Computer whiz (11) saves businessman thousands

A local businessman whose computers needed replacement due to age and infections has saved thousands of euro thanks to an 11-year-old Enfield boy. Sean Mullen explained that his three laptops and three desktop computers needed replacement because of age and infections, at an average cost of €700 each including the added software needed to run the business. He replaced the first one but did not trade in the computer for €60 as suggested by the retailer. Mr Mullen explained that his son heard of an 11-year-old boy in Enfield who would install a free operating system on the computer and he decided to see the result. He brought his computer to Andrew van Tonder from Delmere, Enfield, and was delighted with the results. "The computer came back two days later. The computer started up in less than a minute in Ubuntu where it used to take up to five minutes in Windows Vista. It had all the software we needed - word processor, spreadsheet and more and it is all legal without licence payments," said Mr Mullen. "In the end, we saved around €3,000, which was very welcome," he added. Mr Mullen said the work was carried out for free by Andrew, and as a thank you they gave him a present. Andrew's father, Andries van Tonder, used to work in IT and said that Andrew had been learning from him over the past two years. He explained that Andrew is getting very involved in the Ubuntu free operating system. Andrew learned all his skills from watching his father, who encouraged him to do the work by himself. Andrew is in fifth class in Johnstownbridge NS.