Just my 2 cents, quickly.
Doing the following, I have not had a significant attack of malware, spyware, or virus in 5 years.
I run firefox with adblock plus, flash block (good becuase it won't let any flash run unless you click on it)(this frees up some of your system)
Get a norton 2011 key from ebay for next to nothing (I got 2yr for 3 pcs for $22)(yes, it's legit) and norton 2011 is hellabetter than the older versions (runs quicker and sucks your processor less)
MVPS HOSTS FILE -->here Long story short, when you type in a URL, your computer checks to see if it knows the IP address (the website's telephone number). If it doesn't know it, then your pc contacts the DNS server (phonebook) on the internet . When you look at a webpage, there are actually several sites feeding content to that page. This file tells your computer the wrong telephone number for the bad content (malware/spyware/etc). Very effective.
And then my personal preferences for other software are CCLeaner (uncheck the Yahoo toolbar option when installing), Glary Utilities (uncheck the toolbar option, too), and Malwarebytes Antimalware (uncheck the toolbar option).
Uninstall any free games and/or toolbars (and weatherbug). If you ever actually read the EULA for the programs you install, you would never install anything else. Many times you are agreeing to allowing "them" to install other crap at the same time, or later on.
Also, google "msconfig" and "services.msc". These two places are basically where everything in your computer starts up when you turn on your computer (including malware and the like). You can get your computer to run faster if you know what to "turn off". additionally, you should check these two for out of place or new items (like viri or malware).
Anyway.... two cents complete.
Doing the following, I have not had a significant attack of malware, spyware, or virus in 5 years.
I run firefox with adblock plus, flash block (good becuase it won't let any flash run unless you click on it)(this frees up some of your system)
Get a norton 2011 key from ebay for next to nothing (I got 2yr for 3 pcs for $22)(yes, it's legit) and norton 2011 is hellabetter than the older versions (runs quicker and sucks your processor less)
MVPS HOSTS FILE -->here Long story short, when you type in a URL, your computer checks to see if it knows the IP address (the website's telephone number). If it doesn't know it, then your pc contacts the DNS server (phonebook) on the internet . When you look at a webpage, there are actually several sites feeding content to that page. This file tells your computer the wrong telephone number for the bad content (malware/spyware/etc). Very effective.
And then my personal preferences for other software are CCLeaner (uncheck the Yahoo toolbar option when installing), Glary Utilities (uncheck the toolbar option, too), and Malwarebytes Antimalware (uncheck the toolbar option).
Uninstall any free games and/or toolbars (and weatherbug). If you ever actually read the EULA for the programs you install, you would never install anything else. Many times you are agreeing to allowing "them" to install other crap at the same time, or later on.
Also, google "msconfig" and "services.msc". These two places are basically where everything in your computer starts up when you turn on your computer (including malware and the like). You can get your computer to run faster if you know what to "turn off". additionally, you should check these two for out of place or new items (like viri or malware).
Anyway.... two cents complete.
