My Computer's Gone Berserk!

[BIGUN]

Re: My Computer\'s Gone Berserk!

While on the subject of computers, I wanted to recommend a place to buy your computer hardware online. I could go on about how good they are, but the bottom line is they are great people to do business with in every respect. I have no financial interest in this company whatsoever, but have ordered many times from them and they treat you right. If you don’t like being scammed, bait-and-switched, quoted a low price only to be ripped off on the shipping, give these guys a try.
Newegg Link

If you would like to read of people’s experiences with them or just about any other online company check this out.
Reseller Ratings Link
Some of the companies bribe customers to give them a good rating and some companies try to get their employees to send in good reviews for them. I believe for the most part the ratings are people’s honest opinions and you can certainly see a trend, good or bad, with most of the companies.

 

[dieselsmoke1]

Re: My Computer\'s Gone Berserk!

OK guys, as I crawl back on my stump, please remember I'm stating my OPINION based on my limited experience........I'm responsible for 30 PC's at work and tinker on about a dozen more annually.

I made the statement awhile back that in my opinion Symantec will run on 80-90% of machines successfully. The rest will suffer some "unknown" ailment. I'll still stand by that.

Any software that indescriminately fiddles with the OS and registry is often bad news. IMHO Symantec falls in this catagory along with AOL and much of the free crapware that abounds.

If I were to examine a PC that suffered from an erratic ailment and saw it had Symantec installed, diagnosis over. If it works, great! If it doesn't, then "why can't I do this?" questions will pop up.

I have no axe to grind on Symantec, just trying to share my opinions with my friends.

I've been using the free version of AVG 6.0 recently and like it well enough to purchase the Pro version.

Other than 2000ME /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Bill's OS's are pretty solid. It's others that usually screw it up.

OK I'm done with my rant and crawling down now....

 

[Bird]

Re: My Computer\'s Gone Berserk!

BIGUN, I just gave that TurboTax software to my daughter since it works on her computer. My income tax return this time will be the shortest, simplest one I've done in years, so I'll either try one of the online or free programs, or just go do it on my daughter's computer. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ducati996]

Re: My Computer\'s Gone Berserk!

o.k its now my turn to suggest a few products. First XP is a very good OS, and the most stable MS OS to date bar none!
But the problem of XP that it tries to do anything and everything. For example its default firewall (why?) it has very limited capabilities, and you can buy much better programs.
I'm surprised Zone Alarm hasnt been mentioned yet (Rated as the top rated). I would never run both XP's firewall and your software version of choice at the same time. Most likely your software firewall is far better than XP's version. Zone Alarm has a free download for personal use, or their more advanced version 4.5 pro. Go to www.zonealarm.com
If you want to test your system and its current configuration
(ports openings, etc) go to www.grc.com (Steve Gibson Research) who is a very well known security expert. They have a free port test function that gives you an very comprehensive report on what ports you left open. With the right hardware & software firewall, you should be Steath on all ports...
I'm not sure if you are using dial-up means to the internet, or a cable or Dsl Modem. If Cable or Dsl you should be using a hardware Firewall device such as Linksys( many other mfg's)
along with software firewall ( Zone Alarm 4.5 prefered)
I can get you a copy of Zone Alarm pro 4.5 if you want.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The other feature XP includes but dosent do well is systems restore. I would use "Go Back" which is more selectable ...it saves 10% of your hard drive and can restore your system to its condition prior to any trouble surfacing- a very handy tool when deleting files, or adding unkown programs.

I could go one for days on this, but a little at a time.... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Ducati996