Sick and tired of viruses,bugs and worms!

System restore has it's good points but is useless once infected with most malware/viruses.

There's no foolproof method to keeping a system clean. I haven't used an anti-virus in years but do recommend avast to people wanting one.

The best method for avoiding problems is common sense. The best method for dealing with problems is a good back up solution using ghost or true image or something similar.

I had a buddy who would get infected every other week it seemed. I set him up with a windows install inside of vmware for his regular browsing and haven't had to fix his system for a long time. Depending on what you use the pc for something along those lines might be a good option.

 

#### I feel old

I almost hurt myself running out to buy the new 1400 baud

 

Eh, I remember those. I just wasn't old enough to buy one. I used to help dad at work changing the tapes on the mainframe.

 

The only anti-virus i use AVG free, it works for me.

If u want a OS that is fast and FREE, and u are somewhat computer savvy, try linux, like Ubuntu or puppy linux. The only reason i use M$ anything is because i cant get my cell phone to connect to the net with ubuntu. I like it better for surfing and email, and has gotten a lot better in the last couple of years. but if u are big into gaming and stuff, windows has it, but there are a lot of open source alts for windows, mac, and anything out there, they tend to work better because the programmers name is on it, not XYZ corp, and if u have the skills u can tweak the bugs out of it unlike windows.

One of the big reasons i dislike windows so much is when my laptop vista laptop crashed, my key code would not activate my windows(bought laptop new preloaded with vista home premium, and would not give Mr gates any more of my money for something i already owned). I was told that there where other OS's besides windows and Mac, so i checked them out, and liked some of them.

sorry for going back and forth and jumping around, my add kicks on and i mess myself up. I hope this helps some one out, or at least give y'all something to think about.

 

MY build (sorry, no pics....YET)

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit DSP OEM DVD (upgraded to 64-bit)

Visiontek Radeon HD 3870 Overclocked 512MB PCIe

Intel DG35EC Socket 775 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 2.66Ghz Socket 775 CPU

Crucial 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667Mhz (8 gigs total)

Seagate 750GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G (added an extra 1 TB)

Power Up Silver 5511 ATX Mid-T Case w/450w PSU R (upgraded to 550w power)

Lite On 22X DVDRW SATA w/Lightscribe OEM/Software

Acer X233H 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 5ms, 1920 x 1080, 40000:1 Dynamic, 16:9, DVI, Black, HDMI

 

OP,

i'm anal when it comes to this subject so don't laugh too hard, but here's what i have as defenses. it's a lot, but it works, i've never had a virus, worm, or trojan.

avg is my anti-virus
i'm behind a router (hardware firewall)
comodo software firewall
who picked out the lamest smilies on the face of the planet?

once you get your system clean, download ccleaner. run this once a week.
i bet they glow in the dark

then download spyareblaster this runs silently in the background. update it once every 2 weeks.
whoever it was must be color blind

then go with either adaware or spybot update these once a week, and then run a scan. remove any little bits
or has ADD

to answer the question of knowing where it's safe to surf, download avg's linkscanner, or mcafee's site advisor addon for firefox
that green one is starting to give me a headache

i'm sorry for not posting the links, aparently my comments over the nasty smilies was heard and i can't post links until i'm up to 2.
the pink one's going to give me a seizure before then.

all the above are free, the key is to be consistent in your updating and scans. good luck.

 

i normally run opera, but when i do use ff, it's with sandboxie

 

I use spybot search and destory been using this for the past 6 years and has worked great.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

on any type of program (spyware malware type programs)you select be careful what you use some of them place files you will have a hard time getting rid of and can be worse than when you started.

 

We gave up the fight with our PC and windows xp 6 months ago. We ran spyware, malware ,adaware and anti virus programs on it and still had problems. We got a Mac and all of those problems are just bad memories now. We don't run any of those programs now and haven't had any trouble. The biggest problem with the change over was learning to use the system, but once you get used to it , its easier to use than windows. We also don't have problems with programs freezing or locking up on us anymore.

 

avast.com and download the virus protector there,it works really good and have had it on my computer for 3 years now.It also lets you know if someone trys hacking into your computer amoung other things.