overwhelmed former mac user needs help

cleetus · 10-25-2006, 07:16 AM

I'm a Mac guy. Always have been, and even though I just switched to a PC for school and work, I will always be a Mac guy at heart. That being said, I have never had to worry about security issues, I've never had any anti-virus protection or anything. Now that I got this PC I'm concerned about getting it secure ASAP. I read the stickies and have something in the neighborhood of 10 links worth of apps to download and install.

My questin is: is this normal? Won't having ten extra apps running bog my system down?

I want to make sure I'm doing this right so I look forward to any help you all might have.

And don't be afraid to use very small words, I'm a complete and utter noob

THANKS!

ps is there a way to quickly and easily 'sleep' my computer rather than letting it do it itself?

**Fr4665** · 10-25-2006, 07:24 AM

first id suggest downloading AVG Free edition for the virus protection.
then id suggest getting lavasoft adaware personal for the anti spyware protection.
then id suggest making sure to turn on windows firewall.

with this config i havent had an issue since 4 years of a virus or spyware or what ever there is.

to sleep u can do standby or hibernate by just clicking start shutdown and then thers the standby option this is like sleeping ...

dorts · 10-25-2006, 08:51 AM

Please read this great article written by our fellow Security Analyst, Glaswegian.
PC Safety & Security - What Do I Need?.

cleetus · 10-25-2006, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dorts

Please read this great article written by our fellow Security Analyst, Glaswegian.
PC Safety & Security - What Do I Need?.

Yep thats the sticky I referred to in my initial post.

dorts · 10-25-2006, 09:08 AM

Some programs mentioned in the article are passive protection while some uses little system resources. You may want to try them out. If you think after installing them, they bog your system down, maybe we can recommend those more critical applications that you should have while uninstalling some of the rest.

cleetus · 10-25-2006, 10:20 AM

OK I'll have a go at the ones listed in the sticky plus the ones recommended by Fr4665...I'll keep you all posted, thanks

cleetus · 10-27-2006, 08:21 PM

Well I think I've slowed down for sure. I've checked the activities monitor and it seems there's a lot going on under my user name. So I guess my latest question is, how do I know what's supposed to be there and what's not? The names are vague in some cases.

Also how do I get things to NOT load at startup? THere's a couple in my startup flder, but near as much as is in the Acticity monitor.

Thanks for being patient and for all your advice.

dorts · 10-27-2006, 11:34 PM

You may want to post a HijackThis Log in the HijackThis Log forum. The analysts will then advice you on what to disable and what not to.

10-25-2006, 07:16 AM	#1 (permalink)
cleetus Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 OS: win xp	overwhelmed former mac user needs help I'm a Mac guy. Always have been, and even though I just switched to a PC for school and work, I will always be a Mac guy at heart. That being said, I have never had to worry about security issues, I've never had any anti-virus protection or anything. Now that I got this PC I'm concerned about getting it secure ASAP. I read the stickies and have something in the neighborhood of 10 links worth of apps to download and install. My questin is: is this normal? Won't having ten extra apps running bog my system down? I want to make sure I'm doing this right so I look forward to any help you all might have. And don't be afraid to use very small words, I'm a complete and utter noob THANKS! ps is there a way to quickly and easily 'sleep' my computer rather than letting it do it itself?

10-25-2006, 07:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
Fr4665 aka mr.fraggs Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA or Germany Posts: 2,965 OS: Win XP,Vista,Android My System	first id suggest downloading AVG Free edition for the virus protection. then id suggest getting lavasoft adaware personal for the anti spyware protection. then id suggest making sure to turn on windows firewall. with this config i havent had an issue since 4 years of a virus or spyware or what ever there is. to sleep u can do standby or hibernate by just clicking start shutdown and then thers the standby option this is like sleeping ... __________________ I don't subscribe to threads please PM me if i miss a reply. ------- Everest SensorView Pro DriverCleaner how to fix your game

10-25-2006, 08:51 AM	#3 (permalink)
dorts Analyst, Security Team Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,599 OS: Windows XP SP2 My System	Please read this great article written by our fellow Security Analyst, Glaswegian. PC Safety & Security - What Do I Need?. __________________ If you think TSF have helped you, please kindly donate to TSF and help keep this site free to all.

10-25-2006, 09:08 AM	#5 (permalink)
dorts Analyst, Security Team Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,599 OS: Windows XP SP2 My System	Some programs mentioned in the article are passive protection while some uses little system resources. You may want to try them out. If you think after installing them, they bog your system down, maybe we can recommend those more critical applications that you should have while uninstalling some of the rest. __________________ If you think TSF have helped you, please kindly donate to TSF and help keep this site free to all.

10-27-2006, 11:34 PM	#8 (permalink)
dorts Analyst, Security Team Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,599 OS: Windows XP SP2 My System	You may want to post a HijackThis Log in the HijackThis Log forum. The analysts will then advice you on what to disable and what not to. __________________ If you think TSF have helped you, please kindly donate to TSF and help keep this site free to all.

10-25-2006, 10:20 AM	#6 (permalink)
cleetus Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 OS: win xp	OK I'll have a go at the ones listed in the sticky plus the ones recommended by Fr4665...I'll keep you all posted, thanks

10-27-2006, 08:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
cleetus Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 OS: win xp	Well I think I've slowed down for sure. I've checked the activities monitor and it seems there's a lot going on under my user name. So I guess my latest question is, how do I know what's supposed to be there and what's not? The names are vague in some cases. Also how do I get things to NOT load at startup? THere's a couple in my startup flder, but near as much as is in the Acticity monitor. Thanks for being patient and for all your advice.