New computer help

[HaulinAshe]

Whatever AV you decide to run, make sure you buy a hard copy of the media. Most important thing on a home computer is to be prepared to reload it every 18-24 months from scratch. You will need the AV software on disc to load, BEFORE you allow the machine to get on the Internet and do Windows updates etc.

I can't tell you exactly how much, but through work we get Norton AV for less than $20. I agree that the home versions have way too much crap bundled. But I still like Norton AV in the basic form. I have over 5,000 users who agree.

 

[wfooshee]

Whatever AV you decide to run, make sure you buy a hard copy of the media. Most important thing on a home computer is to be prepared to reload it every 18-24 months from scratch. You will need the AV software on disc to load, BEFORE you allow the machine to get on the Internet and do Windows updates etc.
I can't tell you exactly how much, but through work we get Norton AV for less than $20. I agree that the home versions have way too much crap bundled. But I still like Norton AV in the basic form. I have over 5,000 users who agree.

I agree. I'm careful to specify the home products when I criticize. The Symantec Corporate Edition lineup is very strong, very fast, and very configurable. I'm not real sure about the newest, though, the Endpoint Protection suite.

 

[jmdaniel]

No offense taken. Us Mac users have been hearing that for YEARS. You guys keep drinking the Kool Aid and spend all your money on antivirus software,firewalls,bullshit. It's just more farkle money for me.

Too funny...

NOD32 is $40 annually, Windows Defender is free, as is AdAware and Spybot. Have you priced a Mac to a comparable WinTel machine? I think the farkle advantage is all mine, but YMMV....

 

[brazos parker]

Whatever AV you decide to run, make sure you buy a hard copy of the media. Most important thing on a home computer is to be prepared to reload it every 18-24 months from scratch. You will need the AV software on disc to load, BEFORE you allow the machine to get on the Internet and do Windows updates etc.
I can't tell you exactly how much, but through work we get Norton AV for less than $20. I agree that the home versions have way too much crap bundled. But I still like Norton AV in the basic form. I have over 5,000 users who agree.

I'll second that suggestion to buy a hard copy of the media. I did that last summer when I upgraded to N360. It made the 2 re-installs I've had to do a slightly less pain in the a$$ vs figuring out how to download it from the website.

 

[DucatiSSsp]

AVG lives on all my PC's. It's free, small foot print, updates sometimes twice a day (this is a good thing) and uses very little resources.AVG Link

You can pay for an AV if you like, but there really isn't a need. AGV is constantly ranked in the top 10 and I've been using it for at least 3-4 year without a single virus sneaking past.

#1

Been using AVG antivirus/spyware free edition for the past 5 years along with ad-aware and have had no issues.

 

[germany]

Vista is your first problem. <_< That Mac vs PC commercial with the guy in the black suit asking the PC if he wants to respond, it not an exaggeration. Even if you turn off that feature, it still pops up to tell you it's off.

Good idea going with the 4 GB of memory but you may still want to turn off all of the fancy visual effects

I use Avast! anti-virus software. Free, it works and it doesn't bog down my processor.

 

[Ari Rankum]

Easy.

1. Format hard drive. Install Linux. Enable SELinux. Set up iptables to block all inbound connections. Install tripwire and clamav. Learn about nmap, nessus, chkconfig, and lsof. Offer no services to the outside world. Turn off all services on your machine that you don't need. If you don't know if you need it, turn it off and see what breaks. Google is your friend, here. Set up Firefox as your browser. Disable javascript and pop-ups. Scan your machine from another machine in your house. When you can't detect that your new machine is there, connect it to your hardware firewall (linksys, cisco, what have you). Scan again. (to make sure no ports are being served up by your firewall - especially remote admin over port 80). Then connect to the Internet and scan again. www.grc.com, if you don't have a shell account elsewhere you can use, provides the "ShieldsUp" service that will at least scan the first 1024 ports for you, for free. Go to Mozilla.com and get some extensions for Firefox. Essentials include NoScript and AdBlock Plus. Run some sort of package updater to keep abreast of patches released for the kernel and various apps. Be especially observant of security patches.

2. Relax.

 

[madmike2]

Ari speaks Greek.......

[SIZE=8pt]Some of us are computer "dolts". I understood a couple of the prepositions, the rest is Greek to me![/SIZE]

 

[wfooshee]

Ari speaks Greek.......


[SIZE=8pt]Some of us are computer "dolts". I understood a couple of the prepositions, the rest is Greek to me![/SIZE]

That's "Geek," not Greek. You can tell because the first word is not English. It loosely translates as:

Ea-sy, from Geek, derived from US advertising, where a word is used that sounds like an English word but means the opposite.

Actual definition: Incomprehensible to a 25-year veteran in the given field of study.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Easy.
1. Format hard drive. Install Linux. Enable SELinux. Set up iptables to block all inbound connections. Install tripwire and clamav. Learn about nmap, nessus, chkconfig, and lsof. Offer no services to the outside world. Turn off all services on your machine that you don't need. If you don't know if you need it, turn it off and see what breaks. Google is your friend, here. Set up Firefox as your browser. Disable javascript and pop-ups. Scan your machine from another machine in your house. When you can't detect that your new machine is there, connect it to your hardware firewall (linksys, cisco, what have you). Scan again. (to make sure no ports are being served up by your firewall - especially remote admin over port 80). Then connect to the Internet and scan again. www.grc.com, if you don't have a shell account elsewhere you can use, provides the "ShieldsUp" service that will at least scan the first 1024 ports for you, for free. Go to Mozilla.com and get some extensions for Firefox. Essentials include NoScript and AdBlock Plus. Run some sort of package updater to keep abreast of patches released for the kernel and various apps. Be especially observant of security patches.

2. Relax.

Ari,

I understood the first word and the last one. Recognized "format" and a few others that I try real hard to avoid.

But now I know who to turn to if I ever want to try this new-fangled Linux thang.

 

[DaSpyda]

AVG lives on all my PC's. It's free, small foot print, updates sometimes twice a day (this is a good thing) and uses very little resources.AVG Link

You can pay for an AV if you like, but there really isn't a need. AGV is constantly ranked in the top 10 and I've been using it for at least 3-4 year without a single virus sneaking past.

I just downloaded bitDefender a couple weeks ago after having run AVG for nine months.

In one pass, it sniffed out several trojans hidden in emails which were automatically sent to my Junk folder.

So, no, AVG is not at the top...you get what you pay for.

The main thing is that you have a mutli-layered approach...

bitDefender (30 day trial at download.com)

ZoneAlarm for firewall (free at download.com)

Adaware, spybot, and spywareblaster for spyware and adware (free at download.com)

 

[Calimus]

Trojans being found in e-mail are typical of false positives. Not saying they were in your case, but it's fairly common.

Not to mention that there isn't a single solution that catches everything. Every AV app is going to miss something.

 

[xor11]

Easy.
1. Format hard drive. Install Linux. Enable SELinux. Set up iptables to block all inbound connections. Install tripwire and clamav. Learn about nmap, nessus, chkconfig, and lsof. Offer no services to the outside world. Turn off all services on your machine that you don't need. If you don't know if you need it, turn it off and see what breaks. Google is your friend, here. Set up Firefox as your browser. Disable javascript and pop-ups. Scan your machine from another machine in your house. When you can't detect that your new machine is there, connect it to your hardware firewall (linksys, cisco, what have you). Scan again. (to make sure no ports are being served up by your firewall - especially remote admin over port 80). Then connect to the Internet and scan again. www.grc.com, if you don't have a shell account elsewhere you can use, provides the "ShieldsUp" service that will at least scan the first 1024 ports for you, for free. Go to Mozilla.com and get some extensions for Firefox. Essentials include NoScript and AdBlock Plus. Run some sort of package updater to keep abreast of patches released for the kernel and various apps. Be especially observant of security patches.

2. Relax.

You do realize that Firefox can run on windows right?

I installed linux a few times since 98 or 99, and it's one of the platforms we program for at work. As a home OS, it's about as worthless as it can get. Maybe things have changed in the past couple of years, but the UI looks like xwindows from the mid 90s with just as friendly usability. There are like 5 apps worth running on it, maybe it's up to 10 now. Then if you buy the latest hardware (video cards), there is absolutely no drivers for it. Linux is a joke for home use. Great for a web server and other distributed systems though.

 

[Ari Rankum]

I installed linux a few times since 98 or 99, and it's one of the platforms we program for at work. As a home OS, it's about as worthless as it can get. Maybe things have changed in the past couple of years, but the UI looks like xwindows from the mid 90s with just as friendly usability. There are like 5 apps worth running on it, maybe it's up to 10 now. Then if you buy the latest hardware (video cards), there is absolutely no drivers for it. Linux is a joke for home use. Great for a web server and other distributed systems though.

You've installed it a few times since 98 or 99. You admit you have no current knowledge of how many apps run on it. You admit that things may have changed in the past couple years. Then you go on to say it's currently crap, in spite of your admissions. Whoops...I can't help it....yep...I just formed an opinion of your ability to give opinions. Sometimes, when you don't know what you're talking about, the best answer is a simple "I don't know", or, even better, to just keep your mouth shut.

My machine runs a 1-year old nVidia 8800GT, driving 2 22" LCDs in dual screen mode (44" of screen space). It runs a web cam. It renders videos. It dumps and processes pictures from all of my cameras. It runs *HUNDREDS* of scientific computing applications. It lets me simulate digital logic designs in multiple languages, including VHDL and verilog. It runs Unreal Tournament. It runs Quake, Doom, Enemy Territory, etc. It runs a web server. It runs a complete quite of forensics tools. It runs Open Source equivalents of absolutely every office application. It can both produce and consume Dolby 5.1 audio. It lets me watch HDTV and record it to a PVR running on the same box. It NEVER crashes. It NEVER goes down. It NEVER gets a virus. It NEVER slows down. It does absolutely everything this home user requires, and quite a bit more.

 

[HaulinAshe]

My machine runs a 1-year old nVidia 8800GT, driving 2 22" LCDs in dual screen mode (44" of screen space). It runs a web cam. It renders videos. It dumps and processes pictures from all of my cameras. It runs *HUNDREDS* of scientific computing applications. It lets me simulate digital logic designs in multiple languages, including VHDL and verilog. It runs Unreal Tournament. It runs Quake, Doom, Enemy Territory, etc. It runs a web server. It runs a complete quite of forensics tools. It runs Open Source equivalents of absolutely every office application. It can both produce and consume Dolby 5.1 audio. It lets me watch HDTV and record it to a PVR running on the same box. It NEVER crashes. It NEVER goes down. It NEVER gets a virus. It NEVER slows down. It does absolutely everything this home user requires, and quite a bit more.

Damn Ari!!! You got a BIG thing that stays stiff all the time!!!



Man, do I love me some Quake. Nothing like jumping right in to a virtual world, killing off a few of your closest friends, and then popping in some porn on the split screen.

:yahoo: :yahoo:

So if I supply lots of brew, can we design a GOOD Bluetooth comm system on your machine???

 

[Charlie Hoss]

I use AGV for antivirus and Zonealarm for a firewall and adaware and spybot for spam.

I use the same as drjfjr. AVG is free, updates are free and automatic. All this stuff is free. None of the problems occasionally caused by Norton and McAfee. Used all these for years with zero problems.

 

[xor11]

actually, nm, not worth the effort.

 

[jwilly]

WoooHooo We Got Drama!! Scab, Grab the popcorn!!

 

[Scab]

It's in the microwave!

 

[jwilly]

I hear the next episode is about a new guy jumping into the deep end of the pool?