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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 9:55 am
On that page,under heading "How To Stay Protected" and below the currently checked box "Turn On Automatic LiveUpdate" is an unchecked box "Notify Me When Updates Are Available". Separate, under heading "How To Stay Protected", is checked box "Run Quick Scan Whenever Protection Updates Have Been Received". That important? Whoops, what I said above won't make sense after upthread posts, but that is total of what is on nthat Norton page. Will do tonight. I hope . . . I hope . . . I hope . . . At end of my last e-mail to Jennifer yesterday, I asked her to call me. IF she does, that will be interesting. Do you know anyone / business in the area that does in-home and remote consulting?
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 10:05 am
Here's what we want for tonight. "Turn On Automatic LiveUpdate" - Checked. "Notify Me When Updates Are Available" - Unchecked. "Run Quick Scan Whenever Protection Updates Have Been Received" - Unchecked. The important piece is the "Turn On Automatic LiveUpdate". That is what keeps your virus definitions up to date (probably an update almost every night). Norton is actively scanning every time you open or download a file, so that is what really protects you. The Friday full system scan is a double check to make sure nothing slipped by before your virus definitions were updated.
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 10:17 am
Do you know anyone / business in the area that does in-home and remote consulting? No. I'm not really connected to that side of IT business. I know plenty of people who could do it, but for most of them the money would not be better than what they make as a developer. Are you willing to pay $100+ per hour, with no guarantee things will be fixed? That's a bit of the problem with these companies and services like the Geek Squad or even when you call tech support. The really good people don't stay long because they have better opportunities to make more money do something else that is likely more challenging, more rewarding and/or more steady. The people that stay with it are usually trained to look for specific things and can be good at following the checklist or script. If they have to think outside the box, many have trouble with that. They may even be told not to go off the checklist because the owner does not want to be responsible if they break something. The good ones get frustrated with this and move on. Happens with one group where I work all the time. Our data processing group loses its best people to development or IT because the other option is that those people will leave the company.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 10:31 am
When I first met Jennifer about five - six years ago (it's been that long?), she was charging $40 per hour. Good deal. She's now charging $90. From what she says about people she employs and how they work and their knowledge, does sound good. But as I've said, that girl has no people skills. When I think of how I've been treated / talked to (e-mail) -- GEEEEEEEEEZ. You do that to a long-time paying customer???? She's gonna fail if she keeps that up.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 6:05 am
This morning . . . 50 minutes. Well, guess who I heard from last night -- via e-mail. Back on with her. We will get Norton out and replace it with other protection. Any recommendations? If you still have ideas for fixin' this "la machine" -- I'm here. Let me know about my offer. 
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 6:16 am
Shoot. I really thought we had a chance this time. I would ask her to put the free version of AVG on the system after removing Norton. I'm not sure what else to try without being at the machine, since Norton is the only thing running when you start up. The only other option I see would be unchecking both Norton programs before turning off the computer tonight. Then nothing would be starting when you turn it on in the morning. Hopefully that would be fast. You would then want to immediately check the 2 Norton programs again and restart so you have virus protection. If the first start was fast and the second start was slow, then it would certainly point at Norton causing the delay, even though we can't see why. I can list it out in detail if you want to try that for tomorrow morning. When is she coming out?
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 6:50 am
Come here? At this point, isn't it all stuff (remove Norton / replace with AVG or whatever) that can be done by remote? Will make appointment later today. Have you heard the forecast? 
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 7:08 am
Removing Norton remotely sounds tricky to me. Removing Norton in general is tricky. What happens after reboot when the system doesn't come back up and you have to boot into safe mode? If all goes well, you will be online without virus protection for the time it takes to get AVG installed and updated. For $90 an hour, I would think a home visit would not be unreasonable, especially since they charge you for 1/2 an hour to do nothing a week ago. Forecast?!? I don't think all my tulips that are popping through the ground will be happy this weekend.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 7:18 am
Not remote? (Charge isn't different for in-home or remote.) She said if I didn't want to do it (told me a few steps, but I probably won't) to schedule appointment. Have to go out for a while this a.m. and then I'll schedule. This is what she said to do . . . ? At the end of your day, 1. Uninstall Norton. 2. Reboot. 3. Shut down machine. Reboot machine the next calendar day. Reboot machine next day. That could be a problem?
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 7:45 am
There may be no problem, but many people have issues uninstalling Norton. You don't have to uninstall Norton to not have it run when you boot the next day. You can uncheck the startup like you've done for everything else and see what happens. If you uninstall Norton and boot up fast the next day, then what do you do? You will have no anti virus protection and can't just turn it back on by checking a box and rebooting. Will you let her work remotely while your system is online and unprotected? For how long? What anti virus will you replaces Norton with? Is it already downloaded or on CD? Who will do the install? When? It's in Jennifer's best interest to be vague. She gets paid more the longer it takes. I would have fired her after her first rude email. You know you can by a whole new computer for every 4-5 hours she bills you? I'd expect her to kiss my butt for giving her my business, not the other way around.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 7:51 am
I know, I was going to ask about the -- what happens after Norton's off -- protection? And I have heard it's usually not so easy to uninstall Norton. So will schedule with her and . . . . "La machine" is working otherwise. It would be nice to have a better idea of how it works. Get a book on the basics.
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 8:28 am
Where is your old computer? The one that got "corrupt"?
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 9:06 am
Jennifer took it to try to get music, ect. off. She couldn't. I do trust her to destroy the hard drive and do whatever (donate, I think she said) the rest.
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 9:27 am
How old was the computer? What OS was it running? Possibly a reformat and reinstall of the OS on the "broken" computer would have given you a machine that you could practice installing and uninstalling various programs on. That's the best way to learn this stuff. You could try things and it would not matter if they broke. You could get a new hard drive for under $50 if the old one was bad. I could have given you a 40GB drive for free. That would be plenty to play with. You could become a techie and then start a business to compete with Jennifer. 
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 9:39 am
Got that one in Sept. '03. XP Pro. Some specs on this one: Inspiron 530s, Intel Pentium Dual Core processor 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz 250GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM) Kept my monitor, though it has vertical blue line in screen. Still works. Absolutely love WIRELESS mouse and keyboard. Think I've put new batteries in the keyboard one time. But I have to keep feeding the mouse. LOVE IT.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 10:45 am
I need help! My son has a Dell notebook running Vista that has worked perfectly for about 3 months. This week, it's stuck in quicksand. Sometimes it will work fine for a little while; then all of a sudden it will just start moving slowly (an ordinary 10 second task, like starting a program will take 15 -30 minutes). Or, it will just hang and do nothing at all. I noticed he had let his virus/spyware protection lapse, and after 5 attempts over 3 hours, I was able to download an upgrade. I can't install it, because it can't install the old version (Trend Microcillin). It keeps telling me the old version is currently running; but if I try to boot the old version to turn everything off, it just hangs. I get that vista circle thing for hours. I've run Windows Defender (noticed it was turned off), and it said my computer was running normally. Yeah, right! I ran System restore back to two weeks ago (we actually haven't added any new programs for months) but that hasn't helped either. Frequently, I just get a message that whatever software I'm trying to run isn't responding. Suggestions? I'd run Microcillin if I could get the old version uninstalled and the new version installed. Altho given the unreliability of programs running, it's pretty hit or miss that it would run at all anyway. This is why I have a Mac. LOL
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Bob2112
Member
06-12-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 11:11 am
Karuuna: I'd like to help but Colordeagua wore me out! Plus it's Vista!! Ack!!! I'll give someone else a chance to jump in. I'll keep it in the back of my head and check back on the weekend. I'm in the process of wrangling a squirrel and now we might get 6" of snow. Happy first day of spring! Can you get that draHeiD guy interested in this problem? <...or there's always Jennifer...> ETA: I'm thinking you'll need to get into safe mode to do the uninstall. Maybe someone can talk you through that if you are not familiar.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 11:21 am
SQUIRREL!!! Me and squirrels get along pretty well. I'm in a 2nd floor condo. Few years ago I had squirrel on my balcony giving me squirrel kisses. Yes. Squirrel would climb up my clothes and take peanut from my lips. She was very tame as squirrels go. I have many film photos of her. She'd play squirrel rug. I'd never seen a squirrel lay out flat before. Then one of the guys on WSWN has site Net Squirrel (computer stuff). Ha ha ha re Jennifer. I have e-mailed her for an appointment.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 11:49 am
Bob, I tried Safe mode to do the uninstall, but then it tells me there's a problem with Windows Uninstaller and to call me support personnel (but it worked last week). Maybe I'll try a system restore back to an even earlier date?
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 1:42 pm
Kar, I'd just say screw it and get him a mac!!!
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 1:57 pm
I've only used PCs. But last night on the radio I heard an older woman (older 'n me?) raving about her Mac and Macs in general. Really pushing Macs. Are they that much better? In what way?
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 2:02 pm
The general impression is that Macs are easier to work with. They are very good for any artistic endeavors and color management. Plus because Mac users are such a minority it tends to be like a club. They are very enthusiastic.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 2:19 pm
For example, on a mac I want to open a file that is on my desktop. All I do is double click that icon and it opens the file. I am not sure, but I don't think it is that simple on a PC. That is just one simple example, but it represents how easy things are to do and figure out on a mac. I know that for a person who is not technically wired, a mac is easier to figure out...
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 2:22 pm
Colord - I do find doing things like installing or uninstalling software on the Mac MUCH easier. Fixing things is easier too. And I've never had a virus or spyware on my Mac either. But my son's notebooks have made me pull my hair out trying to get infections eradicated.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 2:34 pm
I know that for a person who is not technically wired . . . That is me X 10 as Bob can attest (and y'all have read). I used to be technically wired, I think, but as I've gotten older I've lost patience. (I thought it was supposed to be the opposite.) I get frustrated very easily. I try to avoid frustrating situations, e.g., computers.
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