Advice on Protection...

[Munty]

Edit: Also, is it just me, or would it not be hilarious for a condom manufacturer to create an anti-virus software? lol (what I originally thought this thread was going to be related to. :p)

How about these guys lmao

I'm running MSSE now and after a hench session it even seems to have rectified my computers failure to shut down so at this point I'm inclined to agree with the praise it's receiving thus far! I've only had one successful shutdown so far so I won't count my chickens but it's a good sign!

About multiple HDDs Lothair, presumably it wouldn't ahve to be external would it? Surely I can just plug in multiple HDDs in the case and use a small one for the OS and another one for everything else as you say. I could use the 1TB one for games and files and I think I have an old 250GB one somewhere that could do OS and such :p

Not sure how well I'd adjust to seeing all my files going to D: though lol and I'm still not sold on 7 by the way. I don't mind change but from what I've seen so far (despite positive recommendations here) I don't like this change... Think I'll wait for Win3000, maybe they'll get it right by then lol

[blaze15301]

i used xp for a year or to after 7 came out. but i had to reformat and reinstall every constantly im talking 2 -3 times a week. the security on there just sucks. and come june i do believe its going to get worse because they are going to stop updates.

[x88x]

I don't mind change but from what I've seen so far (despite positive recommendations here) I don't like this change... Think I'll wait for Win3000, maybe they'll get it right by then lol

OOC, what about it don't you like? Some things there are ways to get around them, some things are only going to change more in future versions.

[AmEv]

I second the AVG statement.

It hasn't been too bad, except for 2011. WAAAAY too heavy. It promises active system process level changing (or something like that)


....LOTHAIR!!!!

[mDust]

How about these guys lmao

No, their software will keep quarantining itself.

I stopped using AVG free after the latest version due to instability and the program was slowing my netbook to a crawl and impacting my desktop performance even when not scanning. I now use MSSE which seems good as others have pointed out. Also, as previously mentioned, CCleaner will help keep your computer running smoothly by keeping the registry and temp files from bloating. And Spybot S&D will keep spy/mal-ware off your system with each scan and by blacklisting known sources.
The best way to keep viruses and spyware off your computer? Stay out of the shady sites! I've gone long periods of time with no AV software and then installed an AV program only to find out that I still have no infections. I'll never forget the system admin in my apartment knocking on my door to tell my old roommate that his net access was turned off until he disinfected his HD... It's bad when your drive is so infected that people with no access to your computer recognize the problem solely by monitoring your network traffic. He couldn't even get an AV program to install and formatting wasn't an option so we booted my computer in safemode, hooked up his drive and removed nearly 8000 infections. It actually cleared up significant disk space! Not even a week later he had picked up ~50 more infections due to his browsing behavior. His AV software and firewall should have prevented this, which means that he manually allowed them. There's just no helping some people...

[x88x]

FWIW, I use Avira Anti-vir Personal for active AV protection and Spybot S&D for spyware/etc cleanup. Anti-vir has about the smallest footprint I've ever found (not sure if it's smaller than NOD32 or not), and in my experience has the best detection rate of any AV program I've tried. I don't run any active spyware protection because I haven't been infected with anything at all in about 6 years (well, except when I've gotten infected on purpose during malware research projects), and I decided it was just wasting processor cycles. Heck, I've gone for months after a reinstall before realizing that I forgot to install AV. ..and nothing happened.. Like I've said before, IMO it's much more of a question of protecting your borders (ie, outside facing router) and policing your internet usage than anything else. Although, like someone said, come June things will likely change for XP since Microsoft won't be putting out monthly patches anymore. ..assuming they don't extend support again..

[msmrx57]

I've got XP and I run without allowing the updates because I noticed that the more current things were the more likely problems would turn up if my wife used my computer. I use spybot and ccleaner. I don't run a firewall and rarely have any problems. However if my wife uses this computer for any length of time there WILL be a problem of some sort. On her computer we have Avast running constantly and that keeps her out of trouble. I don't like it personally because it seem touse alot of resources and doesn't like to be minimized.

[Munty]

OOC, what about it don't you like? Some things there are ways to get around them, some things are only going to change more in future versions.

To be totally honest I've not had a long session using either Vista or 7 but quite frankly that's because after a few minutes I just don't want to anymore. I find a lot of software compatability issues that don't seem to be solved yet, very different interfaces for 90% of the OS meaning I struggle to complete even the simplest task without Googling a how-to first and quite simply I think it just feels wrong...

Yeah I know, I can't explain that to make sense I'm afraid... I just instantly dislike it the second I turn it on. It doesn't help itself by refusing to create networks, correctly install updates or even play games without a hell of a fight. It's like I'm learning to do everything for the first time when I sit down with one of these OSs and maybe that's it.

Maybe I just don't like change, maybe I'm a stick in the mud... But to be honest, noone's ever going to force me into updating so what's wrong with XP? Until the game I absolutely 'must have' is released with Win7 compatability only, I'm happy with old school

[x88x]

so what's wrong with XP?

Other than the fact that it's almost a decade old? Seriously, I was in middle school when it came out...

TBH, no, right now there's no huge reasons to switch...just a whole lot of little ones. It's more secure, more stable, has a massively larger driver library (just like every major release), plus, you can make it behave almost identically to XP if you really want to (though personally I think a lot of the changes are for the better)..well, that is to say, you can make it look like XP classic mode...but somehow I get the feeling you don't use the 'fisher price' mode anyway. Plus, if you're having trouble with malware now with regular security updates, imagine what kind of position you'll be in come June (or whenever MS finally cuts updates).

To my knowledge, the majority of the compatibility issues were worked out with 7.

I can't help with that 'wrong' feeling though.