About this site

Mildfactor is a small help resource about everyday computer security, written for readers in Australia. It exists to answer ordinary questions in ordinary language, without assuming the reader has done anything wrong and without assuming the answer is a purchase.

Who publishes it

Mildfactor is published by:

Anything written here is the work of the BETA - CZECH, s.r.o. editorial team. The site carries no bylines because no individual author is being presented, and it carries no staff profiles for the same reason. If you need to raise something about the content, the contact page explains how.

What this site is, and what it is not

It is a set of written answers about problems people have with desktop computers running Windows or macOS. It is not a news outlet, a personal blog, a support service or a download page. It does not scan, examine or diagnose any device, and it has no technical means of doing so. It makes no claim to be the official site of any software vendor, nor to be authorised by one.

It is also not a substitute for a technician. Where an answer reaches the limit of what general guidance can do, it says so and points to the relevant official body or vendor rather than guessing.

How questions are chosen

Questions come from the way people actually describe computer problems: full sentences, no jargon, often starting with "why" or "what happens if". A question is included when three things are true. It is asked often enough to be worth a page. It has an answer that holds generally, rather than depending entirely on one model or one version. And answering it does not require pretending to know something about the reader's own machine.

Questions that fail the third test are left out. There is no honest way to tell a reader whether their specific computer has a problem from the other side of a web page, and the attempt to do so is the defining feature of the sites this one is trying not to resemble.

How answers are checked

Each answer is written first as the plainest accurate response, then checked against primary sources: the published guidance of the relevant Australian authority, or the documentation of the vendor whose software is involved. Where a claim cannot be supported by one of those, it is either rewritten as general guidance or removed.

The sources used most often are the Australian Cyber Security Centre at cyber.gov.au, Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au, the eSafety Commissioner at esafety.gov.au, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission at accc.gov.au. Where the subject touches game content, the Australian Classification Board at classification.gov.au is the reference.

The full set of pages is reviewed on a quarterly cycle, and individual answers are revised sooner whenever a source changes materially or a reader points out an error. The date of the most recent review appears in the footer of every page.

What this site does not publish

• Test results, detection scores or benchmark figures, because the site has a commercial relationship with a vendor it mentions and such figures would not deserve your trust.
• Awards, seals, certifications or claims of recognition.
• Reader testimonials, quotes, ratings or personal stories.
• Prices or discounts for products, which change constantly and are published by the vendor.
• Any assessment of your particular device.

The commercial relationship, stated plainly

Mildfactor carries paid affiliate links. Norton AntiVirus Plus is one of the products discussed on this site, and the links to it are affiliate links: if you follow one and later buy a licence, the publisher is paid a commission by the affiliate network that operates the link. You pay the same price as anyone else.

This is a commercial relationship and it is reasonable to factor it in when reading. Three practices are in place because of it. Free steps are described before paid ones in every answer where both exist. The limits of what any security product can do are stated directly, including on the page that carries the most prominent link. And the site publishes no comparative scoring, because a publisher paid by one vendor is not a credible judge between vendors.

What decides the content, instead, is which questions people ask and what the primary sources say. The affiliate disclosure page sets out the arrangement in full.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, out of date or unclear, write to info@mildfactor.online and say which page and which sentence. Corrections are made to the page itself and the review date in the footer is updated. The site does not collect anything from readers, so an email is the only route, and it is read by a person.

Trademarks: Norton AntiVirus Plus and the other product names, logos and brands mentioned on this site are owned by their respective owners. Other than the paid affiliate links explained in our disclosure, Mildfactor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them.