Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Possibly a useful website

edited October 2006 in - Writing Tales

Comments

  • Haven't had a look at this thoroughly yet, but picked this piece up from the Guardian technology section. Might come in useful.

    There are lots of programs that pretend to find problems with your PC then pretend to fix them, for a fee, and these often appear in Google's advertising and search results. Check the Spyware Warrior List of Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites (www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm) before downloading anything unfamiliar.
  • Good advice.
    My 'day job' is sorting out computer problems for the technologically illiterate English community out here in Andorra, and I've lost count of the number of alleged anti-spyware and anti-virus programs I've found lurking on various machines.
    My personal choice is Norton Internet Security as a complete suite, backed up by AdAware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Pest Patrol, and Mailwasher to filter out the spam before it reaches my PC.
    For people who want a no-cost solution, I recommend AVG Anti-Virus (the free version, obviously) and either Zone Alarm (free version again) for a firewall, or Windows own firewall that's bundled with XP.
    But with all these programs - especially the anti-virus stuff - you MUST keep them updated. Virus definitions that are more than about a month old are almost certainly useless.
  • I’ve just installed Norton, Dorothy, and it has slowed my PC down terribly. I’ve had real trouble connecting to the Internet and I’ve had to uninstall programmes that weren’t absolutely necessary just to get other things working at all. I had McAffee before this and I am regretting changing over. I only did it because Norton was on special offer. Serves me right for being a cheapskate. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, either.

    James. My friend, who knows far more about computers than I do, has been using the free version of AVG for over a year without problems and has recommended it to me. I’m sorely tempted to bin Norton and change over. However, I’m also a bit like Dorothy and think that you never get anything worth having for nothing.

    My friend says that if I increase the RAM it will speed things up a bit. I’ve only got 256mb at the moment. I think I’ll try that before I do anything drastic. (Like throwing the whole bl**dy lot out of the bedroom window and going back to a typewriter.)
  • The article that this rogue list came from, also mentioned the free software that was currently the best ones to use.
  • Hi DorothyD
    I have to say I haven't - yet - encountered any cases of Norton slowing computers down, and to date I've had no problems with it. The experience you've had might have several causes, but if you're happy with the new software and it's doing the job, obviously the best advice is to keep using it.
    McAfee was popular out here a couple of years ago, but users then kept finding they couldn't renew the software because the renewal server refused to accept their address/credit card/serial number or something else. But recently a friend has bought a new Dell that includes McAfee in the pcakage, and he's - so far - very happy with it.
    I've never encountered problems with AVG apart from finding the free program to download - they hide it rather well! - nor with Zone Alarm.
    I think with all these programs it's a case of finding one you like and sticking with it - I like Norton so until I have a problem I'm likely to keep running it.
    Sylvia - increasing the RAM is a cheap and very easy fix to speed up your computer. 256MB is barely enough to run Windows XP, and if you go to even 512MB you'll see a huge difference. If you can, go to 1GB, because memory chips these days are reasonably cheap.
    Just make sure you buy the right one - if you're doing the job yourself, I suggest you first visit www.crucial.co.uk and run their free adviser. This will analyse your system, tell you what memory you've got - and more importantly what your computer can handle - and identify and price the chips for you. It's a VERY good site.
Sign In or Register to comment.