New Computer

Add to your browser Ad blocker plus. Many of the spyware problems come from advertisements on sites that have no other problems. If you don't use or need a office application often you can use google docs its only online so can save space but your hosed if you need something and can't get online.

As for anti-virus I kind of like Microsoft Security Essentials and from the reviews I've read it gets good reviews and does spyware monitoring/removal.

For most every application there is open source/freeware availabe. Many are as good if not better then the paid programs. For burning I use starburn its free for non-commercial use.

 

I disagree on Dell. If you pay for the extended warranty, they no only will help you over the phone, they will send a tech out to your house to fix it. They have great support, if you pay for it. They just give you the option of not paying for it, if that's what you want.

 

Getting past the initial call to support is the challenge.

I get US based support every time - home users won't be so lucky.

 

My dealings with HP was a nightmare. I was on the phone for about 2 hours with some Indian. They don't like being interrupted when they talk, lol. They had me taking the laptop apart and pulling out the hard drive and motherboard before they let me ship it to them. This was at 11 months and 2 weeks so it was covered under warranty. I got it back and it worked another month before it quit again and they wanted like $300 this time to fix it. I told them if they fixed it right the first time we wouldn't be where we are now. Anyone got any use for an HP Pavilion DV4 parts, just holler. It's only about 20 months old. I did get two free power cords out of the deal if someone needs one.

In so many words I told HP I wasn't buying HP products anymore. That's why I have a Dell now and so far I'm extremely happy. It's the fastest computer I've ever owned for $600.

I'm still going to build one as a hobby in the near future.