Bought my first computer so what kind of security do I need? (email, installing)
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Just bought my first computer ever which is a used one and need advice on how to protect myself from hackers, viruses, etc.
It came with Avanti security (or something like that) and now I keep getting pop-ups saying there's only a couple days left before the free trial offer expires
Please keep in mind that I'm not technologically well informed
Buy Norton Internet Security and Norton Utilities. Both are available on Ebay for about $35 as a bundle. NIS will run by itself and Utilities clean function should be run once a week.
Don't open email attachments unless you are sure you can trust theme (like your banks statement), try to stay away from bad websites, use caution.
Please do not use Nortan (Symantic) software. If you read reviews from independent professional sources (not magazines) they rate Nortan poorly.
If you are on a budget, Microsoft Security Essentials and Panda Cloud are FREE! And are pretty good (as of today.. these things change sometimes). Bitdefender Antivirus Plus sometimes is promoted at $30!
Don't forget the firewall; if you have Windows 7 then it comes with their free software firewall.
I use Panda Clound myself. My webrowser of choice is Firefox with NoScript add-on.
Don't go with Norton, McAfee, or Trend Micro, there's a lot of reasons why. Avast is what I have been using for years now, it has a free version if you don't want to spend extra money (I have been running the free version myself), so does AVG. I like the features offered by Avast more personally. www.avast.com Just be sure to uninstall any existing antivirus program before installing a new one, multiple antivirus programs running on the same computer is like two big horn rams in a china shop, with the dishes being your computers performance. =P
Even amongst the respected reviewers like CNET, PC Magazine and all the others there is no clear cut "this is the one to use" and there is no one product that will catch everything.
And don't get taken in by "10 NEW THREATS DETECTED!"
When those "threats" are nothing more than cookies.
Don't EVER use one of those anti-virus/clean up your PC outfits you see on TV, NEVER.
I have used Norton and McFee and I have also gotten viruses while using them. The best I have used and continue to use is AVG.
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