Way off topic. Can a techie help me please?

[JustADude]

Personally, I've settled on Avast! AV and Comodo Firewall for my own personal use, and I'm going with Kaspersky Suite for my friend's comp.

[symposes]

I use AVG and Zonealarm.

AVG has never failed me, as far as I know. And ive been with it for years.

I use zonealarm just to stop errant internet access. But i hate how when i install a new game, my computer freezes essentually when i forgot to give the game internet access, and zonealarm blocks it.

I keep to the motto, that you cannot stop someone whom is desperate enough. So i figure no matter how safe my computer is, if its hooked to the internet, it isnt safe. Then i just do what i can to keep it working, i.e. AVG, Adaware, sometimes Spybot. etc

[Andara Bledin]

I've run into a lot of people who have had serious issues with Zone Alarm. Also, review sites give it a low rating for being a decent firewall.

Avast! seems to get good marks from reviewers and users alike, and the free home version is noted as being fairly robust.

A lot of people run into serious problems with Norton. For whatever reason, however, I have only ever run into one issue, and I've used NIS for the last 6 or 7 years.

For backup purposes, I also keep a copy of HijackThis! and a list of help forums that do HJT troubleshooting.

Opionion: Toolbars are evil and a huge source of vulnerability. Plus, they waste screen space.

^-.-^

[technical.angel]

For backup purposes, I also keep a copy of HijackThis! and a list of help forums that do HJT troubleshooting.

Hijackthis.de

Best friggin' HJT site ever! C&P or upload your log, and it gives you a rating for every entry.

[Shabo]

For your IE7 problem, my solution is to uninstall the update, block it from being shown in the automatic updates window, and download Mozilla Firefox. You can even import all of your bookmarks, and it's got neat gadgets that you can add on to it!

I use my school's free antivirus, but it's Norton Corporate edition. I don't think it would be available for home owners to purchase at anything close to a reasonable price, but it works great. Real shame, since the home versions of Norton suck so much. For firewall, I also use the school's, since it's free.

I've used Zone Alarm before, and wasn't overly impressed with it. I've also used AVG, and it works ok for light internet use. When you add LimeWire into the mix (courtesy of little brother)... well, when you give your computer that much access to infected files, nothing will protect it perfectly.

For spyware, which only some anti-virus companies cover with their product, I use a combo of Ad-Aware SE and Spybot S&D. Spybot S&D also has a firewall program, but the UI (user interface) on that is a little screwy, so don't bother. I think it's called TeaTimer.

Oh, and to avoid getting AIM viruses, I use Gaim, now called Pidgeon. Takes a little getting used to, but no ads, no annoying pesky viruses, and better functionality, IMO. OCD away message checkers can now satisfy their urges simply by mousing over the username of everyone on their buddy list!

[Andara Bledin]

My work has actually put the IE7 update on ignore so nobody would update it accidentally.

^-.-^

[ringo]

2. When I close IE7, I am getting this:

I was getting an error after closing ie 7 too. Under Internet Options -> Advanced there is a button that says "Reset". It Resets Internet Explorer settings. After I ran that, my IE 7. was fixed. I am not even sure what caused it in the first place. I installed ie 7 when I had XP, even after upgrading to vista it didn't fix it. But that did.

Good luck.

[Andara Bledin]

I have no idea, and this is just a wild shot in the dark, but could it be a legacy left over from upgrading as opposed to a fresh install, which is why the Reset thing fixes it?

^-.-^

[Shabo]

Meh, I still say go Firefox. Better browser features than IE. It's kind of like, IE does its own thing, and Firefox and the other popular browsers come up with features that people like to use, and finally, IE goes "OK! Don't switch! We'll put it in the next version!"

[Rapscallion]

You could always go IE4. According to the site stats, we had someone visiting using that browser last week.

If you really want to go upmarket, you could use Windows 3.11 - we had someone using that OS to browse the site a few weeks ago!

Rapscallion

[Shabo]

*laughs a little nervously*

<.< >.>

I don't know whether that's funny or pathetic.