CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Non-Audio Stuff => The Geek Cave: Home Theatre, Computers, and More! => Topic started by: Sphinxvc on January 04, 2013, 02:09:36 PM
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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?
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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
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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!
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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!
...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.
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Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the part where he said he runs a scan of Malwarebytes weekly.
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Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the part where he said he runs a scan of Malwarebytes weekly.
I do (although I don't bother with NoScript). It takes 30 minutes and doesn't require my presence. I'd say it falls short of "wayyyy" too much work by several orders of magnitude.
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Back in the XP/Vista days I hated the state of AV software and relied on tools like Spybot, but a few years back the majors really stepped it up and nowadays I use Norton. It's quick, lightweight and schedules everything to be out of the way.
Also highly suggest getting an SSD (at least for the system drive) for performance, battery life and obviating the need for defrag.
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save the hassle and order a Lenovo ThinkPad preloaded with Ubuntu linux! :)p17 (Linux Mint 14 is also a good choice, with the cinna-mint flavor being my current favorite)
no AV needed, as it follows the same permissions scheme as OSX [both crafted from UNIX], and faster than windows to boot! (pun intended)
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save the hassle and order a Lenovo ThinkPad preloaded with Ubuntu linux! :)p17 (Linux Mint 14 is also a good choice, with the cinna-mint flavor being my current favorite)
no AV needed, as it follows the same permissions scheme as OSX [both crafted from UNIX], and faster than windows to boot! (pun intended)
They made significant boot speed increases in Windows 8. I wonder how it compares to Ubuntu now.
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I've run both and Ubuntu has a slight lead. Mint with Xfce is even faster, though...
(on an ssd, mind you.)
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I've run both and Ubuntu has a slight lead. Mint with Xfce is even faster, though...
(on an ssd, mind you.)
I ran a minimal Ubuntu built up with XFCE for a while. Running a minimal distro really made me appreciate all of the things the packaged OSes do for you. I never saw a computer shut down faster when I said Shut Down from the OS, though.
As for the question at hand, I'd personally suggest a low-profile AV like Microsoft Security Essentials. They did technically not get a certification from the last round of testing, but in all honesty your AV shouldn't really be kicking in all that often if you're browsing safely. If you want a more protective AV that has a larger footprint, go with Avast.
Use a site like Ninite to quickly get programs loaded onto your computer. You can get almost everything you need from there.
For a browser, if your computer has 4GB or more of RAM, I suggest getting Google Chrome. Chrome chews through an incredible amount of memory, but it really is the best browser right now by the benchmarks. If you don't have that much RAM, if you use add-ons I suggest FireFox, else IE10. IE10 has been benchmarking great and proving to be a very secure browser, but it doesn't have much extension support right now.
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You're right. That was a huge exaggeration. Sorry. But I still plan to stick with none vs. any.
And, BTW, you guys are taking my fanboy support a little too seriously. Sorry that my sarcasm is a huge fail via the inter web.
Sorry, I must have misinterpreted the part where he said he runs a scan of Malwarebytes weekly.
I do (although I don't bother with NoScript). It takes 30 minutes and doesn't require my presence. I'd say it falls short of "wayyyy" too much work by several orders of magnitude.
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/s tags. Always use /s tags ;)
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I ran a minimal Ubuntu built up with XFCE for a while. Running a minimal distro really made me appreciate all of the things the packaged OSes do for you. I never saw a computer shut down faster when I said Shut Down from the OS, though.
Xubuntu is pretty bare bones. That's why I suggested the Mint version, because they modify the menu to make it more "XP"-like[mintMenu], in addition to including a poo-load of packages (read included many programs and most codecs for media files) while still retaining the speed and graphical simplicity.
As for the question at hand, I'd personally suggest a low-profile AV like Microsoft Security Essentials. They did technically not get a certification from the last round of testing, but in all honesty your AV shouldn't really be kicking in all that often if you're browsing safely.
agreed. If I had to use windows, MSE with spybot S&D is all you really need... (maybe a better firewall too, but browsers these days do a good job of site monitoring)
For a browser, if your computer has 4GB or more of RAM, I suggest getting Google Chrome. Chrome chews through an incredible amount of memory, but it really is the best browser right now by the benchmarks.
[rant]
but how usable is chrome? I switched to opera and have never gone back. the customization is better than firefox! I could go on about reasons not the use chrome(chromium is ok), but I think I'll just link to this page: Opera Features (http://www.opera.com/browser/features/)... [/rant]
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Ooh, an Opera user? Glad to see I'm not alone in my choice of browser!
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An opera User indeed! :)p5
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I've stuck away from Opera because I used to use it as my primary browser, but I experienced compatibility issues with certain websites. Given that it always seems to do meh on the benchmarks that seem to come out from places like Tom's Hardware, I've just never seen the need to really go back.
What makes Chromium okay? They're pretty much the same, minus the proprietary parts like the PDF Reader or Pepper Flash.
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...[chromium and chrome] are pretty much the same, minus the proprietary parts like the PDF Reader or Pepper Flash.
Chromium does have the pdf reader. I don't find it useful... [too limited]
Also, chromium can still tap into chromeSync and other google features. The only three main differences are the chrome auto-updater, more extensive bug testing done by google, and proprietary tracking/data collection modules in chrome. (plus the color scheme)
Chromium lacks these three things.
I'm sure Chrome is fast, and I do not deny it in the slightest, but at what cost? Even performance optimized versions of chromium use too much resources and cannot handle large numbers of tabs without having page crashes and memory dumps. Now, this does not make chrome terrible, per se, because the heavy usage is part of how the browser was designed. (each tab is in an individual sandbox + chrome is comprised of two pieces: the interface and the actual WebKit-based page manager)
What I don't like is the apple like control Google (and by extension, the Google employees who manage Chromium) exerts over how one can and may use their browser. Opera and Firefox let me use any external application I want in conjunction, and opera in particular allows for every part of the browser to be enabled or disabled... don't ever use tabs, and prefer to use Mission Control in OSX instead? *poof* gone... Need granular cookie filtering options? it's there... dislike the standard button layout? simply go into the appearance menu and start dragging.
Anyways, the benchmarks are a moot point on a slow connection, because Opera has Turbo --> link (http://www.opera.com/browser/features/#!prettyPhoto/-1/)
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I've stuck away from Opera because I used to use it as my primary browser, but I experienced compatibility issues with certain websites. Given that it always seems to do meh on the benchmarks that seem to come out from places like Tom's Hardware, I've just never seen the need to really go back.
What makes Chromium okay? They're pretty much the same, minus the proprietary parts like the PDF Reader or Pepper Flash.
Heh, if you look back through the history of the benchmarks, there's a period where Opera leads the benchmarks, before the other major browsers copy its techniques and overtake it. Opera then lags for a while, then suddenly zooms into the lead with snazzy new technology.
They're currently working on full GPU acceleration (not partial like other puny browsers), at which point the glorious Opera master-race will rise again.
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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?
Replace HD with SSD. More reliable and no more defrags. In fact, you don't want to defrag at all (Windows should prevent regular defrags with SSD installed).
AV:Something with *sky or is from Russia or Eastern Europe. These products have been consistently better over the years. AV products lend to leap frog each with every iteration. I was using ESET, but now I'm using AVG free edition. Norton and McAfee tend to be too bloated, but they've gotten better.
P.S. Yeah, I use Opera (have been doing so for almost 10 years now) and Chrome.
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Ooh, yeah. I agree with the SSD part.
SSDs are literally the biggest bang for your buck performance increase. It really improves the responsiveness and boot times of a computer.
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If you have multiple users on one machine it can be a pain sometimes, but besides a good anti virus much isn't really needed. If they could just invent something that would stop kids from clicking on every link known to man. Computer security is pretty easy these days.