Computer Problems

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Austin the 1st thing you should do is visit your virus-scan software manufacturer's Web site and install any virus updates that are available. Then run the software. The software may not be able to delete the virus, but it may be able to identify it. River is right Norton is a superior program when installed correctly. Generally deleting the file that caused the virus isnt sufficient to eliminate the problem, since many viruses can create new files or corrupt existing files. Your best bet is to use antivirus software. There are 4types of viruses, Macro, Boot sector, program, and email. Pick up that software, and do not do any type of banking , and try not do log into things that need passwords in the meantime, u might have a key logger program in your computer and trust me u dont want that, get to the store and spend the money it will save you lots of headaches in the longrun.

 

[kcyanks1]

Since you'll be needing a laptop for college, don't rule out a Mac either. The new 13 inch with intel is quite reasonable. ...As far as viruses on Macs? Never had one over here.

From a virus standpoint, he would be much safer with a Mac as well as with Linux when comparing to Windows. Personally, though, I'd rather not use a Mac either (at least as far as their OS), because it still is very non-open source even though it's based on BSD. Most people, and I figure Austin, don't care about that. Also, well before I got into Linux I'd have pointless "arguments" (not really the right word) with friends who use Macs about how Macs suck, so I can't use them for that irrational reason either .

For school, I'd check out what they support, unless you are adventurous enough to go off on your own.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

One of the problems with Norton is that YOU are responsible for downloading the updates. Maybe this has changed but when we used Norton you got one year of Live Update, when the year ran out you had to pay each year after that to access the updates.....with avast it's done automatically for you for free.

 

[bigbog]

..another anti-virus product...

$.01 for ZoneLab's ZoneAlarm Security Suite....works very well, and is pretty programmable... Add in "SpySweeper" or "XoftSpy" and/or AdAware(sp?). Welcome to the club Austin.....we've all been bitten once.

 

[awf170]

Hah, so I was screwing around with my computer and some how put the date back to about a year ago when I still had virus protection. So I did a virus scan and now it works. And, yes I know there are some many things wrong with that. I'm still going to get new virus protection. Thanks for all the info guys.

 

[Greg]

The scary part is how easy it is to obtain your trusted passwords. How many skiers have a password that contains letters about skiing? The best password is a sentence that you remember and you take the first letter from each word in the sentence.

Most of my passwords consists of lower and uppercase letters, numbers, a random charater ( !@#$%^&* ) or two and a space. It's really good practice to use a spacebar in your passwords.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

I do that as well Greg but if you have at least 5 different things to log into and have uppercase here, space here and all different types of passwords it gets a little confusing sometimes.

 

[Greg]

I do that as well Greg but if you have at least 5 different things to log into and have uppercase here, space here and all different types of passwords it gets a little confusing sometimes.

I usually come up with a long word or phrase and substitute $ for s, @ for a, 3 for E, etc. Easier to remember. I wish I only had five things I needed to log into...

 

[kbroderick]

From a virus standpoint, he would be much safer with a Mac as well as with Linux when comparing to Windows. Personally, though, I'd rather not use a Mac either (at least as far as their OS), because it still is very non-open source even though it's based on BSD. Most people, and I figure Austin, don't care about that. Also, well before I got into Linux I'd have pointless "arguments" (not really the right word) with friends who use Macs about how Macs suck, so I can't use them for that irrational reason either .

For school, I'd check out what they support, unless you are adventurous enough to go off on your own.

If someone is a computer nerd and doesn't mind tinkering and relying on Google to get things straightened out when they don't work right, Linux is a reasonable option. It's also a great option if you have access to a techie who doesn't mind connecting remotely and doing maintenance from time to time. If you want things to Just Work(TM) and have commercial tech support available in the event they don't, buy a Mac. Both my parents now use Macs (my mother works in a Maine elementary school and is issued an iBook; my dad decided to purchase a Powerbook a while ago after getting fed up with his Windows machine getting gunked up.)

(And, quite frankly, I don't give a damn if my OS is F/OSS or not. I care quite a bit more about how my data is stored and whether or not I'm tied into one vendor if I want to continue accessing it, but the OS doesn't really matter from that perspective. Documented data formats are another story, which is why I really should convert all of my Canon RAW files to DNG one of these days.)

Anecdotally, I was at an alumni lacrosse game for my high school recently and talking to another guy who was seriously into computers while we were in school; both of us have Linux sysadmin experience as well as a variety of other OSen. He asked me what I was using for an OS, and I replied, "on my personal machine? OS X."

His sheepish reply: "yeah, me too."

 

[kcyanks1]

If someone is a computer nerd and doesn't mind tinkering and relying on Google to get things straightened out when they don't work right, Linux is a reasonable option. It's also a great option if you have access to a techie who doesn't mind connecting remotely and doing maintenance from time to time. If you want things to Just Work(TM) and have commercial tech support available in the event they don't, buy a Mac.

Even though I've never owned a Mac, I will agree that it is a better out-of-the-box option, as it's ready when you get it. But for someone who is just interested in office software, and the internet (web browsing, email, and instant messaging), Linux can be almost as easy as Windows, unless you have some irrational attachment to MS Word or your job forces you to use it. The one stumbling point could be getting a wireless internet card to work, which I admit is a point against it, and something I never got to work on my current computer (which is 5 years old, so I've stopped putting effort into because very shortly I'll be getting a new one and then I'll bother). Otherwise, one need not even know about the existance of the shell (which OS X has anyways).

(And, quite frankly, I don't give a damn if my OS is F/OSS or not. I care quite a bit more about how my data is stored and whether or not I'm tied into one vendor if I want to continue accessing it, but the OS doesn't really matter from that perspective. Documented data formats are another story, which is why I really should convert all of my Canon RAW files to DNG one of these days.)

As I said, most people don't care at all. I do care, and that's one reason why I use Linux and have no plans to use a Mac. Like you, though, I am even more concerned with document formats, and that's one of my biggest beefs with Microsoft, Apple iTunes, etc. While I understand their business perspectives in trying to lock you into their formats, I hate it. Another reason to support OpenOffice.

Anecdotally, I was at an alumni lacrosse game for my high school recently and talking to another guy who was seriously into computers while we were in school; both of us have Linux sysadmin experience as well as a variety of other OSen. He asked me what I was using for an OS, and I replied, "on my personal machine? OS X."

His sheepish reply: "yeah, me too."

Well maybe someday you'll switch back Based on your experience, I figure you know far more than me about using Linux. I'd place myself more toward the beginner side of the spectrum. I'm comfortable doing things on my own and relying on the web and message boards for help, and that's really enough.