Some free goodiez for ya from me.. ;)

[Ray in Kingwood]

Most of the time I use Linux.



I also use 'Winders.

My systems run extremely well and I have never been plaqued with problems. My regimen for windows works quite well and I thought I would share them with ya'll

When I use 'winders for anti virus I use two free programs that together according to slash dot and some other sites I visit.... work as well or better that any purchased version.

I use Avast

Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition

and AVG

AVG Free Advisor - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

I also used in conjuction

Spybot for spyware,

The home of Spybot-S&D!

and I use Adaware for other nasties

Ad-Aware 2007 Free - Lavasoft

I use ccleaner for cleanups.

www.ccleaner.com/

These programs are for my Winders setup and keeps everything ticking along quite smoothly and all work together fine.

Wanna know the best part?

ALL of them are free. Even the Antiviral programs and the updates. I have an extensive computer network in my home consisting of a large server, 5 desktops, 4 laptops, print servers, 2 laser jets, 3 laser printers, streaming video and music to everything, both wireless and wired....

My setup has been jammin for numerous years with no problems using the programs I mentioned for winders...

All of my 'puters dual boot in winders and Linux.
Linux for the most part just runs and runs...Does not require all the crap winders does...

Do ya want a free killer photoshop program?

GIMP - for Windows

Do ya want a killer office program as good as MS winders stuff?

Go to OpenOffice.org: Home and download the winders version

Do ya” like the IM stuff?

Try this one......... Home | Pidgin

or a great defrag program waaaay better than windoze...

go to Disk Defrag - Reclaim the Speed Of Your Disks

here is an awesome media player with numerous codecs and plays all types of stuff

VLC media player - Overview


Should you wish to try LINUX easily and without fear....and not do any harm to your existing computer system.....

Go to Wubi - The Easiest Way to Linux

Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, this is for you.








ALL the stuff I just showed you is safe, no popups, viri or other nasty crap that usually comes with free programs.

I hope some of you will find this information uselfull an that it will help you in some small way...

ENJOY!

[jshillin]

I use AVG free and Spybot S&D, they work well.

[wfedwar]

Running that defrag program right now. Amazing how well it runs without bogging down the PC. Thanks for the tips.

[Charlies02GLS]

Check out Comodo for a free firewall

PeerGuardian 2 is also a useful depending on what you do...

[cajunfirehawk]

I have been using spybot, avg free, zonealarm too, all work well, imho.

[npb]

i have an apple and require none of these.

[MotorCity]

Originally Posted by npb

i have an apple and require none of these.

Well aren't you special....lol

[BlueLibby04]

I dont understand, do you want to know something about a grout sponge or remove swirls?

[asleepz]

Originally Posted by MotorCity

Well aren't you special....lol

Add me to that list

[BlackElantraGT]

nice tips Ray, I also have a similar regimen as you when it comes to Windows. I don't really see the point in paying for some of these programs, but based on the recent rave reviews of the Norton programs, I've actually thought about buying one program to handle everything instead of having one for this, and another for that. I've been burned in the past by Norton with all that bloatware they installed onto my system and that's what got me using the free, better alternatives.

One program I'd like to add to your list is SpyWareBlaster, in addition to using SpyBot (recently updated so it doesn't take so long to load) and AdAware 2007.

I like to dabble around in Linux, but as much progress they've made in making it a user-friendly system, I don't think it'll ever be as mainstream as Windows or Mac OS. While you can do more with the OS right out of the box with a good Linux distro, there are just some things that don't work as easily as it should.

For example, watching a DVD on my laptop. I'm pretty computer savvy but as experienced as I am with computers, I could not figure out how to watch a DVD without having to pay for certain codecs. And if you have a newer device that doesn't have Linux drivers, good luck trying to find one that works.

I'm not a big Mac fan, but I feel Windows and Macs offers a "finished" product while many things in Linux feels like they're in beta stage, a work-in-progress, or a college student's project. I just don't get why people say Linux is more stable (because most servers are linux based?) when I find Linux and its apps to be much buggier than most products I use in Windows. I guess if stable means less reboots, then I will agree with that but stability for me also comes from the programs running within the OS and in that respect, I find that a lot more Linux apps crash on me than in Windows.

While there are many good alternative and free programs for Linux, one thing that I find that Linux lacks is a good personal finance software program comparable to Quicken/Quickbooks or Microsoft Money. GnuCash and KMyMoney is alright, if it was 1990 but it's far from what Quicken or Money can do. I'm not big on paying for programs, especially when I can get things for free (legally and illegally) but once you use Linux, you have a bigger appreciation for the developers and programmers and software companies out there writing these programs for us.

[SpoiledMan]

Originally Posted by npb

i have an apple and require none of these.

I guess I'm special too. Just picked up an updated MBP for the wife.

[Monte78Carlo2k1]

I use gimp and avg. Both great although for a while I did't use a anti-anything and had no problem nor did my machine that I built myself have any attacks.