Notes from the field

IT support guides for Melbourne businesses.

What actually breaks, and what to check first.

Written from real jobs rather than a marketing calendar. If one of these saves you a phone call, it has done its job.

Privacy Act · APP 11 · APP 8 · NDB scheme

Privacy Act IT checklist for health practices

APP 11 security, APP 8 overseas cloud vendors, and the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme — what the Privacy Act actually requires of your IT, and why it applies no matter how small your practice is.

10 October 20265 min readRead

HICAPS · Tyro · claiming · network

HICAPS or Tyro terminal offline? What to check before you ring anyone

The claiming terminal has stopped connecting and the patient is standing at reception. A calm, ordered list of what to check, what is your provider's job, and what belongs to the terminal company.

8 October 20265 min readRead

VoIP · phone systems · dental practices

VoIP for dental practices: what to ask before you switch

Number porting, what happens to reception during an outage, handset vs softphone, and call recording under the Privacy Act — what to check before you switch VoIP providers.

29 September 20266 min readRead

Backup · disaster recovery · ransomware

Does your backup actually protect you from ransomware?

A backup that reports success can still be useless against ransomware. How ransomware reaches backups, which kinds survive it, what a restore test proves, and what the law expects if patient records are involved.

22 September 20266 min readRead

Pricing · managed IT · after-hours

How much does IT support cost in Melbourne?

What IT support really costs in Melbourne in 2026: after-hours rates, callout fees, managed IT per month, and when each option actually works out cheaper.

15 September 20266 min readRead

Windows 10 · ESU · end of support

Windows 10 after the deadline: what it actually costs to stay

Windows 10 support ended in October 2025. Year two of Microsoft's paid extension starts in November 2026 and the price doubles. What that means for a practice still running it.

7 September 20265 min readRead

D4W · Exact · Oasis · Praktika · cloud

Practice management software won't open: what to check first

Dental4Windows, Exact, Oasis, Praktika or a cloud system — the checks are different depending on where your software actually runs. Here is how to tell, and who to ring.

5 September 20267 min readRead

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