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new com.. new user!! HELP !!

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by bentom_1

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Hi,
1. My name is Ben and I've just bought a Toshiba A - 110 series laptop with Win XP sp2 as my OS.
2. I'm not very thourogh with computers yet and and quite naive with regards to software, computer security etc.
I have been advised by quite a few friends to create a security package for my laptop with a number of freeware security softwares. A friend has recently given me a CD with his recomendations of a security package. The latest freeware programs in it are..
ANTIVIRUS: AVG 7.5
FIREWALL: Zone Alarm
SPYWARES: Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware(by lavasoft)
MAINTAINENCE TOOLS: Advanced Windows Care V2 personal( by IObit), Easycleaner_2( by Toni Arts), CCleaner ( by piriform ), Auslogics Disk defrag
INTERNET BROWSER: Firefox
MISC: Windows decrapifier, google earth
3. Although he said that all of these programs need to be installed, I really really need a professional's guidance for the same. Also would having all these programs on my system cause them to turn on each other? Apart from these , which other programs, softwares would you recommend?
I'm looking forward to your advice. Thanks a ton.
Warm regards, Ben
" I can do all things through Christ; who strengthens me "

2 replies

by churdoo

At one time I was organized enough to create such a CD, once. But things change too quickly so now I just download what I need when I need it.

This is just my opinion, and each person that responds, or that you will ask, will have a different one -- that's one thing that I can guarantee.

ANTIVIRUS -- this is important enough to pay for. Don't get me wrong, AVG is fine and I've used it for peeps that refuse to pay for a package, but my favorite AV is NOD32 for $39US per year. It is not a resource hog like some of the other commercial packages out there, and it stops a ton of malware and trojans too.
FIREWALL -- The Zone Alarm firewall in your case is unnecessary. You have the XP/SP2 firewall built in, and hopefully you're spending most of your time on a corporate network or behind a NAT device so you're not exposed to direct attacks. Putting another firewall on there would use resources unnecessarily and could conflict with the built in firewall.
ANTI-SPYWARES -- Install these and update and scan with them from time to time to make sure nothing snuck onto your computer.
MAINTENANCE TOOLS -- CCleaner is great! Again, use it from time to time for cleansing. The rest in this list may be overkill and trying to put me out of business.
INTERNET BROWSER -- Your preference here. MS has made plenty of enhancements to close up many of the vulnerabilities in their browsers vis-a-vis IE 7.

All and All, no package is perfect, and even the most careful of peeps can get something on their system they didn't intend to. All the free software in the world can't replace common sense, and knowing when and who to call for help.

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