Vista

[Hound dog]

Well, thanks to husband's present and Travis' know how.........I now have upgraded to Vista. I'm not sure yet whether or not I like it either. Everything is sooooo different from what I'm used to. I'm hunting around for the simplest things. ugh BUT my dvd drive finally works again! YEA! It hasn't worked since right after I bought the computer last year.

Only down side.......is that it did a clean install........Well, I'm not sure I understand it really, at least not how Travis explained it to me. Seems it did a "clean" install, which means everything got wiped. But then he tells me it got partitioned off?? by Vista. Huh? I'm going to have Nichole ask her boyfriend about that one. Because I don't need a ton of stuff sitting in some partition taking up space that I can't even use.

Still, thanks to my trusty external hard drive......nothing I needed / wanted to keep was lost. Best 50.00 I ever spent! If you don't have one already, I advise you to get one. They just plug into your USB port. Easy.

Now I've got to defrag. Not sure why if it was a clean install.......but not a big deal as I'm on my way to bed. Funny part........Travis had estimated a 2 hour job.......it took about 8 hours total. lol

Oh, and anyone one who's in the know.....I could use a super good (and hopefully cheap) virus program. I don't trust Norton anymore. And now that I'm starting with a clean slate.......I want to keep it that way. I'd written them down when I'd asked before and now that I need it I can't find it to save my life.

 

[Lothlorien]

Bit Defender
It costs abot $25. and was recommended by my computer guy. It does not slow down your computer like McCaffee or Norton. I've had it for about a year and a half and have had absolutely no problems with it.

www.bitdefender.com

 

[gcvmom]

Ditto to the external hard drive. When we were evacuated for the fires, it was one of the first things I grabbed!

 

[Star*]

AVG is a great antivirus program - and it's free. Our tech just built my mom a fantastically fast computer with 2 processers, and 2 gig harddrive and video card that will support her storing up to thousands of pictures - and they installed AVG. I've used it for 5 years and NEVER had an issue.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

I bought a laptop when Vista first came out and it was installed already. I have actually grown to like it because it is much easier to navigate through programs - it's a little like Mac actually - things are much clearer and organized in a more common sense manner. I like the feature of switching between windows. It has some other little features that you will probably enjoy as time goes on. Only issue is that it does take a little longer to start up.

Usually a clean install means that all "extra" software demos and offers are wipped away. All you get are the basic programs that you need.

As far as security, even though I had free Norton through my internet provider, I didn't like it. I have avast and it's free and was recommended by a friend whose husband works in IT.

Good luck!

Sharon

 

[susiestar]

I like webroot spysweeper. It lets me set the sweeps, doesn't cause problems, lets me know if sites are questionable and WHY they are, and nothing gets through the popup blocker unless I WANT it too.

It is MUCH less hassle than norton or macafee.

I am glad you like your external harddrive.

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks for the antivirus suggestions.

I swear, somehow I've got to stop "putting away" things so well I can never find them again.........until I've no use for them. sigh