Need Adivce With Dealing With The Ceo

[VydorScope]

Okay heres the deal. The CEO / Majority Shareholder of the corp that I work for is not very computer savey (I am being EXTREMELY nice...). He has a latop that is officaly company property, so it falls on me to fix it everytime he messes it up.

Well he based on browing history is constantly at the less then family friendly section of the internet. Becuase of this he is constantly getting infected with malware/spyware/adware/etc.

So with out losing my job, how to I tell him that if he is stupid enough to do that, the he is getting what he deserves?

[jerseyangel]

Gulp--Looks like you have 2 options: one, you say nothing and keep on fixing his machine. Two, look him in the eye and say something like "what you look at is your business, but going onto these um sites is what is causing your computer virus problems." (Don't tell him he's getting what he deserves) Then say something really technical.

[kabowman]

Well, when we had a guy, not the CEO, we set him up as just a user and he couldn't install anything and we didn't give him the admin password. This is after having to re-build his laptop every 4 to 6 months (or re-ghost). That was a few years ago and I haven't had to re-do his laptop since. We have even given him the admin password, once he realized that we locked him out because he kept messing up his laptop and we were tired of dealing with it. Now, you could make him a power user and update his machine once a week for him and maybe the special attention would work for you instead of against you.

Now, our boss, well, he does his own machine and doesn't come to us when he messes it up.

[VydorScope]

I did that (limited user) with his desktop, but then he is constantly bugging me to install/fix things. With the latop at least I only have to deal with it every couple months. Esply since he takes it on the road, and he will want somthing installed while on the road, so I would have to try and walk him thruogh it over the phone, which would be a disater.

[kabowman]

I agree, it was a thought.

Can you set up spyware and adaware to run on their own or will he turn them off if they come up...I do mine manually and haven't looked at setting up an automatic run like our antivirus stuff.

[VydorScope]

I agree, it was a thought.

Can you set up spyware and adaware to run on their own or will he turn them off if they come up...I do mine manually and haven't looked at setting up an automatic run like our antivirus stuff.

Well I use Spybot and Adaware, but I do them manually. If they run automaticly I am sure they will ask him questions from time to time, and generate more tech support for me. heh

[kabowman]

Yeah, can't help, I know what you are talking about. I have similar issues with my boss/director but he manages most of his own techie stuff and only calls me for software issues. Sorry...

[MySuicidalTurtle]

How many more things can he need? If your company has rules/limits for other workers you could make him have the same limits. He knows you can tell what he is doing so why not just say most of the problems are caused by visiting those sites and it'd be safer not to do that on his buisness computer.

[VydorScope]

How many more things can he need? If your company has rules/limits for other workers you could make him have the same limits.

If he was UNDER me I could do that, but since he is not, I am extremely limited on that front.

He "needs" just about everything he sees in an emial that will make his life better.

He knows you can tell what he is doing ....

Honestly, I am not sure he understands that. His level of computer skill is fairly nonexistant, I seriously had to each him how the power button worked. No I do not mean the start button, I mean the POWER BUTTON.

[jkmunchkin]

Okay heres the deal. The CEO / Majority Shareholder of the corp that I work for is not very computer savey (I am being EXTREMELY nice...). He has a latop that is officaly company property, so it falls on me to fix it everytime he messes it up.

Well he based on browing history is constantly at the less then family friendly section of the internet. Becuase of this he is constantly getting infected with malware/spyware/adware/etc.

So with out losing my job, how to I tell him that if he is stupid enough to do that, the he is getting what he deserves?

Unfortunately I think you need to just suck it up and keep fixing the machine. There are certainly ways to inform him why he is getting the viruses, but you run the risk of embarrasing him and putting yourself on his bad list. I think this is one of those choose your battles situations and I think you are better of saying nothing and fixing his machine time and time again, rather than risk the consequences.

[CarlaB]

I would tell him that certain websites put troublesome things on the computer and are causing all his computer problems. You cannot stop the websites from doing this, as long as he goes to sites that do this, he will have problems. Then you can list the types of sites that do this (not by name, but by type of site). This way you are not showing that you looked at his history, or know where he's going, but only that you know the problem is coming from websites he's visiting. Be sure you include some more family friendly sounding type sites in your description. This way it's all business, and no personal judgments. It also leaves the decision up to him whether or not the website visits are worth the aggravation, and be sure to make it clear that the sites will always cause this problem. I also would be sure to not ever fix his computer on your own time.