Mary Wilson is 41, married and the mother of three children ranging in age from 11 to 16. She works part time as a real estate agent and keeps the home. Her husband is a full time professional who uses the computer more at work than he does at home. The family computer is dominated mostly by the children but is used by the parents as well for booking travel tickets and reservations, doing research, email, word processing and family bookkeeping. They want their kids to use the computer safely and responsibly. They want the computer to be in good running order, avoid viruses and spyware and be sure their children are using the computer in a positive manner. The kids like to IM, play games and do their homework on the computer. They are not very careful and often let spyware and viruses into the system.
Problem:
Mary's kids are complaining the the computer has slowed way down and that printing is not working. Mary needed to check her email but the internet connection seems to be down. Her husband wants to know what the kids are doing on the internet and if their surfing is safe.
Solution:
The family computer is probalbly infected with a virus or a spyware problem. Make sure the antivirus program is working and the virus definitions are up to date. Scan for viruses. Install antispyware software, update and scan. Make sure all the latest Windows updates are downloaded and installed. Educate the parents and the children about the dangers of file sharing, i.e. music sharing. Also teach the kids safe practices for Instant Messaging and give them limited windows user accounts so they cannot install any software. Educate the parents about software controls they can implement to protect their kids on the Internet. Show the parents how to keep virus and spyware scanners updated and working.