Jump to content

Computer protection


zonianbrat
 Share

Recommended Posts

Ok my cpu at home took the big dump, complete with blue screen of death. Not sure exactly what is wrong with it. I was able to do a rescue disk type of thing and get back on just so I can copy some files I want to keep like pics and songs etc. Anyway the computer is a few years old and it is time for a new one. Merry Xmas to me!!! anyway I am not too too good with computers, I can do basic things that I need to do. I am hoping with this new computer I will be able to learn and do more. My question is: (finally) what kind of cpu protection do you cpu guru's recomend? I have always bought Norton Utilites per my father's advice and never had much problems with it. The price is like 70 bucks for it which I am willing to spend but the new cpu should be pretty nice and I want to "do-it" right from the start. And of-course the cheaper the better. Any and all advice is much appreciated Thank you :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not a huge fan of mac's I am thinking of building one through Tiger-Direct with that new core2 duo processor and 250 gig hard drive and atleast 1MHZ of ram. Again I do not need a super-computer but this one does need to be somewhat up-to speed and last a little while. And THanks for the link Casey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mac's do have some viruses, but still few. That just says that virus makers use Mac's... ;)

 

Use Zone Alarm or Panda. ZA is still about $50-60 a year I believe and you can run it on as many hard drives/OS's you can stuff in one case. I'm at 3 now... I switched from Norton because it let sooooo much crap through I lost a drive. Norton is NOT recommended in my book !!

 

B

 

Oh, just buy a new CPU and keep the old computer as a backup or network them.

Edited by Precise1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would recommend buying a dell with a 3 year warranty for 400 - 500 bucks. Building one is a pain because you must support it yourself. Buying one from CompUSA and getting their warranty is a hassle. Trust me. I work there part time!

 

I would recommend norton anti-virus only. I don't like the all-in-one stuff, but to me their anti-virus works great. And it is easy to use too. As for a firewall, I just use the built in XP firewall and I have a firewall/router for cable. I also use microsoft defender, spybot and ad-aware. All are free! Spysweeper is pretty good, but you have to pay for it. And if you really really really want to be safe, make your account a regular user account instead of an admin and create an admin account and make sure you set a password on it. Also set a password on the builtin admin account. I go everywhere on the internet and my norton catches everything (I do use the corporate version though). Oh, a second popup stopper is good too. What one doesn't catch, the other does. I use popup stopper free edition from www.panicware.com

 

Hope this helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok. i had a free trial of ZA and liked it. for x-mas last year i got the $100 complete norton "don't-f-with-me-cuz-i-got-it-all" stuff... it works really well but boy does it hate XP. :angry: in the 10 months it has been on my puter, i have had to uninstall and relaod it 4 times.... sometimes 2 or 3 times in 1 attempt. PITA.

dave had pcillian and liked that too. :aok:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wait till january and get the new windows vista.

 

now protection: all you need is these 4 things. firefox or netsacape browsers, zonealarm, ad-aware and AVG. all free. spy bot (also free) is nice if you learn how to use it. oh i do also have the MSdefender but i don't think it has ever picked up or fixed anything. the others keep on top of it all. it's been almost 2 years since i've had any issues at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sweet thank you all for you advice so far. I was thinking of taking wheel366 's advice and just buying one from dell. Then I was talking to my father last night about what I was thinking about doing and he called me three hours later and said he called tiger-direct and went ahead and built one and had it sent out :angry: I am not complaining of-course. But I did want to explore all my options seeing as this CPU has to last me awhile. It is cool though he got what I wanted with the new processor,250 gig hard drive and 1 point something MHZ ram. Plus he paid for it so I really can not complain. He has bought a ton of stuff from them over the years so he said they gave him a smoking deal. So what is this about windows vista? I have not heard much of anything about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is cool though he got what I wanted with the new processor,250 gig hard drive and 1 point something MHZ ram.

Not to nitpick or anything (well yah definatly to nitpick) but thats 1 GIGABYTE of RAM, Mhz is a measure of processor speeds. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This guy has some great (and free) tips. A router and software firewall are a must...and the Windoze built-in firewall doesn't cut it. I agree with Wheel366 that Norton *seems* to be the best at the moment, but AVG is a good (read: free) alternative.

 

No offence MZ, but I would personally wait at least a year before going Vista...it WILL be a nightmare.

 

Hope that helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to nitpick or anything (well yah definatly to nitpick) but thats 1 GIGABYTE of RAM, Mhz is a measure of processor speeds. ;)

I stand corrected. The CPU should be here Monday! Now to review all the advice you guys gave me and decide what to go with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mac's do have some viruses, but still few. That just says that virus makers use Mac's...  ;)

Or linux ;)

 

I'm a Zone Alarm fan, as the windows firewall is nothing special (you can pretty much count on anything windows based to have the hell hacked out of it).

 

AVG and Avast are good as well. Norton Corporate works pretty well, but I'd steer clear of the "Do everything" norton packs, they bog XP down pretty bad.

 

The best suggestion I can offer is aquire a copy of norton ghost. Just create an image of your OS when its fresh and clean. Save it to a partition and if things hit the fan in the future just lay down the image. Brand new OS in under 15 minutes :aok:

 

No offence MZ, but I would personally wait at least a year before going Vista...it WILL be a nightmare.

 

I'm with skinnypedal here. Remember when XP came out? P...

Edited by Harbinger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good harbinger but I will have to see if I can find it cheaper as it retails for $69.99 which is kinda steep. I presently have a program called GO-Back which has already saved my arse a couple of times. I am still torn on what I am going to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i understand your guys' concern about vista but it's supposed to be written like the mac OS not like the past MS plantforms. from what i hear it's supposed to be way better then anything before.. i think XP overall was way better then 2000 or 98.. way better. it's a mute point anyway as his comp is on the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good harbinger but I will have to see if I can find it cheaper as it retails for $69.99 which is kinda steep.

Well there are ways of getting it cheaper -- but I won't post that here :P

 

i understand your guys' concern about vista but it's supposed to be written like the mac OS not like the past MS plantforms. from what i hear it's supposed to be way better then anything before.. i think XP overall was way better then 2000 or 98.. way better. it's a mute point anyway as his comp is on the way.

 

Well I'll agree that Vista will eventually be better than XP, I'm guessing for the first year or so it'll be crap. Thats the way XP was.

 

As it stands, we are testing the Vista RC1 drop here at work. Even on a 3+ ghz system with 2gigs of ram it runs SLLLOOOOWWWW.

 

Not to mention the $700ish price tag for the professional version. With all the anti-pirate stuff their putting into place I'll have to stop running windows entirely and go with linux. Granted the glitzy overly user friendly one will come free with a new system, but lots of us don't want the home edition or a pre-assembled computer ;)

Edited by Harbinger
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well I'll agree that Vista will eventually be better than XP, I'm guessing for the first year or so it'll be crap.  Thats the way XP was.

 

As it stands, we are testing the Vista RC1 drop here at work.  Even on a 3+ ghz system with 2gigs of ram it runs SLLLOOOOWWWW.

I have used XP since before it was XP (as is also the case now with Vista)and had little trouble with post release XP and only some with Vista (current beta)... BUT jumping in early *right after release)is not for everyone and I understand this.

 

And Harb, your using RC1... your current experiences with it, I am sorry, but are outdated. RC2 is out now and RTM will be here soon :shrug:

Edited by RedPath88
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was talking to my father last night about what I was thinking about doing and he called me three hours later and said he called tiger-direct and went ahead and built one and had it sent out  I am not complaining of-course.

 

Can I talk to your dad ?? :blink:

 

B

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...