Thread: Ask Thnikk

Originally Posted by frauschieze

It's 90W @ 19.5V. I've gone through 3 chargers and 3 batteries (although the first charger didn't have any issues until I busted through the plastic coating and broke some wires). I'm about to go insane. But I'll keep working on it......

If you've replaced everthing from the wall plate that you plug the power cord into, up to the power connector on the laptop where you plug the DC connector in that doesn't leave a lot of options.

It has to be an issue with the laptop I would say.

Originally Posted by Day1BroncoFan

If you've replaced everthing from the wall plate that you plug the power cord into, up to the power connector on the laptop where you plug the DC connector in that doesn't leave a lot of options.

It has to be an issue with the laptop I would say.

That's what I'm afraid of. I was planning on buying a desktop in a few months. Maybe I'll just have to get used to tethered life.

Edit: Or maybe I'll get myself a fancy phone.

You down with OOP?

Yeah you know me.

Tinker:

I recently procured a new laptop. Of course, it came pre-installed with Norton anti-virus software, free for 60 days.

On my desktop, since I had it built I have exclusively used BitDefender. It was recommended to my by the local fellow who built the 'puter for me as the very best out there. Since then (5 years) I have not had a single problem. . .Bitdefender has been fantastic.

So, my question is this. At the end of the 60-days should I just renew with Norton on the laptop, or do you know enough to know whether Bitdefender is better? Or, is another one out there the best?

It just seems kind of silly to be running different virus systems on each computer.. . .although maybe not, as one might catch something that the other doesn't. ..

I'm rambling now. . . .please make some sense out of this and post an intelligent response so I know what to do when the free trial runs out.

In addendum to NTL's request:

What's the best free anti-virus software? I've been told by numerous computer dudes that paying for anti-virus software is completely unnecessary and that the best of the free ones do a better job anyway. So how can I tell what's good and what's crap?

Originally Posted by frauschieze

In addendum to NTL's request:

What's the best free anti-virus software? I've been told by numerous computer dudes that paying for anti-virus software is completely unnecessary and that the best of the free ones do a better job anyway. So how can I tell what's good and what's crap?

And as an adendum to that. . .On my desktop I use SpyBot Search and Destroy to scan web-sites and scan the system for bots and other malware.

Is this doing some double-duty? Is it necessary? It's free, but it does use some significant memory resources, and I think is probably duplicating some of Bitdefenders stuff, but monitors/finds some things that Bitdefender/Norton doesn't.

What's the best all-round, recommended, holistic approach to computer security?

On Antivirus:

Norton is average but it is the most well known. If you like bitdefender go with that. AVG and Avria are both very good free anti virus programs. From the benchmarks I have seen, they both have some of the best defense against worms and viruses and take up little system resources. I have used both, and am currently using avira.

I haven't used spybot in quite a while since my experience was that it found too many false positives for my liking. Microsoft had a good free one for a little while, but I don't know if its available anymore. My best advice is to use a browser such as Firefox or Chrome to avoid anything installing without your permission.

Hope that answers your questions.

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

On Antivirus:

Norton is average but it is the most well known. If you like bitdefender go with that. AVG and Avria are both very good free anti virus programs. From the benchmarks I have seen, they both have some of the best defense against worms and viruses and take up little system resources. I have used both, and am currently using avira.

I haven't used spybot in quite a while since my experience was that it found too many false positives for my liking. Microsoft had a good free one for a little while, but I don't know if its available anymore. My best advice is to use a browser such as Firefox or Chrome to avoid anything installing without your permission.

Hope that answers your questions.

So, you don't use Spybot. Does Avira accomplish the same thing? The only reason I have spybot is for weeding out the adware etc.

Originally Posted by NightTrainLayne

So, you don't use Spybot. Does Avira accomplish the same thing? The only reason I have spybot is for weeding out the adware etc.

Avira is antivirus only. How often does Spybot find adware for you? I don't install anything that I don't completely trust, so I don't feel the need.

I have had a few computers of my clients crash after spybot worked it's magic. I can't say for sure spybot was the cause but it is mighty suspicious that they crashed right after spybot ran.

Originally Posted by Thnikkaman

Avira is antivirus only. How often does Spybot find adware for you? I don't install anything that I don't completely trust, so I don't feel the need.

Originally Posted by Day1BroncoFan

I have had a few computers of my clients crash after spybot worked it's magic. I can't say for sure spybot was the cause but it is mighty suspicious that they crashed right after spybot ran.

Spybot finds cookies all the time and blocks a lot of ads that Bitdefender doesn't even attempt to do.

I've had Spybot on our desktop for several years now and no problems. . .knock on wood.

I use Eset security suite.

http://www.eset.com/

It is a pay package, so thaat may not be something your interested in but seems to do a very good job.

They also have just a anti virus, but it is also pay.

Tinker,

This isn't a computer question, but I need some info and I want to ask someone that won't laugh at me.

What is the difference between an ipod and an MP3? If you were going to buy one, which would you buy? Keep in mind that I don't really care that much about video.

Thanks,

slim

An mp3 is the format the music is in. An iPod is a device that plays MP3s. The iPod is the only thing in the word that Apple makes that I don't think is complete crap.

Now, if you want to go the Apple route, I would go with an iPod shuffle or nano depending on weather or not you want to choose which song plays next. The # of GBs the device has is basically the limitation of how many songs you can put on the thing. I currently have 1GB worth of songs on my current mp3 player (my phone) and that is about 8 hours of music.

Feel free to pass on any other questions or what I think of different mp3 players (ipod included) that you are thinking about picking up.