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Computer viruses are not what they used to be, and some students in Ft. Lauderdale and throughout South Florida are paying the price.

An increase in dangerous, complicated viruses has spurred IT departments at several South Florida colleges and universities to update the services offered to students - which, in some cases, means added expenses for Fort Lauderdale computer repair.

In the past, it was easy enough to clean up computer viruses.

Nowadays, they are much tougher to eradicate - and sometimes hard for colleges' technology services to justify removing free of charge.

One for one college in Broward County, computer repair now means a fee for a drop-off service and an added surcharge due to an increase in the time and effort required to fix students' infected machines.

Indeed, security is harder than ever to ensure.

The value of the computer services offered is in serious decline because of the differences and advances in spyware, said one technician.

The fees are necessary in order for a South Florida computer service to re-image the computer's system to ensure clean operation and ensure anti-virus software installation with automatic updates.

If students can't or don't want to pay the fee, some Fort Lauderdale computer repair firms can still give advice on how to perform basic services - routine clean-ups and security upgrade work - on their own, at least.

Some local undergraduate and graduate students said they would pay for the computer repair services if the cost remained reasonable.

Others surveyed say they would only pay for repairs to be done on-site if their schools didn't charge more than the going market rates of Broward County / Fort Lauderdale computer repair services.