Internet Protection

Question

I recently acquired a Dell 2600 xp home computer.  I had to delete all the McGee? virus protection and something called mac....  They wouldn't let me download my printer drives nor my camera drives.  Every time I now log on the net, I get all kinds of ads telling me I need this and I need that.  What do I really need?  Thank you, tabletman

osprey4 · Answer

The first thing you need is the Google Toolbar to prevent popups. There are other pop-up blockers but none as good as this one.

The next thing you need is a firewall. One well regarded firewall program, which also happens to be free, is Zone Alarm.

The last thing you need is an anti-virus program. There are several free ones available, such as AVG Antivirus.

Good luck.

vitaman · Answer

Osprey4

Thank you for youe quixk response. I registered with Google.com. Tried to register with Zone Alarm but they want me to sign up for the "Pro" version for $39.00. If I don't, the program I download will not allow me to delete the cookies sent.

vitaman · Answer

Hi osprey4,    Thanks again for the antivirus program you suggested.  Downloadeds it and it found 8 of them.  Thanks again, tabletman

M3_01 · Answer

AVG BIG NO-NO. Sure its free, however it has HORRIBLE virus detection. The best thing to do, sadly, is buy a good one. Kaspersky Anti-Virus is 100x better than avg at detecting.

why do i say this? Well when i had avg, i ran a scan and it found no viruses. Then we got Kaspersky, it found 4 viruses infesting my computer.

Zone alarm works great you dont need PRO by the way

vitaman · Answer

Dear M3-01,   Thanks for the tip.  But there are so many antivirus programs to choose from.  Norton, McGee, etc., which one?  What is the cost of yours?  Tabletman

osprey4 · Answer

The fact is that all anti-virus programs suffer from the same problem, they cannot find a virus unless you update the definitions. In that respect, an update AVG is better than an out-of-date anything else.

Among the pay-for-it programs, Norton Anti-virus is always the best rated and best regarded. I use it on one of my machines. But it's a bit of a resource hog, so on my other machines I run a free version of EZ Armor (from the makers of MacAfee, available free with the MS Security disc I mentioned).