Matt Smith wrote his first computer program at six years old. 33 at the time this was written, he is building a better computer, and tells you how to protect your identity on the computer you already own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Christine Rose, December 17, 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone\n faces challenges in their lives but 33 year old Matthew Smith of \nWoodbury, owner of Litchfield County Computer, LLC, was born with \ncerebral palsy and has faced more than most. Yet, Smith has not let his \ncondition get in his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith started his computer care \nbusiness in 2004 and now has about 200 clients in Oxford, Danbury, \nBrookfield, Woodbury, Southbury and Middlebury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They include \ndoctors, lawyers, financial planners, at least one police officer, and \nmany small businesses. For all of them, computer security is a critical \naspect of their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working out of the Woodbury home he and\n his family built, Smith said, \u201cThis is a full service technology \ncompany. Computer care is our prime focus and out of that, most is \nsecurity work, mostly virus removals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officer George Romano of \nthe Woodbury Police Department has known Smith for five years. \u201cMatt \ndoes forensic computer work and I ask him for advice, where to look on a\n computer if I couldn’t find something, and whenever someone screwed up,\n I called up him. I started the Citizens Police Academy, it’s very \ninformative, and every year we have Matt in there to talk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born\n three months premature, Smith has been in a wheelchair all of his life.\n As a child, his disability caused him to have difficulty writing. To \nenable him to attend public school, his parents bought him his first \ncomputer at age five. At age six, he wrote his first computer program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In middle school, Smith met Chris Fleming, who has remained a life-long friend. Fleming, 33, works in Washington, D.C., as a media relations and field relations director with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fleming said Smith has always \nimpressed him. \u201cThere was no challenge he faced without a smile on his \nface. There was always a higher mountain to climb and by God he was \ngoing to climb it. He is absolutely amazing. A lot of people are special\n but he is an amazing individual.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In high school, Fleming \nremembers, \u201cMatt was always on the cutting edge with computers. He knew \nwhat it could do and how powerful it was before anyone else. When the \nInternet came out, he knew all about it, and could already harness the \npower, and he knew that we were in the dawning of the information age.\u201d \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Computers became Smith’s livelihood. \u201cI sit in this chair,\u201d he \nsaid. \u201cI have cerebral palsy. Not only has this been my work, it’s been \nmy entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having cerebral palsy plays a small, but \nfrustrating, part in Smith’s ability to run a smooth business operation.\n \u201cI can’t get into some of the older buildings; there’s no elevator or \nany other things for wheel chair accessibility. My client in Waterbury \nhas 30 computers and he would love to get me in there to work on them, \nbut it’s an old house, and and it’s an issue. I keep running into this \nand expect I will for some time to come. There have been several jobs I \nhave inquired about and almost had and lost because of disability \nreasons.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith lives with his parents, who help him get \naround. \u201cIt’s not that I can’t drive,\u201d Smith said, \u201cbut what the heck do\n I do when I get where I am going? I can’t tell you how many times I go \nsomeplace, and the handicap spots are taken up. If you have a lift van \nlike I have and you can’t get your wheel chair out, you are basically \ndone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new house is completely wheelchair accessible. Matt \ncan now do the dishes, cook his own food, \u201cAnd do the laundry,\u201d his \nmother added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They moved into the house on the day of the October\n snow storm. The family is very close and does many activities \ntogether. \u201cMatt did a lot of the stuff in the house. Even the woodwork, \nMatt and I did the staining,\u201d his mother, Sandi Smith said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn\n addition to the computer,” Smith added, “I am a classic car nut, \nespecially the 60s muscle cars. I own a ’64 Chevelle. We restored it \nhere and did everything ourselves,\u201d Smith said, pointing to the trophies\n he and his father have won for drag racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI probably do more \nwith him than I would have if he hadn’t been disabled,\u201d his father, \nErnie Smith, said. Ernie has worked in construction for many years and \nbrought Matt along with him to work when he was younger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do everything together, we always have,” Ernie said. “I made sure he’s had a lot of experiences. When he was young, I’d have him up on the roof with me. I built him a tree house and he climbed the ladder and slept out there numerous times. Over the years, he went to work with me on the weekends, and I had him in backhoes and forklifts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith encounters very little discrimination, but when he does, it comes in the form of people not looking at him. His mother said that even when he asks a question, a sales person in a store is likely to answer her rather than him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith said, \u201cJust because you sit in a \nwheelchair doesn’t mean you are not going to amount to something. That’s\n not necessarily true. There may be people who have CP who aren’t going \nto be able to do much, but that’s not necessarily the case with everyone\n in a wheelchair.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clients interviewed about the quality of \nSmith’s work raved about it in every sense. \u201cWhen I have Matt build a \ncomputer for me, his work is top quality,\u201d Nick Schmidt, phographer and \nclient, said. “I have referred him to other people and everyone has been\n as impressed as I have been. In my interaction with Matt, he wants to \ndo the best job for each client. He is as caring as he can possibly be, \nfor standing behind his work, for making each client feel important.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe’s an interesting, remarkable story,” Smith’s friend, Fleming, said. “The whole family is a heartwarming story. The father takes him to drag races, they built that house, they cleared the lot together, painted together. They never treat him as if he was disabled,\u201d Fleming said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MATT’S COMPUTER SECURITY TIPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith\n offered simple advice that all computer users can benefit from. \u201cThe \nbiggest problem coming into the shop is security information systems \nwhich involves two basic steps. Have good security software on the \ncomputer and keep it updated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The textbook definition of a \nvirus is a program that can self replicate, Smith said. \u201cIt is \nconsidered a form of artificial life. There are actually people who \nstudy them as an artificial life form.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn today’s computer \nenvironment, there is the virus, the trojan horse, and worms, or \nspyware. Each has its own definition and they are grouped together as \nmalware.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first step to protecting yourself and your \nidentity is to have a good anti virus, and the second is keeping \ncomputers clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be a conservative web surfer, avoid certain \ntypes of websites altogether including pornography and sites that have \npirated software or key codes for games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith said that many \npeople assume that MacIntosh computers are virus resistant, but Smith \nwarns that those days may be over. \u201cIt has nothing to do with the \nhardware, it has to do with the operating system. OS 10 has had a cloak \nof safety but it wasn’t that popular, so viruses weren’t developed to \nput on there. But as Macs are becoming more popular, there are starting \nto be some problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe iPads and iPhones are picking up \nviruses and if you are syncing to your computer, they can transmit, \nespecially if you have any Windows programs installed. They are saying \nthat the OS 10 virus immunity days are over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIdentity theft is \none of the biggest things going on right now; I see it quite a bit,\u201d \nOfficer Romano said. \u201cIt’s happened to me twice! Everybody has access to\n a computer these days, I don’t think there is any facet of our lives \nthat are not attached to a computer. If they can break into NASA and \nUConn (University of Connecticut) they can break in anywhere. I tracked a\n case from Woodbury to down south, and from there it went to New \nZealand, then to Canada. It’s so invasive. And you should never give out\n your credit card to anyone who takes it out of your view, even at a \nrestaurant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Romano said that one of the daily security threats\n people face are from skimmers that are small enough to be kept in a \npocket. The card can be run through the skimmer and charges will be \nundetected until it may be too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Smith cannot protect \nanyone from the kind of identity theft that occurs online, he spends a \nconsiderable amount of time teaching people to protect themselves on the\n Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith has held presentations on a multitude of topics \nfor a variety of community organizations. Subjects such as computer \nsecurity, identity theft, sexual predators, social networking, cross \nborder fraud, and cyber bullying have been presented to the Woodbury \nPolice Citizen’s Police Academy in conjunction with the Woodbury Police \nDepartment. He has also presented to the Woodbury Business Association,\n Nonnewaug High School and churches. \n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matt Smith wrote his first computer program at six years old. 33 at the time this was written, he is building a better computer, and tells you how to protect your identity on the computer you already own. By Christine Rose, December 17, 2011 Everyone faces challenges in their lives but 33 year old Matthew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-83","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/litchfieldcountycomputer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}