Frequently asked questions.

Short answer: we do not replace antivirus. We add a behavior-based security layer on top of it, with humans behind it.

Traditional products like Norton and McAfee scan for threats someone has already identified as malicious. Useful as a baseline, but attackers move faster than signature lists.

Behavior-based detection looks at how attackers act once they are already inside, not just what their files look like. When something looks off, a real analyst investigates before it spreads.

The specific layers active for you depend on your plan. Sign in at portal.wetravelpc.com to see your live coverage, or call 701.306.0188 and we will walk through it.

Depending on your plan, one or more of these layers is running quietly in the background:

• Threat detection and response, the most important one. It looks for threat behavior and reports anomalies to a security operations team that works around the clock.
• Antivirus we keep current, on top of the protection built into your operating system.
• DNS-layer filtering, which blocks known malicious domains before pages load.
• Cloud backup, encrypted offsite copies so you do not lose what matters.

Sign in at portal.wetravelpc.com to see exactly what is active for you. Curious which vendors we use? Call 701.306.0188. We choose established security partners with strong compliance and data-handling practices.

No. Modern security agents are designed to run quietly in the background. Most clients do not notice them during normal use.

Patches and updates happen overnight when you are not using the machine. If a critical patch needs a reboot during your workday, we tell you first.

Yes, but less than before, and we have you covered if you slip. Our tools catch many common threats on their own. What still matters on your end:

• Never share your password. Nobody from We Travel PC will ever ask for it.
• Be suspicious of urgent emails asking you to click links or send money, even if they look like they are from your boss or a vendor.
• Call us if anything feels wrong. A weird pop-up, a strange email, an unexpected login alert. Call 701.306.0188. It is easier to be wrong about nothing than wrong about something real.

Mostly small to mid-size organizations across North Dakota and Minnesota: HVAC and mechanical contractors, long-term care, K-12 and private schools, law and accounting firms, financial advisors, childcare centers, and churches and nonprofits.

The common thread is shape, not industry. We work best with teams from a handful of people up to organizations with 100+ staff who want one calm, accountable partner instead of a help desk.

We focus on North Dakota and Minnesota because trust and long-term fit matter in this work. Most support can be delivered remotely, so we can serve organizations outside the region when the relationship and scope make sense.

Engagements typically start around $499 per month and scale into the thousands for larger commercial environments. Pricing depends on the number of devices, the service mix, and how hands-on the engagement is.

We quote based on the work, not a per-seat formula. If your environment is unusually small or narrow in scope, we can talk through whether there is a sensible fit.

No long-term contracts. Month-to-month with 30 days notice if you ever want to part ways. Stay because the service is good, not because of paperwork.

We do not force a one-size-fits-all package, but the scope does need to support a sound security posture.

Yes. For most of our business clients we are the IT department: endpoint security, network and Wi-Fi, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, hardware lifecycle planning, day-to-day support, and the technical voice in the room when bigger decisions come up.

For one of our longest-running clients we have held that role for over 20 years, across every era of K-12 technology.

We deploy and operate technical controls that align with common frameworks: HIPAA-aware operations, encryption at rest and in transit, access logging, backup and recovery, endpoint security. For long-term care, healthcare, and education clients this is part of the daily work.

We help operate the technical controls that support your compliance posture, but we are not auditors and do not issue compliance certifications.

No. We are not watching you work.

We do not monitor your screen, read your emails, or browse your files as part of normal service. Our security tools look for threats: suspicious processes, unauthorized access attempts, known malware patterns. Not your normal activity.

If support or incident response requires access (a real request, a real incident), it is limited to that task and handled with permission, logging, and accountability.

Backups are encrypted, and access is tightly controlled.

Yes. Specifically:

• We choose established security vendors with strong compliance, security, and data-handling practices.
• All data in transit is encrypted (TLS 1.2 or higher).
• All backups are encrypted at rest.
• We do not sell your data. We do not share it with marketers. We do not train AI on it.
• We retain only what is needed to deliver our service.
• If you cancel, your data is deleted per our retention policy (typically 90 days for backups, then purged).

Want our full data-handling practices for your compliance team? Just ask. You can also read how we verify our own security at Security in Depth.

Yes. We help businesses evaluate, deploy, and govern tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and others. The biggest issue is not which AI tool to use, but how company data is handled, who has access, what gets logged, and what employees should or should not put into personal AI accounts.

We advise long-term education and commercial clients on AI policy, licensing, data access, and appropriate use.

AI guidance for small businesses →

Pick whatever is easiest:

• Urgent (work stopped, possible attack): call 701.306.0188. You reach Michael directly, not a phone tree.
• Not urgent: send a message through your portal at portal.wetravelpc.com. We get it the moment you hit send.
• General questions: email michael@wetravelpc.com.

No phone tree, no offshore script, and no handoff to someone who does not know your environment. If something already feels wrong, start with calm first steps.

Our target response times:

• Urgent (work is stopped or possible security incident): within 1 hour, often sooner.
• High priority: same business day.
• Normal: within 24 hours.

In practice we usually respond faster than the targets. For security incidents specifically, a dedicated security operations center investigates around the clock, every day of the year.

For security incidents: yes, around the clock. If something suspicious happens at 2am on Sunday and the right controls are in place, our tools can isolate the affected machine on their own while the security team investigates. You will see an alert in your portal by Monday morning if it is not urgent enough to wake you up for.

For non-security issues (setup help, questions, general IT): best-effort during business hours, 8am to 5pm CT, Monday through Friday. Send a message anytime; we respond the next business day.

True emergencies (a business-stopping issue): call 701.306.0188 any time. You reach Michael directly. If it is truly urgent, we work the problem.

We are primarily a security and IT company. Your monthly scope depends on the engagement we agreed to, and your portal and invoice show what is active. Things like printer setup, new employee onboarding, upgrading a laptop, or reconfiguring a router may be billed separately at our consulting rate depending on your scope.

In some scoped engagements, general IT support is included. In others, it is billed separately. We tell you upfront whether something is covered or billable.

Every business plan is built around the client's actual environment.

Some clients need security monitoring and backup. Others need us to function as their outsourced IT department, run Microsoft 365, support users, maintain networks, handle vendor conversations, and advise leadership. The scope is different because the environments are different.

Your portal shows the services currently active for your organization, and your invoice reflects the agreed monthly scope.

If something falls outside that scope, such as a larger project, hardware purchase, cabling, migration, or unusual after-hours non-security work, we quote it separately before moving forward. No surprise bills.

30 days notice. No long-term contracts. No surprise fees.

Cancellation:

• Email or call to let us know. No retention script.
• We email a final invoice for the current period.
• We remove our tools from your systems.
• You keep your data. Backups stay accessible for 90 days unless you request earlier deletion.

We would rather keep you happy than keep you trapped. If something is not working, tell us first.

Monthly invoices via QuickBooks. You will see them in your portal's Billing tab and get an email with a payment link.

Payment options: ACH bank transfer (preferred, no fees) or credit card. Pay directly from the portal anytime.

Invoices are written so you can understand what you are paying for, whether that is a monthly scope, active services, project work, or device or user-based items. No unexplained management fees.

The person behind 701.306.0188, and whose name lands in your inbox when you email michael@wetravelpc.com.

Based in Fargo, North Dakota. We Travel PC started in 2001, and Michael has spent the twenty-five years since building it around a simple idea: do IT the way you would want it done if you were running a small business. Clearly, honestly, and without the runaround.

The person behind the standard →

You work directly with Michael for almost everything. We stay intentionally small, and we back that up with mature tools, documented processes, security partners, and trusted specialists when the work calls for it.

Michael's brother Casey has been part of We Travel PC from the beginning and leads our largest engagement, the multi-decade school district.

Since 2001. Independently owned the entire time. No private-equity rollup, no franchise model.

A few of our client relationships have lasted nearly the whole run: over 20 years with the same school district, over a decade with a multi-location commercial client, and long-term care facilities through every era of healthcare IT.

Twenty-five years of hands-on work, backed by formal study in information technology and organizational leadership:

• Master of Science, Educational Leadership and Administration Minnesota State University Moorhead
• Bachelor of Science, Information Technology Capella University
• Associate of Applied Science, Computer Technical Support Specialist Alexandria Technical and Community College

The leadership degree matters because we think about systems, training, and policy as much as the technical fix. That lens is part of what differentiates the work in schools, healthcare facilities, and offices where the people using the technology matter as much as the tools themselves.

We did. Most providers hand clients a white-label portal from a software vendor, so every client experience looks the same.

We built ours from scratch so it could be shaped around what actually matters: your real security data, your real coverage, your real billing. No vendor's quarterly roadmap deciding what your dashboard does.

Because being small is the point. The same person who knows your environment, history, and priorities. Decisions happen quickly. No account-management layer between you and the work. Tools chosen because they are the right tools, not because a vendor program rewards us for selling them.

The result is a small book of long-tenured relationships rather than a big book of churning ones.

The original concept in 2001 was simple: meet clients where they were. On-site service, real people showing up at offices and homes, not pulling everyone into a storefront. The name stuck.

The work has changed (most is now remote, with on-site visits when that is the right answer), but the underlying idea is the same: bring technical capability to the client, calmly, on their terms.