[camaroer87]

My girlfriend and here family like to surf the web, play all those little web based flash games, download mini games, "free" fonts (and other types of "free stuff"), do banking and shop online, check email, etc. They WILL NOT under any circumstances run any form of antispyware/ adware checks periodicly. And they leave their computer on 24/7 with a broadband connection.

I already had to reformat their computer over a year ago because it was so infected. I put antivirus and some antispyware programs on then, but they refuse to update and run them. I tried to make it as automatic as possible but often that is not included with the free versions of programs. I try to take the time and go over to her house and do it myself from time to time, but she usually says don't worry about it, do it later, etc. So it never gets done.

What am I supposed to do? Because they shop and bank online I want to help them stay secure. But it's getting to the point where I want them to get hacked and have all kinds of problems so that they'll listen to my recommendations. They are already complaining about how slow their computer is. All I can think is "That's your problem, don't want to fix it then deal with it."

They don't seem to realize that computing has changed over the pass few years and you can't just have a computer and not have to maintain it anymore like was possible in the 90s. What do I do?

[blues_harp28]

What can you do?
It sounds like you have done all that you can.
We all learn at some time by the mistakes that we have made and we have all ignored the warnings that we were given.
But that sometimes is the only way that we can finally come to understand what is good,bad,right or wrong.

[IMP49]

I agree 100% with blues_harp28, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. I had a similar circumstance with a friend of the wife`s. This girl did not want to do any of the upkeep which comes with ownership of a computer,(just pure lazy) she, and the wife just expected me to go over there about at least once a month, and do the work that she should have been doing to keep her computer running properly. Finally after doing her job of maintenancing her computer, and of course this was always for free, for 7, or 8 months I finally laid the law down, no more help from me. Well needless to say, I was the "Bad Guy who didn`t want to help a little girl"/"The Oger from Hell"/or I was just being difficult to get along with, and various other names I can`t mention here, along with that came sleeping on the couch for about a week, it wasn`t fun. But guess what? The first time her computer went belly up(it didn`t take long), and she couldn`t get anyone to fix it for free for her, like me,and she had to take it into a shop, and got the "Sticker Shock" of a computer repair shop, the attitude suddenly changed. After that it was would I "Please show her how to take care of her computer". I did that, and now she is finally taking care of her own computer. Let me tell you, it is not fun to have to make someone take care of their own things, but if you don`t, they will use you to do their dirty work untill you are used up. Take a step forward for them, and let them take care of their own computer, if they don`t get it figured out, it`s not your fault.

[tnik]

start charging $75 bucks an hour to fix it, or $100 bucks for a backup/format/reinstall.. Maybe then they will change their practices.. but if not, least your getting paid lol

[z0rkny]

I would honestly make one last appeal to their senses by printing off a few spyware and identity theft horror stories and give them to your girlfriend and her family to read. Some people are really unaware of the type of damage that can be done to someones life (mainly credit history and identity theft) through careless computer uses. People also don't always understand how computers work and what the activity limits of their home PC are.

For example, I have seen people expect Firefox to keep open over 30 tabbed windows on a laptop for several weeks just so they don't lose the bookmarked pages for a paper they are writing in college. Or, I have seen people simultaneously play flash games on sketchy websites without the latest update for flash while they check their bank statements.

Giving them some real life examples might make things hit home, and maybe even some light instruction on computer basics (CPU, RAM, Firewalls, Internet, Cookies, etc.) would be helpful. Beyond that, I wouldn't fret too much. It's your girlfriend's family computer, and there is only so much you can do to offer solutions without seeming overbearing. If they DO get a virus though, make sure they get a free 90 day credit alert from experian.

[Made-In-Canada]

It's kind of like what happened to one of my customers. He would not stay off of the free pornography sites and his computer kept crashing because he had so many viruses, I got tired of fixing it and he kept blaming me for not doing my job. He kept downloading, and crashing. He would come to me and say that its my fault and I have to fix it. I told him to screw off. I started refusing to help him, and then he came to me again. I charged him $500 for all the work I had did for him in the past. AND HE IS STILL GOING ON THE SITES!

If I were you, I would just stop helping them and tell them if they want help to start paying.

[1002richards]

Hi,
Have you considered installing either Sandboxie or Returnil? Either of these 2 free progs would mean their surfing would be in a quarantined system with no changes written to their hard drive. It wouldn't protect their banking etc but would make it easier for you to rescue their PC when infested with viruses as all you'd need to do to clean up would be to re-boot?
http://www.sandboxie.com/
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/

I hope these are of interest?
Richard.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by camaroer87

I already had to reformat their computer over a year ago because it was so infected. I put antivirus and some antispyware programs on then, but they refuse to update and run them. I tried to make it as automatic as possible but often that is not included with the free versions of programs. I try to take the time and go over to her house and do it myself from time to time, but she usually says don't worry about it, do it later, etc. So it never gets done.

I recently dealt with a similar situation. In my case, the computer owner wasn't constantly going to sites prone to put her computer "at risk" but she simply WOULD NOT perform the updates and scans she needed to do.

So, I bought Spy Sweeper by WebRoot and installed AVG 8 free edition since both can be scheduled to run automatic updates and scans. I disabled all the automated alerts about updates, etc., to make them both run as "quietly" as possible. I need to head over there to check on the machine but both anti-virus and anti-spyware software should be running in an automated fashion, keeping itself updated on its own. Fortunately, she keeps her system running 24x7 so the protective software can run "off hours" (I have them scheduled to run between 2am-5am) while she's not using the machine.

As others have indicated, you can do only so much and if they choose not to take the necessary precautions, you can choose whether you want to help them if/when they get into trouble or not.

Fortunately, the renewal fees for Spy Sweeper are billed annually so she needs to deal with that only once a year.

Does SuperAntiSpyware have a built-in scheduling function? I know Spybot S&D does but I haven't had much success getting to work the way I want.

Peace...