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Originally posted by notcasesensitive
so my home computer is totally fucked up. I know that I need to take everything off, reformat, etc. assuming I can get whatever shit that is screwing it up off of the machine, what anti-virus and firewall do people recommend?
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You can try the following in order and see if your performance improves (because reformatting, etc. is a pain): (1) download a spyware blocker and purge your harddrive of any parasitic adware programs that run everytime you surf the net; and (2) defrag your harddrive (if you have at least 20% of your disk space free).
C|net has a
list of spyware blockers. I use
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.2, which is OK (I haven't tried out others, so if anyone has a better recommendation, please post).
After you've purged the spyware, defragging would be a good idea (if you have a block of time when you won't be using your computer (e.g., overnight), just let your computer sit and defrag -- depending on the size of your harddrive and the extent of the fragmentation, it could take hours).
Also, be sure to back up any important files beforehand in case anything goes wrong.
As for firewalls,
ZoneAlarm has a free version that appears to work competently. Other options are listed
here.
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I have Norton right now but the subscription has lapsed. Is it better to go buy a newer version (this one was bought probably 2 years ago) or does renewing the subscription do it?
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If the price difference isn't substantial, I'd probably buy the newer version.
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BTW, I have dsl, if that matters.
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In terms of needing a firewall, it's highly recommended whether you're using dsl or a cable modem.
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all of this is crucial information because I must regain my ability to take flinty's fake money at cards.
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Or mine.
De nada.
