stage, days or weeks afterwards, you may see this error which relates to volatile RAM cache not being available to the virtual machine. There may also be times when your system memory is incorrectly configured and is unable to negotiate with the drive space.

Try restarting the computer to release RAM cache and see if you can now run your Java app.

I have started a new category today called Occam’s razor.

In computing the obvious is sometimes clouded by over-thinking, reading too many how to articles, Googling for answers.

For simple solutions to problems and annoyances that you can’t find answers to on help sites, keep your eyes on this category.

The Outlook 2007 email password login dialog box keeps appearing. You can check the box for save password but it keeps popping up.

We have been getting email requests on this issue, and there seems to be volumes of  forum posts with all kinds of whacky answers including creating new mail profiles or reinstalling Office. The answer is usually a lot simpler (remember Occams Razor).

Go to accounts under the tools menu, double click your accounts name, wipe your password and re-enter it. Click on test email settings, then click ok and exit the snap-in.

The new Google search algorithm is called Caffeine. It follows the trend towards local based search and while this is helpful if you are looking for a computer shop in Kalamunda, Google Places fails a good percentage of small businesses whose services are not tied to a location, but service the greater metro areas.

Thanks for the thought Google.  But will we ever see a revision of Places for businesses that are not location specific?

You can see the full Google thank you here.

Every year we see emails with xmas messages that have dozens of CC recipients.

The problem with this is that (a) everyone can see everyone elses email address (b) not everyone appreciates this, and (c) anyone who replies to your email will be read by everyone else on the CC list.

To hide all CC’d recipients follow these steps.

1. From the Outlook toolbar, click New and select Mail Message.

2. A new message window will appear.

3. Go to the Ribbon and select the Options.

4. In the Fields section, choose Show Bcc.

5. The Bcc field will appear. Place the address(es) you wish to send a blind carbon copy.

We wanted to test out the new Google Maps API and see how many people respond to the offers section, so we are offering everyone a free USB Volcano for xmas with every service call. The only catch is you have to ask for it and mention where you seen it.

The free offer lasts as long as stocks last or until December 20, whichever comes first.

In our daily work in the field scanning computers for malware and viruses we are finding many variants of the trojans Zeus, Zbot, Hydraq, among others.  We are finding these on computers which are regularly used for internet banking and other financial transactions including using a credit card online. Some of these PC’s actually hold databases with extensive information about a company’s clients such as physical and email addresses.

These types of malicious programs assume the name of legitimate system resources, and want your money from your bank. So far they have been very successful on several continents. The fact that we are finding so many of these bugs on systems here in Perth would indicate Western Australians are also victims.

At Wired Office we are now offering an onsite service to test PC’s for the presence of trojans, and set up advanced, multilayer protection against trojan keyloggers. Keylogger programs are silent and undetectable and either record your keystrokes or hijack a machine,unknown to the user. Standard support rates apply. If you do not require scanning, or if your PC is new for example,  we can set up anti-keylogging on your PC free of charge.

More information here.

The methods of spammers or computer criminals can be convincing especially when they pretend to be calling on the phone from Microsoft.

I’ve had these types of calls myself. They claim to be from Microsoft calling to inform the user the PC is infected by a virus.  They offer to do a remote inspection to confirm the threat and either seek an IP address (the address of your PC on the internet) or direct the user to a spoofed Microsoft website to download a tool so the caller can take over the machine remotely.

If they want an IP address you could give them DOCEP’s DNS server address at 203.33.230.200. If they ask you to visit a Microsoft website and you are using IE8 you can see in the URL area that the main domain (microsoft.com) will be in bold, while the rest of the URL is greyed out.

But this is a lot to remember on the spot. Best to remember that Microsoft will never make an unsolicited call to you for any reason, especially if it involves remotely accessing your PC and eventually asking for money. Just as winning a lottery that you never entered in the first place is highly unlikely, so will be a friendly suppport call from a Microsoft engineer on another continent be unlikely.

One of the more popular features for Outlook’s calendar is the capability to add your country or region’s holidays into your calendar. This way, you’ll never miss the next holiday.
Adding holiday items to your calendar is easy:

1.    From the Tools menu, click Options, then click Calendar Options.
2.    Click the Add Holidays button under Calendar options.

3.    Select the check box next to your location, and any other location you might be interested in, and then click OK.

Happy holidays!

In early UNIX systems everything was on the desktop which made accessing stuff really easy. In Windows 7 each user has a main profile folder.  If you right click this folder and check the box to “show on desktop” you have an all-in-one shortcut to everything for that user including Outlook data files, documents, pictures, saved games, and downloads.

Go to >start, the user folder is on the top right.