4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Old Speckled Hen]

Can anybody recommend free antivirus software to run with Windows Vista and Firefox?

I bough my daughter a PC laptop today from Curry's and you wouldn't believe the Office and Norton hard sell

They assured me Vista had NO word processing ... it has

AND told me that any free antivirus would introduce viruses

 

I'm glad I have a Mac

 

Thanks

[jimnpaula]

James here! I own my own computer business and deal with antivirus issues frequently. Norton is a nightmare as it eats up a computer's memory and processing power. Dixons Group has always pushed Norton very hard and personally I think it is a waste of space!

 

The free version of AVG knock spots off Norton for virus protection. You can download it from here

 

Hope that helps,

James

[bluekarin]

I too was going to say AVG. My hubby owns his own computer business and tells all his customers to get rid of Norton as it causes too many problems and install AVG free edition.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Wonderful , thanks

[Blackrocksrock]

AVG here - its good and we use it at work too

[quickcluck]

Yup we are AVG or Avast fans also!

[Redwing]

I chose AVG at the recommendation of fellow Omleteers, I have been really pleased with it so far

 

The expiring Norton on my computer 'scared' me a few days before it expired by pretending that my computer had a virus, less clued up people would have renewed there and then I stopped using it because I had 'secure' on line storage wth it yet the person who pinched my laptop (or the innocent buyer of it) overwrote all my precious photos with their own and the offshore Norton customer services didnt have a clue how to help me get those pics back

[Happy chickens!]

We use Avast, no probs touch wood. Both AVG and Avast were which best buys last time I looked - pretty good for freebies!

[majorbloodnock]

There are three major players in the realms of free antivirus (for personal use)

 

• Avast, available here. It's effective, but if I've seen times when the web scanning component gets its knickers in a twist and surfing grinds to a halt.
   
  
• AVG, available, as James mentioned, here. AVG is probably the most mature of the three, but I've seen independent tests where it doesn't do quite as well as the other two in detecting viruses. The differences, however, are marginal, and if I'm honest could easily be down to limitations of the tests themselves.
   
  
• Avira, available here. Good at detection, but doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the other two. Since it fires up an advert every time it updates, it's also the most intrusive.

 

All three are easily on a par with commercial solutions; bear in mind that the companies themselves offer rock solid business products too, which, since they do attract a cost, have to compete directly with Norton, Symantec, Sophos, Trend and the like. There's little to choose between the free offerings, so I'd suggest you bookmark the links, try one out and, if you don't like it, move on to another one. Certainly, one of the big advantages of them all is that, unlike Norton in particular, none of them make it difficult for you to uninstall them.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Thanks all

Can I be cheeky and ask how you transfer the content of the old PC to the new?

With my Mac you just connect the two with a cable and the new machine recognises the old as an external drive

[majorbloodnock]

Not a problem, OSH, but a question or two first.

 

Firstly, a question to which I'm sadly expecting the answer "no"; do you already back up the old computer on a regular basis? Everyone should be able to say "yes", but few even think about it until it's too late. If you do have a backup routine, you can simply use your backup and restore to the new machine.

 

Do you have a broadband connection to the Internet, and, if so, do you connect your computer to an ADSL router, or is it an ADSL modem? I ask because the most effective way to transfer the data is using a network, and if you have an ADSL router then you've already got the network in place and available.

 

Do the machines in question have personal firewalls running, particularly ZoneAlarm? The more effective firewalls are often configured so a PC on the network is hidden, so you might need to stop it for a short while whilst the copying is going on.

 

How much data are we talking about? The simplest solution is simply to copy the data to a memory stick and then from the memory stick to the new PC, but you're obviously limited to the size of your memory stick. Nonetheless, memory sticks are really cheap, so it's well worth investing for backup purposes anyway.

 

Once we've got a few answers, I'm sure I or some of the others on here can provide details for whatever's the chosen method.

[jimnpaula]

That is the fun part!

 

I have a special interface adaptor that allows me to connect the old hard drive to the USB port on the new PC - doesn't matter whether it is a laptop or desktop. Sounds similar to your Mac.

 

Like wot majorbloodnock says, probably the easiest way is to get a USB flash drive and copy the files off from My Documents and then just drop them into Documents on the new machine. Depending on how many files you have you might have to do it in batches. You can get an 8GB for about £12 or 16GB for £25 online.

 

James

[Happy chickens!]

I would def get something that you can use to back up your files, as you should do this anyway as the major says! We have an inexpensive seagate, which is very easy to use. (mmm note to self, haven't done major back up for a while. )Memory sticks should not be used for back ups as they are vulnerable to loss/damage.

[majorbloodnock]

....Memory sticks should not be used for back ups as they are vulnerable to loss/damage.

 

There, I'm afraid I don't entirely agree. As with most things in IT (and in life in general, if I'm honest), the true answer is "it depends".

 

If you've lots of photos you want to back up simply to avoid losing them, then several copies on several memory sticks, flash drives, DVDs, PC card hard drives etc. is a perfectly valid method of backup. However, if you're trying to safeguard your financial data, you certainly don't want to back it up to something you're likely to then carry out of the building and with you on your travels. It's also the case that many people will happily copy files to a memory stick where they'd otherwise never get round to backing up in a more secure way, and any backup may be better than no backup at all.

 

My suggestion would always be to look at the amount and type of data you want to safeguard, along with why you feel it's important to protect, then use a backup method appropriate to that.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Not a problem, OSH, but a question or two first.

 

Firstly, a question to which I'm sadly expecting the answer "no"; do you already back up the old computer on a regular basis? Everyone should be able to say "yes", but few even think about it until it's too late. If you do have a backup routine, you can simply use your backup and restore to the new machine.

 

I suspect my daughter doesn't even understand what a back up is .... head in the clouds most of the time.

I too feel a bit

 

 

Do you have a broadband connection to the Internet, and, if so, do you connect your computer to an ADSL router, or is it an ADSL modem? I ask because the most effective way to transfer the data is using a network, and if you have an ADSL router then you've already got the network in place and available.

 

Yes she does but I think your last suggestion is best as I know she has an external drive where she puts her music.

 

 

 

How much data are we talking about? The simplest solution is simply to copy the data to a memory stick and then from the memory stick to the new PC, but you're obviously limited to the size of your memory stick. Nonetheless, memory sticks are really cheap, so it's well worth investing for backup purposes anyway.

 

That is the fun part!

 

 

 

Like wot majorbloodnock says, probably the easiest way is to copy the files off from My Documents and then just drop them into Documents on the new machine.

 

James

 

Touché

I would def get something that you can use to back up your files, as you should do this anyway as the major says!

Yes I should

 

Thanks everybody.

I've copied and pasted the relevant bits to her.

[The Dogmother]

I always use AVG, with the addition of a parental control software as Rosie also uses the home machine.

 

I back up to a removable hard drive. which I then take out and store in a fire safe.... doubly important after a local repair company managed to fry my hard drive a few years back

 

I only use my flash drive for docs that I need to use on the move. It has a built in U3 encryption program, so all the docs are safe. You can download similar programs free online.

[debbier]

I'm not a huge fan of the latest version of AVG, so was considering another (Kaspersky was a paid one I was looking at). I'd read mixed reviews about avast.

 

As for Word Processing: have a look at OpenOffice

http://www.openoffice.org/

They have a free product called "Writer" which is very similar to Word.

[abwsco]

I've been an AVG user for years and years but found it a resource hog lately so have dumped it in favour of Avast.

[Couperman]

I dumped Windows over two years ago and switched to Ubuntu mainly because of the virus issue and because Microsoft kept tellling me my legit copy of Windows was pirate.

 

I don't miss having to faff on with Anti-Virus the associated paranoia or rebooting everytime you need to do anything.

 

I also don't miss having to shell out all the time for software that should come with the OS.

 

Call me cynical but I think the AV companies actually write most of the viruses, gotta be good for business , and they always seem to have an antidote pretty quick...

 

I have heard good reports about Avast.

 

It is annoying getting the hard sell for products you don't want or need isn't it?

Try buying a computer without Windows pre-installed that is a challenge, they don't understand why you wouldn't want it.

 

Kev.

[majorbloodnock]

....Call me cynical but I think the AV companies actually write most of the viruses, gotta be good for business , and they always seem to have an antidote pretty quick... ...

 

I know what you mean, but in fact there's no point. It's a bit like suggesting fly spray manufacturers breed flies to give people a need to buy their products. The reality is that there are so many viruses (or flies) already around, and so many new variants being created, that the effort needed to develop more still would simply not be cost effective.

 

The main reason the antidote arrives so quickly is that AV companies employ "honeypots" - quarantined systems whose job it is to act like soft targets, become infected and allow the companies to see the actual effect.

 

Eventually, most viruses these days are intended not to cause wilful damage but to make money for the writers. It's organised crime 21st century style, and it's worth a huge amount both for those wishing to extort and those wishing to be protected, so there's enough money knocking around for AV companies to justify throwing lots of resources at the problem.

[The Dogmother]

My techie friend (who advises on my set-up) is employed by the police to investigate machines they have seized, and to hack into systems. I'd much rather have him as a friend than enemy

[Old Speckled Hen]

My techie friend (who advises on my set-up) is employed by the police to investigate machines they have seized, and to hack into systems. I'd much rather have him as a friend than enemy

 

Ooooooooooh what an exciting job

Bit like being a desktop spy

[The Dogmother]

He sees some pretty nasty stuff TBH, even when you've deleted files from your machine, he could still find them.

[Old Speckled Hen]

You'd think that deleted files would be just that wouldn't you?

Whenever I throw away an old computer I take out the drive and trash it.

[The Dogmother]

That's right, the only way to totally destroy any traces of files, sites visited/material downloaded is to beat the HDD to pieces with a hammer then burn it!