Sydney, AUSTRALIA. 19^th August 2010 — Bringing the ultimate set list to furious finger-fretting rockaholics around the world this September, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) revealed today the entire Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock on-disc lineup. With more than 90 tracks focusing on guitar shredding hits, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is headlined by some of the largest bands in rock and features original tracks written and composed by AAA talent, special re-records by famous artists, and bands that are making their Guitar Hero debut.

“We engaged our fans to find out what they really wanted and then hand-picked over 90 tracks that deliver the ultimate rock experience,” said Tim Riley, Vice President of Music Affairs for Guitar Hero. “From the new guitar controller to the gameplay to the on-disc set list, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is truly a return to rock.”

When Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock ships on September 28, gamers will join the quest to save rock and strive to keep up with the blistering solos and intense riffs as they shred their way through the largest Guitar Hero set list to date. The full track list includes:

• A Perfect Circle – “The Outsider”
• Aerosmith – “Cryin'”
• AFI – “Dancing Through Sunday”
• Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
• Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind”
• Anberlin – “The Feel Good Drag”
• Anthrax – “Indians”
• Arch Enemy – “Nemesis”
• Atreyu – “Ravenous”
• Avenged Sevenfold – “Bat Country”
• Bad Brains – “Re-Ignition (Live)”
• Band Of Skulls – “I Know What I Am”
• Black Sabbath – “Children Of The Grave”
• Blind Melon – “Tones Of Home”
• Blue Oyster Cult – “Burnin’ For You”
• Bush – “Machinehead”
• Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get?”
• Children Of Bodom – “If You Want Peace… Prepare For War”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Fortunate Son”
• The Cure – “Fascination Street”
• Deep Purple – “Burn”
• Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)”
• Dethklok – “Bloodlines”
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants”
• Dire Straits – “Money For Nothing”
• DragonForce – “Fury of the Storm”
• Drowning Pool – “Bodies”
• Edgar Winter- “Free Ride”
• Fall Out Boy – “Dance, Dance”
• Five Finger Death Punch – “Hard To See”
• Flyleaf – “Again”
• Foo Fighters – “No Way Back”
• Foreigner – “Feels Like The First Time”
• George Thorogood and The Destroyers – “Move It On Over (Live)”
• The Hives – “Tick Tick Boom”
• Interpol – “Slow Hands”
• Jane’s Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”
• Jethro Tull – “Aqualung”
• John 5 – “Black Widow Of La Porte”
• KISS – “Love Gun”
• Linkin Park – “Bleed It Out”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Call Me The Breeze (Live)”
• Megadeth – “Sudden Death”
• Megadeth – “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due”
• Megadeth – “This Day We Fight!”
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – “Paranoid (Live)”
• Muse – “Uprising”
• My Chemical Romance – “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”
• Neil Young – “Rockin’ In The Free World”
• Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
• Night Ranger – “(You Can Still) Rock In America”
• Nine Inch Nails – “Wish”
• The Offspring – “Self Esteem”
• Orianthi – “Suffocated”
• Pantera – “I’m Broken”
• Phoenix – “Lasso”
• Poison – “Unskinny Bop”
• Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Queensryche – “Jet City Woman”
• Rammstein – “Waidmanns Heil”
• The Ramones – “Theme From Spiderman”
• Red Rider – “Lunatic Fringe”
• R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion”
• Rise Against – “Savior”
• The Rolling Stones – “Stray Cat Blues”
• The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 1 – Overture”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 2 – The Temples Of Syrinx”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 3 – Discovery”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 4 – Presentation”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 5 – Oracle: The Dream”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 6 – Soliloquy”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 7 – Grand Finale”
• RX Bandits – “It’s Only Another Parsec…”
• Silversun Pickups – “There’s No Secrets This Year”
• Slash featuring Ian Astbury – “Ghost”
• Slayer – “Chemical Warfare”
• Slipknot – “Psychosocial”
• Snot – “Deadfall”
• Soundgarden – “Black Rain”
• Steve Vai – “Speeding” (Vault Version)
• Stone Temple Pilots – “Interstate Love Song”
• Strung Out – “Calling”
• Styx – “Renegade”
• Sum 41 – “Motivation”
• Tesla – “Modern Day Cowboy”
• Them Crooked Vultures – “Scumbag Blues”
• Third Eye Blind – “Graduate”
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Listen To Her Heart”
• Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
• The Vines – “Get Free”
• The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
• ZZ Top – “Sharp Dressed Man (Live)”

In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, join with friends on an epic rock journey to save rock. Featuring an impressive 90+ track set list and a host of all-new gameplay features, living room legends and their friends can strum, drum and wail in the most immersive music videogame experience to date.

Delivering the quintessential rock music collection that focuses on guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Slipknot and Megadeth and larger-than-life band anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS, players can unleash more rewards and unlockable content than ever before in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock‘s Quest Mode, the franchise’s first ever story-based mode, and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills.

Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined and with encores from the critically-acclaimed and fan favourite gameplay features that made Guitar Hero one of the most popular franchises of all-time – such as Party Play, Competitive modes and any combination of up to four instruments – the game offers a complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music experience.

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system and by Vicarious Visions for the Wii(TM) system from Nintendo. The game is rated PG for Mild themes, violence, sexual references and coarse language. For more information about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, please visit GuitarHero.com.

19 August 2010, Australia – Criterion Games, a studio of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced a Limited Edition version of Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit, this holiday’s hottest action racing game. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is bringing the intensity of cops vs. racers to the connected generation. The Limited Edition features six of the world’s fastest cars that players can use to race and chase their friends, right out of the box. Available for Pre Order now from EB Games, GAME, Gamesmen, JB Hi Fi, Harvey Norman and Dick Smith Electronics at the same price as the standard version, the Limited Edition packs added value for speed junkies, while supplies last.

The Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Limited Edition delivers six exotic cars; Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, Ford Shelby GT500, Audi TT RS Coupé, Chevrolet Camaro SS, Porsche Cayman S and Dodge Challenger SRT8. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and Ford Shelby GT500 are only available in the Limited Edition – and will not be available at any other time. For those players who miss the opportunity to pick up the Limited Edition, the Audi TT RS Coupé, Chevrolet Camaro SS, Porsche Cayman S and Dodge Challenger SRT8 can be unlocked by leveling up in the game.

These high-powered racing machines give players a day-one advantage when they compete – and beat – their friends on the open road. Whether playing in real-time live multiplayer or challenging and comparing races with friends offline, Limited Edition owners have an edge over their friends – an especially important benefit since the game is all about the connected social experience. At the heart of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit is a groundbreaking network called Autolog that tracks cop and racer performances and uses those statistics to generate fierce competition between friends by dynamically changing the way they play the game. By having the fastest cars on the road, players can challenge their friends, destroy their times and bask in the glory of their humiliation.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit recently won the prestigious ‘Best Racing Game’ award at the Electronic Entertainment Expo from the Game Critics Awards. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit will be available from 18 November 2010 in Australia on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit will also be available on the Wii™ and is being developed by Exient.

For more of the latest news about the game, visit http://hotpursuit.needforspeed.com/au or become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/needforspeed and follower at http://www.twitter.com/needforspeed.

(August 19, 2010) – IObit announces the release of its all-new IObit Toolbox, a free portable suite of easy-to-use software utilities that repairs and prevents the widest range of PC problems. IObit Toolbox is delivered in a clean “portable” implementation that requires little or no specialized training or understanding on the part of users and does not require installation before use.

IObit Toolbox provides a complete system for diagnosing and fixing virtually all software and operating system-related PC problems, including the most frustrating and common problems that users encounter, such as the ongoing need to clean, optimize and repair components of the PC, optimize system security and fully control and adjust the myriad of variables that operate behind the scenes of every computer. IObit Toolbox contains 26 individual, dedicated tools that display and diagnose detailed PC information and allow automated or manual repairs and adjustments if / as and when necessary.

“With more than 20 powerful tools in one place and no installation required, IObit Toolbox is like a Swiss Army Knife for system administrators and computer geeks to diagnose and fix PC problems anywhere and anytime, “ states Kevin Zhou, Marketing Director for IObit.

IObit Toolbox is remarkable for several reasons: Because IObit Toolbox is internally optimized for minimization, for example, it occupies very little space on a hard drive because it requires no installation. System administrators, computer repair specialists, and even untrained users can bring IObit Toolbox with them on any portable device such as a flash disk or CD ROM and use it to diagnose and solve problems on any PC they encounter anytime and anywhere.

Although created and implemented as a complete and easy-to-use system, each of the 26 tools in IObit Toolbox is a stand-alone, powerful piece of software. Once activated, each one is perfectly capable of diagnosing relevant problems and repairing the source of any troubles.

With the release of this new Toolbox, IObit ends the need to search the Internet for specialized software to fix particular problems and to pay for each one. Software tools with fewer capabilities than IObit Toolbox can sell for $200 or more! But IObit Toolbox now gives users and experts alike all the computer maintenance, repair and adjustment tools they need, all in one place and all completely free.

It’s even possible to rebrand IObit Toolbox with your own company name, graphics and identity. All IObit requires is for customizers to leave the words: “Powered by IObit.” More details of IObit Toolbox can be found at: http://www.iobit.com/toolbox.html

About IObit
Founded in 2004 by two creative and enthusiastic programmers, IObit is focusing on providing end-users with the most innovative and comprehensive system utilities and security software for best PC performance and security. Thanks to his flag-ship product Advanced SystemCare, IObit is now a well established and popular software company with millions of active users worldwide.

August 19th, 2010 – Continuing from the ongoing success of their worldwide hit iPhone game Fruit Ninja, Halfbrick today is happy to release the next game in their exciting lineup – Monster Dash!

Monster Dash stars Barry Steakfries, the lovable yet badass hero who loves nothing more than running and shooting monsters. Players control the action with just two buttons – jump and shoot. Steakfries runs through multiple worlds fighting demons, vampires, mummies and more, with the player deftly leaping over chasms and moving down enemies with reckless abandon. Lock and load with the pump-action shotgun, earth-shattering Pacifier, electro-charged Mr. Zappy and the ultimate in death from above – the Machine Gun Jetpack!

High scores will be posted to global leaderboards, and Monster Dash will continuously reward the player with a massive array of combat statistics and gameplay awards – not to mention the awesome one-liners from Steakfries himself!

Monster Dash is available worldwide on the App Store right now for just US$0.99.

Do the Dash. Do the Monster Dash.

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/app/monster-dash/id370070561?mt=8

Website: www.monsterdashgame.com

About Halfbrick

Halfbrick is a professional game development studio based in Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 2001, it has developed popular titles for the Game Boy Advance, PSP, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, with expansion into XBLA, PS3 and iPhone development. For further information, please visit www.halfbrick.com and follow on Twitter, Youtube and Facebook!

Given the millions of threats that Symantec products block every day, you might find it interesting to know which detection consistently holds the top spot. It’s not a worm such as the recent W32.Stuxnet or a virus like W32.Virut, or even one of our long-term generic detections, such as Backdoor.Trojan. The detection most frequently encountered by Symantec antivirus users is Tracking Cookie.

A cookie is a plain text file that stores data about your browsing session. While the term cookie seems harmless it comes with its share of pros and cons. Cookies can serve a useful purpose by allowing websites to track visitor information, allowing them to customise their advertising to customer needs. On the flipside, tracking cookies can be considered a privacy concern. A tracking cookie is a cookie which keeps tracks of all your browsing information and can be used by hackers and companies to obtain your personal details like bank account details, your credit card information etc.

The problem is that unlike traditional browser cookies, tracking cookies are relatively unknown to web users. Users may not be aware of the privacy issues these cookies pose. Tracking cookies are in the news as well, as some media companies that use them have found a way to resurrect deleted tracking cookies by using other cookies that are stored within Flash applications.

Symantec antivirus system scans can detect these “Zombie cookies” and remove them from computers. IT administrators and computer users are encouraged to have up-to-date, legitimate security software running on their system. Internet users should be wary of links in e-mails and IM messages since these are likely methods an attacker would use to prompt a user to visit a Web page hosting exploits and malware.

Special Editions Unlock Bonuses for Crysis 2 Multiplayer at Launch in March 2011

19 August 2010, AUSTRALIA – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Crytek GmbH, Europe’s leading independent video game studio and award-winning developers of the critically acclaimed Crysis® franchise, today announced two special editions for the highly anticipated first person shooter Crysis 2; the Crysis 2 Limited Edition and the Crysis 2 Nano Edition. Both editions feature premium packaging and special unlocks in the Crysis 2 multiplayer game. The Limited Edition and Nano Edition are available for pre-order now in limited quantities*. EA and Crytek also announced today a closed multiplayer beta for Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system starting Spring 2010.

The Crysis 2 Limited Edition will be available for no additional cost, while supplies last, and features four must-have in-game unlocks for the ultimate multiplayer experience:

Bonus XP – Players will jump into multiplayer battles with an edge by starting with enough experience points to gain early access to all 5 preset class load-outs.
SCAR Hologram Decoy – This special attachment to the SCAR will project a hologram image of the player, allowing them to confuse their opponents with the decoy.
SCAR Weapon Skin – This digital camouflage skin will allow players to add a personalised touch to one of the more popular assault rifles in the game.
Platinum Dog Tag – This special one-of-a-kind dog tag is one of over 250 that will be collectible in Crysis 2 multiplayer, helping to separate you from the rest of the field.

The Crysis 2 Nano Edition is designed for the ultimate Crysis fan and will include the Limited Edition housed in a steel case plus an 11” / 28 cm statue of the game’s hero “Prophet” on top of a New York taxi cab, a high-quality art book, all packaged inside a backpack modeled after the Nanosuit itself. Not available in stores, the Nano Edition is available in extremely limited quantities via pre-order in Australia.

Crysis 2 is one of the most anticipated games of 2011, coming out of last June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo with 25 nominations and 12 awards including “Best Shooter” from GameSpy.com and “Best Graphics” from Gamespot,com. The game’s multiplayer is being developed by Crytek’s specialist multiplayer studio, Crytek UK. Just like the gripping single-player campaign, Crysis 2 multiplayer will grant players the superhuman powers of the Nanosuit, allowing them to be the weapon as they utilise their powers against each other across, above and below various locations and landmarks throughout New York City.

Built on Crytek’s new state-of-the-art multiplatform game development solution, CryENGINE®3, Crysis 2 will be available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC in 2D and 3D** on March 24, 2011 in Australia.

For more information on Crysis 2, please visit http://sosnewyork.com , http://www.mycrysis.com  or follow the game on Twitter at www.twitter.com/crysis  or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crysis.

* Restrictions and conditions apply. See back of pack for details.

** Additional hardware and accessories, not included with game, may be required for full 3D effects.

CULT FAVOURITE CELEBRATES 35 YEARS OF ABSOLUTE PLEASURE WITH A HIGH DEFINITION BLU-RAY RELEASE 

(Sydney, Australia, 2010) – It’s not a time warp, it’s the real thing.  The Rocky Horror Picture Show – the mad mix of classic horror, super-charged sensuality and outrageous fantasy – celebrates its 35^th Anniversary with a high definition Blu-ray Disc (BD) release on November 3 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Rocky Horror comes to BD for the first time with a newly re-mastered version of the film allowing you to see your favourite scenes like never before and so much more – Frank’s tattoo!  Fully stocked with BD interactive special features designed for added pleasure this disc provides the ultimate Rocky Horror Picture Show experience at home. 

Sing and dance your way through “The Midnight Experience” an interactive/picture-in-picture feature that recreates the all-famous Midnight Movie experience in your living room; sing-along to every tune with the help of the bleeding lyrics found on “Rocky-oke: Sing It!; and go behind the scenes of “The Search for the 35^th Anniversary Shadowcast” with the two-part program – Don’t Dream It, Be It and An-tic-i-pation!  With the featurette “Mick Rock (A Photographer)” view the intimate reflections from the rock-n-roll photographer who had exclusive access to the set more than 35 years ago.

Rocky Horror Picture Show Blu-ray will also come with a standard DVD disc as part of the New To Blu-ray Combo Pack’s ensuring that when you return to Transylvania you can do so over both formats.

Blu-ray Disc Special Features:

The 35^th Anniversary Blu-ray Disc contains all-new BD-exclusive special features as well as “A Few from the Vault,” a selection of favorites taken from previous releases.

All-new Exclusive BD Content:

• The Midnight Experience
• Rocky-oke: Sing It!
• The Search for the 35^th Anniversary Shadowcast
  • Don’t Dream It, Be It! (Part One)
  • An-tic-i-pation (Part Two)
  • Mick Rock (A Photographer) – featurette
  • Mick Rock’s Picture Show (A Gallery)
  • Press Book Gallery
  • Poster Gallery

A Few from the Vault

• Deleted Musical Scenes
  • One In A While
  • Super Heroes
  • Outtakes
  • Commentary by Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn
  • Alternate Credit Ending
  • Misprint Ending
  • “Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show
  • Beacon Theater, New York City (10^th Anniversary)
  • Time Warp Music Video (15^th Anniversary)

Starring Tim Curry (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Susan Sarandon (Janet Weiss), Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors) and Meatloaf (Eddie), Rocky Horror is the story of an “ordinary” couple and one unforgettable night at the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.

About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognized global industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company. Representing 75 years of innovative and award-winning filmmaking from Twentieth Century Fox, TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions on DVD, Blu-ray Disc Digital Copy, Video On Demand and Digital Download. The company also releases all products globally for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce throughout the world.

Feel the excitement of race day as Codemasters ® releases new f1 2010™ gameplay video. 

Melbourne, Suzuka and Spa star in new F1 2010 video available at www.formula1-game.com as Australian release date is confirmed for September 23^rd 

SYDNEY, Australia – Monday, 16^th August – FORMULA ONE™ fans can today see F1 2010, the official game of the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™, in action with the release of the first gameplay preview video, now showing at www.formula1-game.com. F1 2010 will be released on September 23^rd in Australia and New Zealand for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC Games For Windows®.

Showcasing the race day experience of a GRAND PRIX™, the new gameplay video features the full 24 car grid battling it out at Melbourne, Suzuka and taking on the famous Eau Rouge at Spa. The video also provides an insight into the broader driver’s experience at a GRAND PRIX, showing press interviews in the paddock, race engineers managing their drivers out on the circuit and motion-captured pit-lane crew returning their car into the action. On the track action shows daring passing manoeuvres and wheel-to-wheel racing as stars including Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel compete to become FIA FORMULA ONE DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPION. 

F1 2010 is the official game of the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP and will include all of the official teams, drivers and circuits featuring in the sport’s most exciting season to date. F1 2010 features a range of game modes, from quick-fire races and time trials to full GRAND PRIX weekends and an extensive career mode. Players will experience the thrill of racing motorsport’s most advanced cars at the world’s finest circuits, including, for the first time in a videogame, high-definition recreations of Singapore’s stunning night race and the dramatic Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

In production at Codemasters Studios Birmingham, F1 2010 is being developed on the EGO™ Game Technology Platform, an evolution of the engine that powered the critically acclaimed, million-plus selling Colin McRae™: DiRT 2 and Race Driver: GRID™. The award-winning, under-the hood tech has been tuned to simulate the unique aerodynamics and handling of 200MPH+ FORMULA ONE cars, taking players closer to the sport than ever before.

FORMULA ONE fans can view the new video by accelerating over to www.formula1-game.com, the home for all the latest screens, news and videos straight from the studio.  F1 2010 will be released September 23^rd 2010 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Games for Windows. 

AVG (AU/NZ)’s Guide To Password Best Practice

Melbourne and Amsterdam, 17 August 2010. It’s sad fact, but people don’t take passwords seriously enough. You could almost write a comedy sketch about the ‘obvious’ passwords that so many people use. A password consisting of the numbers “one to 10” is not uncommon, as is simply the word “password” or “admin” or the user’s first name. Last year, 20,000 Yahoo, AOL and Hotmail passwords were hacked only to find the most popular password was ‘123456’!

Lloyd Borrett, Security Evangelist for AVG (AU/NZ) says, “Using the name of your first pet or school, your birth date or your mother’s maiden name, is not smart either as this information is often favoured by banks as a means of identifying you. Putting it out digitally in any form (even if that is onto a comparatively secure website or not) is simply not good sense.”

“To continue reading this piece, please enter a password. If you do not have a password please create one now of at least eight characters in length. Please use a combination of CAPS and lowercase letters and numbers.”

How familiar is that? How many times do we see those instructions and just blindly type in something meaningless so that we can continue surfing?

Borrett continues, “The problem is that there are so many ’light’ password gateways today. Web sites seek to create ‘sticky’ pages that users will repeatedly revisit by offering password access only. But these gateways obfuscate the importance of the ‘heavy’ passwords that you need to keep close to your chest and that you need to create intelligently.

“Just to be clear, there is no industry de facto term that defines a ‘heavy’ password – we are simply drawing a distinction between a casually used password that might for example let you view an online news item, to that of your online banking password which should be ultra-robust and definitely not the same as the one you use to access social networking sites like Facebook.“

So What Makes a Good Password?

Firstly and most importantly of all, a good password is a password you can stick with. You do not have to change your password every 90 days (or however often you have been advised) but you could do. There are no ground rules on this one and the jury is out from a technical perspective as to whether this process simply opens up more hacker gateways or whether it closes them down.

What is important is that you are supremely obscure. Don’t use any of the cardinal numbers in order, even if you start at 3, 4, 5. Don’t even use them in sequence as in 3, 5, 7. Use them backwards and interspersed with letters (both upper and lower case) and characters from the top line of your keyboard such as !, #, – and *, for example.

But that is just the start. If a hacker has managed to steal a copy of your password, it is most likely that he or she will only have an encrypted value of your password. The hacker will start using password hacker systems, which will initially attempt to use human language dictionaries and human behaviour logic to crack your secret code.

So be as illogical as you possibly can be. Don’t use the word ‘frogspawn’ when you could use ‘spawnfrog’ and so on.

“Carrying that ‘illogical’ theme forward, use your brain to outwit any computer password hacking software. Humans are visual thinkers, so this means we can visualise clearly in our own heads something that might not be part of the real world,” Borrett says.

“Have you even seen a purple elephant? Neither have I, so that’s a good image – and therefore a good phrase to use. Why stop at purple, let’s choose a more creative colour such as ochre, fuchsia or puce. Why stop at elephants, let’s choose echidnas, possums, wombats and so on.

“Of course, some security experts say that we shouldn’t use any dictionary words from any language in a password. One way around this is to use product names and numbers instead. Most of us can easily visualise obscure products we own (e.g. scuba diving regulator) and recall its product number (e.g. Apeks XTX200). Then we just mangle the product number a bit.

“So let’s be clear – we are not saying that ‘OchrE59EchIdnA18!*’ or ‘ApEx!xtx-2o0’ are not the best passwords you’ll ever come up with, but it’s certainly going to help you if you think along these lines,” Borrett concludes.

Seven Steps To Password Perfection:

1. Don’t use cardinal numbers in order: 1,2,3,4,5 etc. is not clever.

2. Think illogically; computers rely on logic to operate.

3. Be obtuse, think outside the box, invent a new word!

4. Never use your mother’s maiden name or any password that your bank might use.

5. Mix keyboard characters such as the asterisk with letters and numbers.

6. Use a mixture of upper and lower case letters.

7. Always change default passwords from ‘password’ or ‘admin’.

And lastly and very importantly NEVER tick the ‘remember this password’ box.

AVG (AU/NZ) has a comprehensive range of security tips for home and business users on its web site at www.avg.com.au/resources/security-tips/.

About AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd — www.avg.com.au

Based in Melbourne, AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd distributes the AVG range of Anti-Virus and Internet Security products in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. AVG software solutions provide complete real-time protection against the malware, viruses, spam, spyware, adware, worms, Trojans, phishing and exploits used by cyber-criminals, hackers, scammers and identity thieves. AVG protects everything important and personal inside computers — documents, account details and passwords, music, photos and more — all while allowing users to work, bank, shop and play games online in safety.

AVG provides outstanding technical solutions and exceptional value for consumers, small to medium business and enterprise clients. AVG delivers always-on, always up-to-date protection across desktop, and notebook PCs, plus file and e-mail servers in the home and at work in SMBs, corporations, government agencies and educational institutions.