PSX5Central
Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: Joker on August 04, 2007, 07:07:59 PM
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Quick question, if I re-install Windows XP will that get rid of all virus and spyware problems?
I would like to know if it is even worth the trouble or if I should bring it into a tech shop and have them deal with it.
and no, buying a virus protection program is not an option at the moment. I\'m moving at the end of the month and i\'m saving cash for my first and last months rent at the moment.
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format then reinstall yea, then you\'ll have to clean any partitions.
just reinstall nope.
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Um...you know...there are free anti-virus programs out there...
http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239_4-10680976.html?tag=lst-0-1
And this one allows you to run a startup scan. You need to register...but it\'s 100% free and only takes a few minutes.
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Thank you Soulgrind. I will do that then.
Also Evi, I never said I didn\'t have something protecting my computer. I have AVG but obviously that one has failed me so I assumed i\'d have to purchase one for good protection. I\'ll give the one you linked a shot.
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norton has some weird ass thing where you buy it for 50 bucks, and there\'s a 50 buck rebate, so its pretty much free. And iv always had a good experience with norton. Only bitch is that programs (games specifically) always get messed up the first time norton is on because you have to make norton allow it, and it gets stuck in this alt-tab black screen that u have to dick around with for a couple minutes.
Im not sure why they always have that 50 buck rebate..think they bank on people not doing it
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Thank you Soulgrind. I will do that then.
Also Evi, I never said I didn\'t have something protecting my computer. I have AVG but obviously that one has failed me so I assumed i\'d have to purchase one for good protection. I\'ll give the one you linked a shot.
AVG is a piece of crap. And Norton is also a piece of crap.
If you\'re going to fork out the dough for a good anti-virus, look for Kaspersky. Avast! works plenty fine. It got 5 out of 5 stars on CNET. I\'ve used it before and I recommend it to my clients as well. The fact that it can run an anti-virus search on start up with just the click of a button makes it pretty nice as well. Also...you can download different skins for Avast! from their website.
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Avast is fine and nothing beats it for the price.
If you\'re ever in the market though, the best is NOD32 and Kaspersky.
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cleanup40.exe is one of the best programs to remove temporary internet cache files which spyware love to hide in. You\'ll be surprised how much crap sits in your PC....up to 3GB of wasted space.
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Avast is fine and nothing beats it for the price.
If you\'re ever in the market though, the best is NOD32 and Kaspersky.
I\'m using NOD32 right now because I\'m on a tad bit of a slower PC right now and NOD32 has an extremely low memory footprint. It\'s also a ridiculously fast scanner and finds more viruses than most other programs. I saw this comparison to AVG with this folder that contained 10,000+ viruses. AVG took 20 minutes to scan and NOD32 took 30 seconds...and NOD32 found like 1,000 more viruses. Kaspersky is all kinds of awesome, although the security suite is very meticulous and a bit advanced...but you\'ll know literally everything that\'s happening with your computer. Kaspersky is also pretty fast with scanning. However...I\'m getting a MacBook Pro soon, so I won\'t have to worry about this crap anymore. I will, however, use something like ClamXav or whatever because I don\'t want to send viruses to my PC friends, lol. Of course...I\'ll need to run anti-virus crap while virtually running Windows with Paralells. I think I\'ll stick with NOD32 for now. It works pretty well.
And if you\'re looking for free protection, I\'d recommend Avast! and Windows Defender together.
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I didn\'t reformat and re-install windows but I did download Avast before I went to bed. I did the start up scan and it took an hour to go through the PC and removed 38 infected files and about 7 more popped up while I was surfing the net. So my PC is in real rough shape but its at least running better and i\'m not getting nearly as many pop ups. Actually down to only 1 annoying pop up now.
So thank you for pointing out Avast to me Evi. NOD32 sounds like a good investment too when I get some cash. Thanks for the help guys :)
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I would format C and resinstall Windows. I hate durty systems, it\'ll be great to start fresh.
Personally I use Avast and it uses up much more resources than AVG unfortunately. Computer starts slower, some hang ups here & there when I know it\'s scanning but eh it\'s free and the protection is near-bullet proof so I can\'t complain.
NOD32 and F-Secure are supposed to be the best. I had NOD32 for a while and loved how fast it was. It\'s a shame almost everyone in the business sector sticks with Norton.. what a resource-hogging pos.
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Aye i\'m definately going to be formatting and installing Windows again. I\'m just taking my time reading up about it. Don\'t want to get it all set up and find out I can\'t get on the net for some reason, i\'d go crazy :hissyfit:
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Before formatting your computer, download this and back up all your drivers ~> http://www.majorgeeks.com/DriverMax_d5260.html
It\'s free. This way...if you reinstall Windows and realize there are no drivers installed, you\'ll have a back up ready to go. Better to be prepared then find out you royally screwed something up later.
And you\'re welcome regarding the Avast recommendation. AVG is overrated. Avast does use up resources, but at least it gets the job done.
Oh and if you\'re not already, use Firefox and not Internet Explorer. Firefox seems to work much better with anti-virus programs in regards to real-time scanning of crap you download. Just a thought.
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Aye i\'m definately going to be formatting and installing Windows again. I\'m just taking my time reading up about it. Don\'t want to get it all set up and find out I can\'t get on the net for some reason, i\'d go crazy :hissyfit:
Yeah, its hard going a day or two without porn, isn\'t it.
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Damn right it is. I don\'t want to go back to using my imagination.
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http://www.apple.com/getamac/ (http://www.apple.com/getamac/)
http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/
:thumb:
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hope you don\'t like using 90% of the software out there, then.
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hope you don\'t like using 90% of the software out there, then.
I\'ve been using a Mac for quite a bit of time now. And I\'ve needed a Windows program exactly zero times. There\'s a good alternative for everything I need. And even if there was something I needed on Windows, Mac\'s run on Intel chips anyway.
But if you\'re a big gamer, then it\'s probably not for you. Not a problem for me though. I like Mac OS X over any Windows version.
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Lack of software support is really a moot point. OS X is popular enough at this point, that most programs have an OS X version or something like that. But yeah, if you\'re a gamer then it isn\'t for you, but then again, if you\'re a gamer you would already know that OS X isn\'t for you.
I actually miss my OS X machine.
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hope you don\'t like using 90% of the software out there, then.
That\'s an absolutely irrelevant point now. Step out of your cave and join the world again.
Gaming, on the other hand, is a good point. If you\'re a gamer, then it\'s probably not a good idea. No...scratch that. If you\'re a RICH gamer, then it wouldn\'t be a good idea. Unless you can afford all those things you\'re referring to, you\'re ridiculous if you bring it up as a point.
And as Sammy and Raz said...it\'s getting quite popular and if that particular software isn\'t on Mac, there is usually an alternative. And if not, you can still run Windows apps on the Mac anyway whether you use Boot Camp or Parallels.
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Running a Windows program on OS X seems...well, wrong. With that said, it\'s already been stated, if that given program isn\'t on OS X, then an alternative program is most likely out.
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Due to being in the design field I\'ve been switching between a PC and a Mac for a couple years now. Honestly, outside of the ability to play games, I see no reason for me to own a PC (I get a discount on apple products so price is a moot point).
With that said I currently own a PC laptop and love it, despite it being a power hog, however, when it dies I\'m more than likely going to mac again.
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I ran OS X for years, but went back to Windows due to gaming (wanted Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, both of which I never bothered to finish). Haven\'t really bothered with Apple since then, but mainly due to the price of getting another Apple system. Great systems, just to expensive . Not to mention I would have to teach the wife how to use it, as all she has ever known is Windows XP.
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Due to being in the design field I\'ve been switching between a PC and a Mac for a couple years now. Honestly, outside of the ability to play games, I see no reason for me to own a PC (I get a discount on apple products so price is a moot point).
With that said I currently own a PC laptop and love it, despite it being a power hog, however, when it dies I\'m more than likely going to mac again.
I love my PC laptop as well. I have XP on it but the only downfall of it now is that my system has been slowing down. I\'m 99% sure its because I have like 5 gigs left of an 80 gig hard drive but there\'s also unneccessary programs being run. I have 77 processes running at all times. I don\'t think windows needs that many to run. Only programs I ever want running at all times is AIM and Winamp.
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MSCONFIG
Get rid of all those stupid start-up programs. Also run some Spyware checks, I would gurantee you have plenty of that.
Oh and defragment, damnit. I don\'t know why most people don\'t bother doing it.
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Oh and defragment, damnit. I don\'t know why most people don\'t bother doing it.
Ah, another reason to love OS X. :D
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MSCONFIG
Get rid of all those stupid start-up programs. Also run some Spyware checks, I would gurantee you have plenty of that.
Oh and defragment, damnit. I don\'t know why most people don\'t bother doing it.
I now run spyware checks every couple days and my computer doesn\'t have enough hard drive space to defragment, lol.
The thing with MSCONFIG is I don\'t know which programs are necessary to run windows and I don\'t want to switch off a program that is essential.
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I now run spyware checks every couple days and my computer doesn\'t have enough hard drive space to defragment, lol.
The thing with MSCONFIG is I don\'t know which programs are necessary to run windows and I don\'t want to switch off a program that is essential.
Most are obvious (you don\'t need quicktime at launch) and if you aren\'t sure you can google it or just don\'t touch it.
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^^
Yep. Google every process to make sure if it\'s safe to remove or not. All you have to do is type in the filename or whatever and Google generally brings up sites with process information.
To make things easier than MSCONFIG, download this ~> http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ (http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/)
After installing it, go to Tools > Startup - - And there you go. Also run the junk files cleaner and the registry cleaner. You can probably free up a gig of space by finding useless crap on the computer.
Again...Google every single process. You\'ll learn a lot this way.
Ah, another reason to love OS X. :D
OS X does need to be defragmented, but nowhere near as often as Windows does. The Mac hard drive format is a lot more efficient than NTFS and isn\'t absolutely stupid as to where it places files on the hard drive. But OS X is better anyway. ;)