Online!

When the girls have a sleep over, I tend to get a PC virus. The guests are never trying to get a virus, or going anywhere "naughty." Teens and preteens tend to enjoy ring-tone download sites, and lyric sites. Here's a warning: Both are prone to virus problems. I'm just sayin'.

My most recent PC is a cheap WalMart eMachine. It's way better than my old PC, but we use free anti-virus, and it missed one. I finally got it "healed" and we were back in business. The second time it happened, no dice.

Everything indicated that the ugly virus was gone, but it would NOT get online. I bet, with no exaggeration, that I have spent 10 hours on this mess...just trying. I did everything I could. No internet.

The other day, I happened to be sitting there, playing around with settings, when it told me that there were updates available. Huh? How would it know if it had no internet access? Hmmm. I downloaded the updates and restarted, still no internet. Based on 47 other things I've done, I knew the problem was with a setting in IE. I was sure I'd checked them all, but still...

Tonight, I downloaded the Windows version of Firefox to the MAC. Then, I copied the installer to my jump drive and installed on the PC. It installed fine, but no internet. HOWEVER, Firefox does a LOT better job of telling you what the problem is. I fixed that problem, and then launched IE and changed the same setting.

Oh yeah, that little PC is BACK ONLINE, BABY! I almost cried. I even high-fived both girls (a big pet peeve of mine...the high five. More on that later,) and let them go play on there. My kids know what sites are approved, and which will get them beaten within an inch of their lives. No lyrics, no ring tones.

Oh yeah, I'm JUST that good! (even if it took 3 months)

I'm still on the verge of tears, just knowing that it's fixed.