Practical cybersecurity advice, Essential Eight guides, and IT tips written for business owners — not IT professionals. No jargon, just useful information.
The ACSC Essential Eight is the Australian government's recommended cybersecurity framework — and it's increasingly expected of private sector businesses by insurers, clients, and regulators. Here's what it means, what it costs, and where to start.
Verified figures from official Australian Government sources: $2.18 billion lost to scams, 84,700+ cybercrime reports, and the average cost of a cyberattack by business size — all sourced from ACSC, ACCC, and ASD reports.
Over $2 billion lost to scammers in Australia — but behind many of these scams are heavily guarded fraud factories in South-East Asia where thousands of people are forced into modern slavery. Here's what every Australian needs to know.
Printer setup, WiFi, routers, Microsoft 365, firewalls, call-out rates — honest price ranges for the most common IT jobs Melbourne businesses ask about, so you can budget accurately and spot when you're being overcharged.
Most Melbourne businesses still running on-premises Exchange have a Client Access Server handling every email login. Learn what it does, why it matters, and when migrating to Microsoft 365 makes more sense than maintaining your own CAS.
A plain-English guide to IT support tiers for executives and business leaders — what Level 1, 2 and 3 actually cover, who handles what, and the key questions to ask your IT provider before something goes wrong.
A plain-English guide to managed IT support — what it is, how it works, what's included, and how it compares to break-fix IT. Written for Melbourne business owners who want straight answers, not jargon.
A plain-English buyer's guide for Melbourne SMBs. Covers the difference between MSPs and break-fix providers, what to look for, red flags, pricing, cybersecurity expectations, and how to switch providers without the pain.
An honest comparison of the five best managed IT service providers in Melbourne for SMBs — covering cybersecurity depth, industry specialisation, pricing approach, and who each provider suits best.
Five ways to verify MDE sensor status — sc query sense, Get-MpComputerStatus, registry checks, the Windows Security app, and the Defender portal. Covers passive mode and KB2461484.
Business Email Compromise has cost Australian law firms millions. Here's how attackers compromise a firm's email, how trust account fraud happens, and the controls that stop it.
Most businesses are running M365 but very few have it configured securely. Here are the 10 security controls every Australian business should have in place.
Australia's Privacy Act has been significantly strengthened. New penalties, tighter obligations, and stricter breach response requirements now affect most Melbourne SMBs.
Pricing varies from $30 to $200+ per user per month. We break down what drives the cost, what a fair price looks like, and what questions to ask before you sign anything.
Application control is one of the most effective Essential Eight controls — and one of the most feared. Here's how to implement it in phases without locking out legitimate software.
MFA stops most credential attacks, but sophisticated attackers bypass it. Conditional Access is the next layer — here's what policies every M365 tenant should have from day one.
Tax season is prime time for attacks targeting accounting firms — because attackers know staff are under pressure and less likely to pause before clicking. Here's how to stay protected.
Traditional phone systems lock you into per-call charges and hardware you own. 3CX runs on any device, integrates with Microsoft 365, and typically cuts phone costs by 40–60%.
Accounting and legal firms are prime ransomware targets. Here's how attacks get in, what the regulatory consequences are, and the specific controls that stop them.
What is a domain name, how does DNS work, and what mistakes do Melbourne SMBs make with their domains? Everything you need to know — no jargon.
What managed WiFi actually means, why consumer-grade routers create real security and reliability risks, how guest network segmentation works, and what to look for in a provider.
Autodiscover redirect loops and client misconfiguration are common when running Exchange on-premises alongside Microsoft 365. Five methods to suppress Autodiscover for your domain.
OneDrive creating duplicate files with -Copy or (1) suffixes? Sync conflicts, offline edits, and known client bugs explained — with PowerShell to find and clean up duplicates.
Step-by-step guide to syncing SharePoint document libraries to your desktop via OneDrive. Covers known sync errors, file-count limits, and SharePoint vs OneDrive differences.
Four methods to list installed programs on Windows — WMIC, Get-Package, registry query, and exporting to CSV. Useful for auditing, asset management, and troubleshooting.
Quick reference for RDP, SMB, LDAP, DNS, Kerberos, WinRM, and more — with Test-NetConnection commands to check connectivity from the command line.
The NTE_BAD_KEYSET error (0x80090016) usually means TPM keys for a service are corrupt or the TPM was reset. Covers diagnosis for Windows Hello, BitLocker, and Azure AD join scenarios.
BitLocker refusing to enable because of a GPO conflict? How to diagnose the conflicting settings with gpresult and resolve them correctly.
How to enforce BitLocker To Go on USB and removable drives via Group Policy or Intune — so unencrypted drives are blocked at write access, not just flagged.
The MapsBroker service showing as red with Delayed Start on Windows Server 2016 is harmless but noisy. How to disable it cleanly via PowerShell or GPO.
SIP ALG on FortiGate is enabled by default and frequently causes one-way audio, dropped calls, and registration failures with hosted VoIP. How to disable it via CLI.
The FortiGate PSK (pre-shared key) for SSL VPN or IPsec tunnels can be retrieved from the CLI or exported via config — even when masked in the GUI.
Locked out of the FortiGate admin interface? Console cable, trusted host misconfiguration, admin timeout, and the maintainer account method — every recovery path covered.
Quick-reference commands for managing the Exim mail queue on Linux — view, flush, delete, test routing, inspect headers, and read logs. Covers cPanel/WHM environments.
Step-by-step guide to resizing a UPD (.vhdx) for Remote Desktop Services or Citrix — using Resize-VHD in PowerShell and extending the partition inside the disk.
Map a user's SID to their UVHD file path and UPD mount point using registry keys — useful when troubleshooting profile load failures in RDS environments.
SSTP VPN failing because the client can't reach the CRL endpoint? The NoCertRevocationCheck registry key disables the check — set it via registry or GPO.
End-user guide for connecting to a corporate VPN — Windows built-in VPN, pre-shared key vs certificate auth, split tunnelling, and common connection problems.
Practical tools and checklists for Melbourne businesses — no sign-up required.
A plain-English checklist to assess your current Essential Eight maturity level. Work through it yourself or share it with your IT team.
Request a copy →The 12 M365 configuration changes that have the biggest impact on security — with step-by-step instructions for each.
Request a copy →A simple spreadsheet to help you plan and forecast your business IT costs — licences, hardware refresh, support, and security.
Request a copy →DNS explained, domain vs hosting, how to choose a .com.au, common mistakes Melbourne businesses make, and a domain health checklist.
Read the guide →A one-page reference card for what to do if your business is hit by ransomware, a phishing attack, or a data breach.
Request a copy →Join 200+ Melbourne businesses who've upgraded their IT experience with Melbits. Book a free consultation and get a clear picture of where your technology stands — no jargon, no pressure.