Sunday, June 10, 2012

Facebook & You -- After Death

What happens to your Facebook Account when you die?

Since I've been on Facebook (around 2007) I have had a number of friends pass away.  Naturally, it is sad and I read their wall to see what has been posted, but out of respect, I delete their profile as I do not want any of my stuff to show up on their wall like they are still alive or be alerted that they want to be my friend -- after I know they've passed on.

SO, I did find an article on the topic, but to summarize it there are several things that can be done.

1. Nothing.  Now, with this being said, it's a poor choice.  People who were not friends with them on Facebook who may have friends in common with them will have them constantly showing up in the "Joe wants to be friends" column of your page.  Awkward, at best.  Creepy, at worst.

2. Contact Facebook To Have Their Page Removed.  You naturally have to provide some documents, but this would be one way to do it so that it is completely removed and has no way to be re-activated....or resurrected, if you will.

3. Memorialize The Page.  I've seen this a lot with young people who have been killed in car accidents or who tragically die way before their time.  People can leave tributes on their wall and a lot of nice things are said.  This would be nice to read about for a grieving family and DOES give some family members administrative control as to what is posted and can delete posts.  It also removes some personal info from the account as well.

Even though you may not think you are going to die tomorrow, what would you want your loved ones to do???  Now that we are fully immersed into the digital age, a decision like this may be as valid as what songs are sung at your funeral or what you want on your headstone.  Anyway, something to think about.

Here's the link, for more information:

Good luck!


Sunday, June 3, 2012

Big vs. Little

There are a lot of On-Line companies who will try to lure you into "click here to fix your computer" or other such gimmicks. Other companies are reputable, but just charge way too much. I do contract work for some of these companies. For example, Wednesday, I had to do a virus removal for a gal from Webster City. She paid some company around $200 to remove a virus and I was the guy dispatched to do the job. I was there about an hour and a half, did what the work order said, but that was it. There were no extras. No hardware assessment or additional checks or cleanup -- just remove the virus and leave. She has already prepaid the fee, so I wasn't there to collect any money.


Now, had she taken the time to Google a LOCAL computer repair company, my name would have come up. Maybe I wouldn't have been at the top of the list, but she wouldn't have had to pay that amount of money and her service would have been better. As a contracted tech, if you don't follow the work order, or are there longer than what they want, you get docked in pay. My point is, when I serve a greater amount of a 9 county area, PLUS I also offer remote repair, The Computer Guy would have been a better and cheaper alternative.


In addition, we could have offered her our warranty package that would have fixed her bad USB ports and defective DVD-Rom drive.


It's just another example of how, in some cases, smaller may be better.  Think about that the next time you pass up a local business for something you find online.