The Right Way

For Windows computers, a good antivirus program is essential, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay for it. Practically everyone has seen the commercials for Norton or McAfee, but those commercials are expensive, and the last thing we want to do is pay for them. There are several excellent antivirus products with free editions, and the companies behind them make their profits by offering “professional” or “corporate” editions which include the same protection with added features and support.

So in this article I’ll cover the available free solutions and their pros and cons. The worst thing to do is leave your Windows computer without any protection at all, because you might never notice if some piece of malware was silently sending out all of your keystrokes or personal files to an attacker. Thankfully most viruses aren’t that malicious, but it’s certainly worth taking a little time to save yourself from hours of frustration later down the road.

Avira AntiVir Personal is the highest-rated, free antivirus solution, and in some tests, it performs better than any other antivirus software (including paid-for products). It installs quickly, and although registration is required, the installer can automatically register for you and doesn’t require you to input any personal information. However, there are adware-like popups which appear during updates. If you choose Avira, I recommend opening the configuration panel after installing, enabling “expert mode,” and changing the update options so that updates are automatically downloaded and installed.

Avast! Antivirus 4.8 Home Edition is a very popular and effective product that is free, although registering is required for a license key which is valid for one year. Although Avast may seem somewhat less offensive than Avira, there is more adware when the license is about to expire. Version 5 will feature a much-needed facelift and is expected to be released this October. It will also have a free edition, but it would be prudent to wait a few months after the official release before installing it.

Comodo Internet Security includes Comodo’s reputable firewall and their relatively new antivirus product. Unfortunately, Comodo’s antivirus has not been rated by organizations such as av-comparatives.org, and independent reviews by other groups, such as PC Magazine, have not been that good. However, Comodo Antivirus is free for both business and personal use, and as far as I know, it’s the only one that is. If you decide to try it, I recommend installing only the antivirus because firewalls aren’t necessary in most cases. Also make sure to avoid installing the toolbar it comes packaged with, and be prepared for warning popups (which are not adware) when you’re making big changes. I also recommend using the ThreatCast feature, which allows you to see other users’ choices when responding to suspicious activity warnings.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus solution which replaces Windows Defender (which provides protection from adware only) and Windows Live OneCare. Although it’s still in development, it will no doubt become an important player in the antivirus market. Unlike Microsoft’s last antivirus product, OneCare, which received very poor ratings, beta versions of MSE have so far garnered positive reviews. A public release for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 is expected by the end of 2009, and naturally this antivirus product will be free for business use.

When their current computer gets too slow, the first thing many people think is that they need to buy a new one. And while those people may be right sometimes, it’s usually a much better choice to fix the problem. It really all depends on what’s gone wrong, and in this article, I want to explain the most common problems and what can be done to fix them.

Failing Hard Drive. The only component in your computer that is expected to degrade over time is your hard drive. Despite what retailers want you to believe, a good hard drive shouldn’t be expected to last more than three years. And usually, it won’t go all at once – it will slowly develop problems over time before giving out. Because hard drives are expected to fail, you should never trust your important files to just one hard drive.

The best way to find out if your drive has any problems is to use a diagnostic program to read the SMART data from your hard drive. The actual diagnostic data is somewhat cryptic, but HD Sentinel is an easy-to-use, free program that will give you bar graphs for the performance and health of your drive. It’s important to note that you can’t rely on SMART data to predict a drive’s failure, but it is the best way to determine if a working drive has any issues.

In most cases, the best thing you can do to speed up your computer is to upgrade the hard drive. Higher RPMs, more cache memory, and lower latencies are more important than the size of the hard drive when it comes to performance. Also, you should make sure that the drive you buy is reliable, and a good way to do that is to buy from a website that allows users to leave feedback on products. If you buy your drive in a store, you have no idea how good it is. It’s not uncommon for even the bigger manufacturers to have duds.

Corrupt Windows Install. An installation of Windows becomes cluttered with extra files and registry entries over time, and it is a good practice to reinstall Windows at least once a year. Even if your hard drive is running fine, an old Windows installation can really drag your computer down.

There are many “cleanup” programs out there, but the best thing to do is reinstall. That means breaking out your Windows disc (or the Operating System disc from your PC vendor) to do a fresh installation. Although Windows will let you reinstall on top of your original installation, it is not a good thing to do. It’s much better to delete your Windows partition (usually “c:”) and recreate it. Of course, before doing that you should back up anything that’s important (preferably to more than one location).

Bulky Applications. The next cause for a slow computer is big, overweight applications. Many popular apps such as Anti-Virus and CD Burning programs have become very resource-intensive, and they continue to grow larger. Most of the hard drive and memory space they consume is usually due to excessive graphics that don’t add functionality.

So because of updates and upgrades, your computer may not run the same applications as quickly now as it did when it was new, and this is not your computer’s fault. A good practice is to prefer applications that are lighter on resources. You can check Task Manager in Windows or System Monitor in Ubuntu to see how much memory space and processor time each application is using.

Not Enough Memory. The first thing many technicians will tell you is that the best way to speed up an old computer is to add more memory. However, (in my opinion) adding memory is the easiest thing you can do, but it’s rarely the best or only thing you should do.

If your computer currently has less than 1GB of memory, then regardless of your operating system, you should probably add more. If you’re using a memory-hungry OS like Vista, then you should have 2GBs minimum.

You can check Ubuntu’s System Monitor and Windows’ Task Manager to find out how much of your total memory your applications actually use. Don’t worry if you see Windows heavily using the hard drive as virtual memory (aka “Commit Charge”) – that is normal for Windows systems.

What Not to Do. When looking for ways to improve your computer, there are a few things you shouldn’t do. It’s rarely ever worth the time to upgrade a processor or motherboard. Even if you upgrade to a faster processor, a higher clock speed doesn’t necessarily give you better performance.

Motherboards are not a common upgrade on name-brand systems like Dell and Gateway because each manufacturer has a custom design that’s incompatible with standard motherboards. And even if you can upgrade, it’s rarely worth the time and expense.

Who to Avoid. If you do decide to repair or upgrade your computer, you should never go to a retail chain that offers tech support. The only reason retail chains offer support is to sell the products they carry, and at this point they are nothing more than a rip-off.

However, we’re not saying you have to go with us. There’s certainly other good companies out there that offer PC repair services. The thing to avoid is relying on a “tech” who has something to gain by selling you on something. Even smaller repair companies may get commissions or they may mark up prices, so it’s always best to double-check recommendations and prices.

When is it Time? This depends on your situation of course, but it’s time to buy a new computer when your current computer either can’t be upgraded or isn’t worth the investment. Let’s say you wanted to do all the things outlined above and a liberal estimate for parts and labor is $175. That’s a lot better than paying $500+ for a new computer that will have the same problems a year or two down the road.

If your computer doesn’t support 1GB of memory, can’t run a modern operating system (e.g., XP or Ubuntu), or for whatever reason isn’t worth the investment, then you should look at buying a new computer. The truth is that just about any computer made in the past five years will do everything that 80% of the users out there could want. You’ll only need something faster if you’re into gaming, graphics creation, or a another resource-intensive task.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this article has been helpful!