Keeping your PC/LapTop Clean after that first year [W:39]

[Mach]

Here is what I use:

1. I use all four major browsers, though Opera is my go to software. I use each browser's popup blocking feature.

2. For the browsers that have it available, I use the AdBlock Plus extension...I simply don't see ads on the sites I go to.

3. For the browsers that have it available, I use the Ghostery extension. This extension allows me to selectively or globally block all manner of tracking...including Google Analytics. I admit this is really more of a personal privacy issue and my response.

A lot of this is browser recommendations, each requiring different adons, settings...it's that sort of thing I think not everyone does diligently. They may do it one time, then when they can't access a sight with one browser, switch to a new one that will, then say they will do all those adons later, never do, and a few weeks or months later, virus. Just saying for the average person it's easy to slip up, all it takes is one.
That written, I'm going to check out the above both for privacy and for better prevention, I still use IE and it drives me (and anyone who knows that) crazy.

 

[Ryan5]

I agree. I messed with free AV/AM for years, usually after having a virus that ravages my PC and I spend an evening or two doing some absurdly long cleaning process installing numerous free tools, scanners, safe mode reboots, etc., etc. After about 4 of those, 3 on my PC, two on my wife's over the years, I figured I'd try a top rated pay service. I got bitdefender, came with three install licenses, put one at work, one at home, one on her PC. Haven't had an issue since. $30-$50/year paid for itself about 20x if you consider how I spend zero time now managing AV crap, and how much time I spent when I used a variety of free tools, managing them, and still had massive infections/malware that required hours of leisure time being forfeited. I'm in tech, I program, I have had a computer since pong, I built my 6th, 7th, and 8th PCs from micro center.

If free is working for you and you have no serious issues, by all means, if it's not broke don't fix it, who cares. If you're still sinking time into virus/malware issues or have a lot of free tool management overhead, $50/year to help keep your #1 used tool working well, is a steal. The thing that makes the biggest difference I suspect is that it's complete and integrated and all-in-one. Not everyone manages all those tools and gets the right ones...for anyone who doesn't, or doesn't have time, recommending a high maintenance custom option is just ignorant IMO. May as well insist on everyone using UNIX and stop using that inefficient windows OS. I also get a lot of "webpage blocked by AV (bitdefender in my case", it just doesn't let me go to some places presumably prevention rather than trying to clean an infected PC. So if you've got free tools that also block websites effectively without any user input, maintenance, settings, or otherwise (other than one time settings), pleas do share.

Oh this is a very dangerous, conspiratorial, clearly too mainstream off the street viewpoint for the Linux/Ubuntu crowd to ever stomach.




(But very accurate)