In recent months, I’ve noticed a growing trend in virus removal. Parents are actually having their children (either teenagers or adult offspring living at home) pay for it. About half the time I have a virus removal job; the parents blame the infection on the kids and let me know that the cost of the job will ultimately be paid for by the kids.

I think this makes perfect sense. Having been a computer tech for a number of years, I can usually look at a computer and tell you approximately how old the children in the house are by the software and viruses on the computer.

Whether the parents are helping the children learn about responsibility and consequences or the parents just want to save their own hard-earned money in these difficult financial times, I don’t know. But this is a growing trend and I completely support it. Hopefully, by learning this lesson financially, the children will learn about computer safety and that visiting certain types of websites is going to mess up their computer and cost them money.

***EDIT*** That being said, I know that there are parents that blame their mistakes on the children. Trust me, I don’t care who caused the problem or where the problem came from. I believe it is my job to fix the PCs, not place blame.  ***END***

Way to go Parents!

Tim

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Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

Microsoft just released 2 “High Priority” updates to help protect your online safety.

Yesterday a “Zero Day” vulnerability was discovered that allows malicious and hijacked websites to steal passwords that you have saved in Microsoft Internet Explorer. All versions of explorer are affected and should be upgraded and updated.

To update your system,

1. Open Internet Explorer (ironic, isn’t it?) and go to:
   http://www.update.microsoft.com.
2. Click on “Express”.

This will update your system with all necessary updates including the 2 new ones that came out today.

Keep yourself safe online. Keep your computer updated.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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HP has just announced a laptop that boasts a battery that will power the laptop for 24 continuous hours on a single charge. The HP EliteBook 6930p Notebook PC sports SSD (solid state digital) drives in place of the standard hard drives that you and I have in our laptops. HP gives you 4 options for Operating Systems. You can get Vista Business 32, Vista Home Basic, Vista Business with downgrade to Windows XP Professional custom installed or FreeDOS.

When the unit is released, you can purchase one from Biden PC as we are an Authorized HP Reseller.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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I made it! See the logo? I am now a fully registered Microsoft Small Business Specialist. As I stated in a previous post I passed The 70-282 exam. It covers Microsoft Small Business Server 2003, Microsoft Server 2003, networking, and analyzing the existing environment.

If your small business needs networking, a server, or maintenance on your Microsoft Server, Biden PC is here to help.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

Unless this is your first time to my blog, you probably noticed that the pages look different. That is because, as the title implies, I just switched my blog to WordPress. I was happy with Blogger for many reasons but I really wanted more control over my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and that is something that Blogger just didn’t give me.

I’m not quite used to the difference between the two systems yet but I’m getting there. I think the two biggest changes are that the pages are located in a SQL database instead of in static webpages and the fact that I actually have to know a bit of PHP to change what I’m used to changing easily with HTML.

Please forgive me if the appearance changes a bit more over the next few weeks. I want to tweak it all at once so it doesn’t drag on too long for anybody.

Thanks for understanding!
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Irony as defined by webster.com: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

As ironic as it may seem, IBM, the creator of the personal computer, has started giving Apple laptops to its employees.

What? You think I’m joking? Ok, so they started with a roll-out of only 24 laptops… Still, check this link. 22 of the 24 people responded to a questionnaire and 19 wanted to keep the Apple laptops. Only 3 out of 22 wanted to go back to Windows. They’ll soon start a new roll-out of 50 laptops and in the second half of 2008 add another 50 laptops to the test.

Comments on the questionnaire include: “I have been a true PC stalwart for 2+ decades, but after trying Vista, I’m ready for a change,” and “It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista.” What a smack in the face to Microsoft!

Even though the numbers aren’t large, this must be exciting for Apple. I wish I had some Apple stock. =)

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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