2 quick questions

[seretide]

Windows xp or windows media centre?
Quite like the idea of having my new pc as a pc, but being able to pause tv, and record tv, and burn off etc sounds good too, but have been told not to go for media centre as i am more of a pc user?????

What internet security is a good all-round one, that isnt gonna miss out important bad things!?!?!!?
Running at the moment...norton firewall, norton anti virus, windows firewall, avg free antivirus, and zonealarms antivirus and firewall!!-was using all this as each one found bad things that the others didnt!
I dont fancy using all this on my new pc, noticed norton internet security suite in the O/C shop, what do YOU think???????

 

[Trigger]

That's a REALLY bad idea running more than one AV at once as they will conflict. Download avast! and use that as your AV. Stick windows defender on as well as spybot and ewido and windows firewall should cover you fine. MCE is basically XP pro with the media centre bit added in and the facility to join a domain removed

 

[Gandalf501]

Why not wait until Vista is released, and use your current copy of XP (assuming your running XP) on your new machine (unless its OEM, but hey...)

 

[seretide]

right, i am new to pc lingo and total understanding of certain things, but i'll have a go at it!....

avast-for aintivirus
windows defender-i'm assuming is windows anti virus as i cant find it in windows security centre???
spybot and ewido for spyware?
windows firewall for firewall

media centre = xp pro with media bit and facility to join a domain removed-but... what do you mean by "facility to join a domain removed" and other than that i'm assuming if its xp pro plus other stuff, does that make it better than xp home???
(was also told the resolution for media centre is lower than pc monitors for tv's??)

Yes, currently running xp, but not sure if i can use the copy on other machine as its branded to come with the machine?

Not really sure what vista is, but have been reading on here that no-one's gonna risk microsofts usual 1st edition blunders with it.
i.e. win 98 SE was great -not win 98.????????

Finally, is my pc really that safe winth avast antivirus, windows firewall, and some spyware protection???????????? it scares me not to have something like norton on here??????

Thanks
S.

 

[Atari]

right, i am new to pc lingo and total understanding of certain things, but i'll have a go at it!....

avast-for aintivirus
windows defender-i'm assuming is windows anti virus as i cant find it in windows security centre???
spybot and ewido for spyware?
windows firewall for firewall

media centre = xp pro with media bit and facility to join a domain removed-but... what do you mean by "facility to join a domain removed" and other than that i'm assuming if its xp pro plus other stuff, does that make it better than xp home???
(was also told the resolution for media centre is lower than pc monitors for tv's??)

Yes, currently running xp, but not sure if i can use the copy on other machine as its branded to come with the machine?

Not really sure what vista is, but have been reading on here that no-one's gonna risk microsofts usual 1st edition blunders with it.
i.e. win 98 SE was great -not win 98.????????

Finally, is my pc really that safe winth avast antivirus, windows firewall, and some spyware protection???????????? it scares me not to have something like norton on here??????

Thanks
S.

Avast is an Anti-Virus program. There are alternatives however like Kaspersky and NOD32 which many on these forums have praised massively. I've only used NOD32, so I can't pimp the others, but it's a great bit of software, it's light on memory use, and it won't slow your PC down a great deal.

Windows Defender is a piece of anti-spyware software written by Microsoft. It's currently in Beta phase (It's not quite complete yet) but it's good at what it does. It'll update itself silently and won't provide you with massive headaches. You can get it from Microsoft, providing you have a genuine version of Windows.
Spybot S&D is another anti-spyware program. However it will scan deep into your computer and find any spyware that might have got through somehow.

Windows Firewall should be adequate if you're behind a firewall router (usually built into your router). If not, you might want to consider using a more specialised software alternative such as Kerio or Outpost Pro.


Windows Media Center Edition is a version of Windows XP, but with added software which makes it better for using as a Media Center (funnily enough ). I haven't used it personally, so I cant really comment on it.
If your version of Windows XP came with the PC, it's quite likely that its an OEM version and you won't be able to use it on another PC.

Finally, Norton/Mcafee products are the actual spawn of Satan himself. Avoid like the plague

 

[Trigger]

*snip*

Well avast! is a great free antivirus and I've had no problems whatsoever using it. Windows defender is Microsofts attempt at antispyware and is very good although still in BETA testing. Spybot Search and Destroy as said is more antispyware and offers realtime protection in the package in the forum of TeaTimer ewido is anti-malware- this also offers realtime protection but you lose the autoupdate feature after 14 days so you will have to remember to update it manually.

Personally I'm not going to use Vista until SP1 is released for it to iron out all the creases it will probably have

And yes, you PC will be perfectly safe with that combination- are you behind a router with NAT enabled?

 

[seretide]

hi all, i think im gonna go for media centre-purely because i'm happy with xp home-and wouldnt mind the extras! (unless there is a valid reason why i should just stick to xp home?)

On the list for installation will be;-
Windows firewall-*on*
avast
windows defender
spybot
ewido

not sure what u mean in the "teatimer" part of the post (maybe im just being thick!?!?!!?)

I will eventually be running my net off my router, but not straight away-so what must i do?,
and when i do use the router what is "NAT enabled"???