Nobody mentioned Avira? I like it better than Avast and AVG.

With that said, Norton 2010 is pretty good too, very lightweight. I was impressed after not using Norton for a few years - it's really not the hog that it used to be.

Anyone used Windows Essentials? I've had it running at home with no issues.. AVG was a dog and I haven't run anything for a few years. Decided to give this a try.

[Link: microsoft.com]

Norton is good and free if you have Comcast.

Yup, I use it on all my PCs.  It gets surprisingly high ratings.  Set it and forget it, no nagging.  Plus it's caught some things for me.  I've had a bad relationship with paid antivirus that sucks the life out of your computer...

+1

Agreed! No problems with bogging down on any of my PCs or laptops. Good protection too. I've been virus free for years, and I spend most of my time in the seedier parts of the internet (its all in the name of research).

I also run the free version of Malware Bytes whenever I feel like I need a second opinion.

What you're going through is what switched me to Linux in 2005. I'm not a linux weeny (honest), and I promote using the tools that work for you. However I have a LOT of folks now using linux who also NEED a windows version available for some things linux just won't run (myself included). Linux as main OS for browsing with windows in a VirtualBox for those windows-only apps.

You could do the same thing with a Mac and Fusion with a Windows install inside that. I work in IT at a large university. I am honestly not promoting one OS over another. "Use what works" is important. I AM, however, offering a suggestion for keeping an OS that is prone to all sorts of nasty crap available by running it virtually and having the ability to revert to an original "snapshot" if it gets snotted up. Your files created in Windows can be saved to a safe location that is not within the windows virtual machine. Linux has an antivirus called ClamAV that basically exists to scan windows partitions (file systems).

Your Windows programs *might* also run under WINE in Linux which means no virtual machine needed. Most of your specialty programming applications are not likely to have been even tested under WINE. If you'd like I can test them for you and will promptly destroy any copy sent to me when testing is complete.

You have options. You don't NEED to abandon your Windows programs entirely and I strongly suspect that in many cases you can't. You CAN begin exploring other means to continue using them without wasting a lot of time fixing the OS they're running on.

I just wiped XP off my bedroom PC and put Ubuntu 10.04 on it, but I'm finding little things I need from windows now and then. Thanks for reminding me about Virtualbox - I'm going to try that over the weekend!

For those that have never tried Linux - what's the absolute best thing about it? When the computer starts up and your desktop comes up... it's done! You're ready to go! It's not loading more crap, or running some weird thing in the background, and you don't click on something only to have it sit there for 30 seconds before it responds, etc. I feel a twinge of disbelief every time I start up. I've put Ubuntu on 3 or 4 machines now and they all do this. It's great.

I played with Linux about 8 or 9 years ago. SuSE. At the time it was supposed to be the easiest distro for windows users/dummies to get installed.

No video driver for my desktop. It took 2 weeks to figure out how to install the video driver from a command prompt. Once i got it installed i was able to surf the internet and make text documents etc. But everything was such a pain in the ass to do.

What is it like today?

I am pretty much glued to my PC. I check email/surf the forums and news sites/work with graphic editing software and control system user interface software and visio and dreamweaver all at the same time. Throw in a few spreadsheets/itunes and pronto/rti/urc software with it. Every 3 days i have to purge my desktop because it becomes completely littered (no space left) with new files. @ 1920X1280 thats a lot of files.

Is virtual box or anything else going to allow this to happen instantly? I realize most PC users check email and facebook and search for porn and shop and thats pretty much it. So Linux windows mac whatever is fine for them. What about for those of us who actually use our PC?

I picked up a SATA/USB cable today so i could back up all of my data to my imac. Once i get all of my data off im going to reinstall it in the laptop and run the restore function and hopefully be able to fix the BSOD issue. Then finally work on the google redirect drama.

Thanks for your help everyone.

I feel better just watching that.

Ouch. I actually use my PC every day. :)
Ubuntu is the most common desktop linux distro and has been for a while now. Like you, I tried linux several times over MANY years..... going way back to when you compiled the entire OS (on a 386-66.... start at lunchtime and hope it completes by dinnertime with no errors..... yikes).

You can see if Ubuntu will work for you by creating a "Live CD". I believe it's official name is a Desktop CD. It's a bootable CD that gives you the option to "Try Ubuntu" and also to "Install Ubuntu". When you choose to try it, it runs entirely off the CD with no changes to your machine, but it allows you to see if all of your hardware is recognized out of the box and things work. Runs a little slower that way, but at least you get to see if things work. I have that Live CD on a flash drive now which is a little faster and I can test machine compatibility before installing. So far I've installed it on about 30 very different machines and not had issues with the latest version. It's much better about supporting hardware now than it was 8 or 9 years ago.... or even 4 years ago.

For office type applications there's Open Office which can be set to save by default to Microsoft formats. I have my son's laptop set up that way for college and no issues with papers not being readable by instructors using MS Office on Windows. I don't believe there is a Visio-like app and not sure if there's a DreamWeaver substitute, so until you find out whether there is a linux native app that will do the job, you'd still need windows. I have applications for reading info from my medical equipment that are windows-only. Virtualbox. Start windows in a VM, plug in equipment via USB. Linux doesn't really know what to do with these specialized USB devices so I created a filter in the VM that basically tells the host machine (linux) "any time you see this piece of hardware, give it to the virtual machine". Done deal.

Know that if you are going to explore virtual machines, you may need more memory as you're running more than one operating system at a time. 4GB is usually sufficient to run the host OS and one virtual. I have 8GB because I often have multiple VMs running at the same time. When I am working from home I have a Windows 7 Enterprise VM running IE, Firefox, Outlook (to connect to the Exchange server at work), Word, Excel all at the same time. Might be more apps occasionally but that list is about standard. Meanwhile my host machine is surfing, doing personal email, taking converted VHS tapes and making them into DVDs with menues, etc.

Back on topic.... I use ClamAV in linux to scan windows file systems. I get Symantec Endpoint Protection free so I install that on a windows machine if needed.

It's all about options and using whatever works for you. :)

I use nod32 and it works very well. But nothing is perfect, and I did have a virus a few months ago that it couldn't detect or get rid of. It was so bad that I couldn't run *any programs at all.* Fortunately my computer was saved by the following.

I've always been really, really anal when it comes to backups. Here's what I suggest:

You'll need three external/portable USB drives the same size or larger than your computer drive, a 2-4 GB USB stick and clone software. I personally recommend HD Clone ([Link: miray.de]).

Everyday I run a batch file using xcopy 32 that transfers all changed files on my PC to my USB stick. If you aren't comfortable with batch files, you can do this manually via Windows File Explorer if you wish. It takes about 10-15 minutes.

Once per week I use HD Clone to put a fresh clone of my hard disk onto one of the portable USB drives. After the clone I reset all the archive bits on my PC's hard drive, and clear the USB stick. I rotate the drives and always put one in my bank vault on a monthly basis. Alternatively, you could put the USB drive at a close friend or relative's home.

What's great about this backup solution is that you have access to any file instantly on the USB drive or flash drive, and in the event of a hard disk crash or virus, you can easily use the USB drive as a replacement or just clone back to your PCs hard drive. There's no proprietary software that you need to read the backups.

I can't tell you how many times this approach has saved me from countless hours of PC torture.

Update:

I was able to back up my data with a usb to SATA adapter. But before i could do it i had to install Windows 7 on my imac. I ran into an installation bug that was resolved with a tech document that amirm (forum member) pointed to.

I pop the HDD back into the lenovo and run the restore feature. The damn thing installed windows vista. We specifically ordered XP for this laptop but it looks like they didnt bother putting XP in the restore partition.

At this point i decide to install Windows 7 on the laptop. I receive an error asking me for drivers for the CD/DVD rom. I cant continue installation without them. Weird part? The DVD drive is spinning/reading the Win7 disk.. the message asking for drivers are coming from the drive that supposedly needs drivers :)! This appears to be some bug also.

While that was all going on i also lost ftp access to about 20 websites in filezilla. I spent a couple hours with email/phone/chat support getting that all straightened out. I was also informed about the neat little export feature that will allow me to painlessly move to another PC in the future. I also wasted about an hour with roboform.. then i found out the data was stored in mydocuments so i had the old one backed up :).

After a day of screwing around here i have win7 on the imac, software installed. On the laptop i have vista installed and im ready to start loading software. The only thing i am missing is Adobe CS4 suite. Im going to have to contact them about a replacement disc or i might get CS5.

I moved away from the 2 computer (desktop & laptop) model a couple of years ago because syncing data was such a PITA. I use a dock and large monitor at home with my laptop. Getting the imac screwed this up a little but without it i would never have been able to 'fix' my laptop.

Thanks for the tips about backing up and the info about linux. I am looking into a solution to keep my desktop and laptop data synced plus mozy. I actually already have mozy installed/running but i start the backups manually and i didnt run it for 100+ days :).

Ahh ooo uggg my eyes just fell out of my head.

Web root "internet essentials" if you really need somthing like norton that actualy works, but does not eat up all your resources.

Malwarebytes is good all around.

"Combo fix" to solve certain problems but only if you know what you are doing.

Sophos if you want a real guy professional product