Need some computer advice
- Thread starter snikr
- Start date
Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:
GalaxyBlue
Well-known member
Hmm...
I guess i will be the first one to be the smartass and say get a Mac!
If you get the AVG software, Stay away from the FREE version. You really get what you pay for.
I guess i will be the first one to be the smartass and say get a Mac!
If you get the AVG software, Stay away from the FREE version. You really get what you pay for.
Last edited by a moderator:
jmdaniel
Has A Well Known Member
You're cheap. Anything else?
Not directed at you, Ed, just an overall comment. I'm always amazed at how people think that anti-virus stuff isn't worth investing a few shekels in. A PC can be kind of a big investment, getting rid of a virus certainly can be, in terms of time and money. NOD 32 costs me about 11 cents a day, and has never let me down. Cheap insurance.
Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
mdisher
formerly Renegade, get used to it.
Sort of on topic, kinda.
One of the best investments I've made if you have more than one Windows based computer at home, is adding a Windows Home Server. These things, specifically the HP Windows Home Server, can be found for <$400 if you shop for them.
Link: https://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mediasmart-server/
This thing is primarily a media server, but the best feature is the Windows Home Server Backup.
It's a simple client that you install and it backs up your computer/laptop ever couple days, or at what ever interval you specify.
Retrieving files is easy, and doing a bare metal restore is simple. Plop in a CD, log onto the server, pick the machine and a restore date, and sit back and wait.
Granted we're not your average family but between the wife and I and 5 kids we have 7 machines at home. This has saved our bacon a couple of times already from two hard drive failures and one registry corruption incident.
Well worth it IMHO.
It also is a great place to store your media (what it's designed for) that being photos, music and movies.
It can suck your itunes libraries into a common place and since it's a media server, things like my PS3 sees it and can display any of the media.
Super slick product and very under-marketed.
-MD
One of the best investments I've made if you have more than one Windows based computer at home, is adding a Windows Home Server. These things, specifically the HP Windows Home Server, can be found for <$400 if you shop for them.
Link: https://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/mediasmart-server/
This thing is primarily a media server, but the best feature is the Windows Home Server Backup.
It's a simple client that you install and it backs up your computer/laptop ever couple days, or at what ever interval you specify.
Retrieving files is easy, and doing a bare metal restore is simple. Plop in a CD, log onto the server, pick the machine and a restore date, and sit back and wait.
Granted we're not your average family but between the wife and I and 5 kids we have 7 machines at home. This has saved our bacon a couple of times already from two hard drive failures and one registry corruption incident.
Well worth it IMHO.
It also is a great place to store your media (what it's designed for) that being photos, music and movies.
It can suck your itunes libraries into a common place and since it's a media server, things like my PS3 sees it and can display any of the media.
Super slick product and very under-marketed.
-MD
I used (and recommended) AVG Free for more than 10 years. However, in the last 3 versions it's started to bloat in an effort to be-all for-all like it was trying to add as many check marks in a list to compete against the other bloated mainstream offerings. As it's done so, it's slowed down, become a bigger resource hog, and has become indistinguishable from the other hogs like Norton (except it doesn't corrupt your hdd) and McAfee (slow and hungry).
About 6 months ago I jumped ship and moved to NOD32. WOW! What a difference. It ain't free but a 3 PC license for 3 years averages out to about $15 a-year each for 2 family members and me. It's fast (a 2 hour AVG scan takes about 30 minutes and catches things AVG missed). It does 1 thing and does it very well without the overhead of system resources the others hog.
I have a Linksys DSL router that helps with firewall activies. I don't use Windows Firewall and have since dropped ZoneAlarm. I have no problems as I set up all user accounts on my XP Pro home PC as Users (limited access) so that no one can install software without logging out and logging back in as the Admin account. It prevents guests or family members from installing something that sounds "cool" and it blocks rogue web sites from installing MalWare as the User level doesn't allow for software installation.
Again, if I were going with AVG it'd be because it was free. If I have to pay for something, I'm very happy with NOD32. And that's even though I could use McAfee for free as part of their contract with my company.
About 6 months ago I jumped ship and moved to NOD32. WOW! What a difference. It ain't free but a 3 PC license for 3 years averages out to about $15 a-year each for 2 family members and me. It's fast (a 2 hour AVG scan takes about 30 minutes and catches things AVG missed). It does 1 thing and does it very well without the overhead of system resources the others hog.
I have a Linksys DSL router that helps with firewall activies. I don't use Windows Firewall and have since dropped ZoneAlarm. I have no problems as I set up all user accounts on my XP Pro home PC as Users (limited access) so that no one can install software without logging out and logging back in as the Admin account. It prevents guests or family members from installing something that sounds "cool" and it blocks rogue web sites from installing MalWare as the User level doesn't allow for software installation.
Again, if I were going with AVG it'd be because it was free. If I have to pay for something, I'm very happy with NOD32. And that's even though I could use McAfee for free as part of their contract with my company.
Last edited by a moderator:
that works too, but if you're more adventerous, Amahi does the same for free (you supply the hardware). It's linux-based, can do bare-metal restores, plue it has addon apps for inventory, recipes, music, movies, pictures. I can set up a slide show of pictures and my xbox 360 can display it. It's a little more technically involved than what Renegade suggested, but it's a nice alternative. MHS is a sweet product...a friend of mine is using it.
just $.02 tossed out there.
I had been using AVG (free) on my windows laptop. I switched to Avast (free) home edition. I can't really tell a difference in resource consumption.
+1 -check with your ISP; most offer something free or at a reduced price. My bank and insurance company also offer discounts on Anti-Virus/spyware software. Check with the online banking (if you do that) part of the website.
snikr
Well-known member
Thanks for all the info. I had used the free version of AVG before and the last couple of upgrades it didn't seem to work as well as the older versions. I had used Norton and McAfee before (I can get McAfee for free from Comcast) and they seemed BLOATED. I want something that works, has a small footprint and is quick. I'll do some checking as I don't mind paying for something that is good.
Tom
Tom
mdisher
formerly Renegade, get used to it.
AVG has certainly become somewhat bloated with all of it's *modules*, but you don't need *most* of them and can turn them off.
ie: Linkscanner, etc.
ie: Linkscanner, etc.
+1. AVG Free and Windows Defender. That's what I'm using for our home PC's, all behind a hardware firewall (D-Link Router).
My company provides Sophos AV and software firewall for their computer (laptop). They used to have Norton AV and Black Ice defender on it, but they were both seriously bloated and not recommended.
Plus Black Ice was known to let infected machines access the internet (something a software firewall is supposed to block).
playgtar
Well-known member
Norton works for me.
Big-D
Well-known member
I've been using Kaspersky for a little over a year now and no virus'. It's not free, but I feel worth what it does cost. And it does not slow your puter down, cause you hardly even know its working until it catches something creeping in on ya!!
exskibum
~<>~<>~<>~<>~
Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware
ice_station_zebra
Well-known member
I use Kaspersky as well...when it does find something it does a really good job of linking you to Microsoft to find the most up-to-date patches. It seems much less of load on my systems compared to Norton.
that explains why they still sell that stuff. they keep hoping for a second customer.
as much as i dislike McAfee, Norton is more of a resource hog and the only software, in decades of utility use, that i've used that actually trashed a hdd so bad that it couldn't be recovered even with a partition wipe and reformat (not the same as a hardware crash).
Last edited by a moderator:
So, I know this is kind of an off topic hijack...
But there's one really big thing that has always bothered me about virii and such... Who has anything to gain by infecting the world with some malevolent virus?
I can only think of one group. The antivirus companies.
Discuss...
But there's one really big thing that has always bothered me about virii and such... Who has anything to gain by infecting the world with some malevolent virus?
I can only think of one group. The antivirus companies.
Discuss...
johnny80s
Turtle Gears
jmdaniel
Has A Well Known Member
DaSpyda
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 31, 2007
- Messages
- 222
- Reaction score
- 0
Kaspersky is great; I use bitDefender, another great program.
If you're going to pay for anything, pay for AV software.
Virus writers target Microsoft and most popular products (like Norton and McAfee) , so when one sneaks in, it'll disable those products and really take hold.
Consider using Firefox as your browser.
The very best defense is multi-level, with scans run weekly:
bitDefender or Kapersky (both have real-time email scanners which will catch any trojan-laden email spam
available at download.com
superantispyware free
malwarebyte's Anti-malware
Ccleaner (run first to par down those temp files so scans run faster)
After install, throw the icons in a folder named "Maintenance", and then change the icon picture to the red box with an exclamation point in it.
