Non-Audio Stuff > The Geek Cave: Home Theatre, Computers, and More!

PC Maintenance - Advice needed

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Sphinxvc:
Need some advice.  I haven't had a PC since the mid-90s.  (I moved over to Apple back then and between multiple Mac laptops, I was relatively maintenance free for more than 1.5 decades.)  I sold my last Mac last year and was using my work Thinkpad primarily for personal use as well - browsing, shopping, banking, record keeping, etc.  So now I'm thinking of buying a Thinkpad for personal use, but I'm concerned about being out of touch with regular PC maintenance.

What have I missed since the mid-90s?  I remember doing defrags & having an antivirus software back then.  What do PC users do regularly now and what kind of security suites do you run and/or recommend? 

Willakan:
As far as defrags are concerned, that now occurs silently in the background on a weekly schedule since Vista. As for antivirus software, Kaspersky is probably the most consistently recommended by reviewers, and scrubs up excellently in the tests that the AV-Comparatives labs turn out from time to time (to the extent that it's wise to focus on such metrics). I would also recommend running a quick scan of Malwarebytes (free offline scanner) once a week.

That said, you won't go far wrong with substituting Kaspersky for a free suite like AVG. The highest level of security comes not from one "magic bullet" tool, but from using several scanners (albeit not having them all running at once!) and leaving User Access Control (a much-maligned but rather useful Windows feature) firmly enabled. NoScript for the browser provides a final layer of protection, and then you're all set.

Alternatively, if you're not fussed to the nth degree, just install AVG and forget about it :D

shipsupt:
I hate to play fanboy, but that seems like wayyyy to much work to simply use my laptop!  I like the thinkpads, I've been using them for a decade now at work but if this is what it would take to make it a home machine I think I'll stick with my Apple!

ader:

--- Quote from: shipsupt on January 04, 2013, 03:48:27 PM ---I hate to play fanboy, but that seems like wayyyy to much work to simply use my laptop!  I like the thinkpads, I be been using them for a decade now at work but if this is what it would take to make it a home machine I think I'll stick with my Apple!

--- End quote ---

...he said windows does one of the op's tasks for him and recommended a single piece of software to download.

the importance of a good anti-virus has gone down a lot over the past few years, but I just leave a free one going for piece of mind.  i think ms security essentials has the least hassle, but i use avast. avg was always a bit of a pain for me.

shipsupt:
Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the part where he said he runs a scan of Malwarebytes weekly. 

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