Just thought I could list down several must-have programs for anyone's computer for everyone's benefit :) This list will be edited as much as I think it should. This is just VERY basic knowledge and recommendations, so as not to overwhelm starters. It is advised that you look them up on the internet to know them better. Note that I'm not a tech-wiz so there maybe some inaccurate stuff here too. If you see any, please tell me, thanks!
But first, a glossary for the newbies. Try to know each of them:
1. Virus: Small programs able to run on their own, wrecking havoc on your computer. Files get erased, changed, infected and then spread to more people.
2. Worms: Programs that let other malware come aboard for the wrecking-ride. Trojans are worms. See the connection? the Trojan horse let loose the invaders and destroyed Troy. BAD.
3. Malware: Malicious software. BAD stuff.
4. Adware: Programs that advertise on your computer. It shows you lots of bad ads whether you like it or not, forcefully and sometimes it gets so bad with huge amounts of ads showing up that it will cripple your computer.
5. Spyware: Spyware is worse, in my opinion. It spies on you, steals your information (ID theft) and if it could, steal everything from you, your money, your reputation (from doing illegal stuff using your ID) and anything. You have no idea how digitalised your life is. Wake up if you haven't noticed yet that ALMOST everything is digitalized by now. Apart from food, try naming me a few stuff that are not digitalised yet.
6. Firewalls: Firewalls prevent programs from sending information and receiving information without your permission.
7. Defragment: When you save information on your computer, it gets stored by fragmenting it into tiny pieces and shoved into any available space. So sometimes when you retrieve that info, your computer has to go through a huge area of your hard disk to get all of the information. The longer you don't defrag your computer, the slower it'll be.
8. Registry: In a nutshell, a registry is a file that your computer needs for that program to run. Most of the time when you uninstall a program, the registry stays put, thus accumulating as junk on your computer and if there are a lot of junk registry, your computer will lag tremendously.
Antivirus, antispyware, antiadware, antiwhateverbad:
1. AVG
official website: www.grisoft.com
or get it from: www.download.com, which is way easier to find and download.
Best antivirus software agreed by more than a million people. Plus it's free and not a memory resource hogger. And I don't think I need to explain more what antivirus programs do, do I?
2. Avast! 4
website: www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
Another note-worthy free antivirus software I would consider if my first choice should fail.
3. ThreatFire 3
website: www.threatfire.com
A program I would seriously consider because it can work together with your current antivirus, firewall or antisypware without any conflicts. Best of all, it can detect the behaviour of malicious software and block threats before your antivirus even have an idea it's bad. Plus it's so easy to use and free too.
I did install it together with my Kaspersky Antivirus, but found my computer freezes with so many unnecessary pop-ups. Verdict: Kaspersky and Threatfire do not go together. Having Kaspersky is enough protection, this is what I read in tech forums.
4. Ad-Aware 2007
website: www.lavasoftusa.com
Now this is great stuff. Antiadware and antispyware. Highly applauded and free. No reason to not get it :)
5. Spybot Search & Destroy
website: www.safernetworking.org
Do you know that 1 antiadware/antispyware program can't catch ALL the malware on the web? It's because unlike antivirus, the information on malware are rarely swapped between different companies. That is why if possible, you should get a few more antiadware and antispyware programs working together. Spybot is reputed as another great program, but I'm having trouble using it to scan my computer. Still you should have it checked out, and if it works for you, do tell me :)
6. McAfee Site Advisor
website: www.siteadvisor.com
This is a must-have. It tells you which websites are safe and which are not. And it's free too. Don't you just love it when great stuff comes at no price at all? GO GET IT NOW.
7. Lab Zone Firewall
website: http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp
Actually the Windows firewall would be adequate (remember to enable it always), but if you're still very concerned about safety, get this highly-praised software. Firewalls prevent programs from sending information and receiving information without your permission.
Maintenance
1. Cleaner
TweakNow RegCleaner
website: www.tweaknow.com/RegCleaner.html
DoubleKiller
website: www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller
CCleaner
website: www.ccleaner.com
Cleans out temporary files and unused files, and if you're feeling bold, a registry cleaner too. Registry cleaning should only be done if you know what you're doing, although I have done numerous times of registry cleaning using these kinds of programs (DO NOT do it by hand unless you're really, and I mean REALLY, an expert) and my computer is still working sweet. TweakNow RegCleaner cleans registries, DoubleKiller kills duplicate files, while CCleaner cleans registries and temp files.
2. Defragmenter
Auslogics' Disk Defrag
website:http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download
or
Power Defragmenter
website: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Power-Defragmenter.shtml
Windows' defragmenter does the job VERY slowly, sometimes hours, and you can't touch your computer during that time. Which is why it is recommended to do it while you are sleeping. But I know something stupid. Anytime your computer decides to do something in the middle of defragmenting (auto scans for viruses, pop-up some program registration reminder and other stupid stuff, and I suspect screensavers too, but I'm not sure), the defragmenting goes back to the start. Once I was so happy it finally reached 20% after hours of defragmenting, then I forgot what happened, then it jumped straight back at 0%. So you may think it's not worth it, but sadly defragmenting is a very important task, that's why you should invest in some good defragmenters, such as Power Defragmenter, which finishes the job in under an hour for on average.
Other tips:
1. Switch to Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser, as Internet Explorer is a favorite victim of malwares. Firefox is so much safer and I love the add-ons.
website: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
2. Don't click on any links send to you either by email or instant messenger. Instead copy the link, then google it to see if it's a safe website. Then only enter.
3. You should notice this by now, whenever the website asks for confidential information, or you're paying something online, the website url should be yellow, and is "https://..." instead of the usual "http://...". It means it's a secured website and only you and the website can see the information typed.
4. I know some people like to have stuff that is different than anyone else, such as a free music player other than Winamp or Windows Media Player, or free antivirus other than AVG and Avast. It's best not to do so. Stick to tried and tested programs to be sure there's no catch behind the free stuff.
5. Before you do anything major to your computer, like installing new stuff, make a new system restore point. That way if anything goes wrong you can just re-roll back to a time you are sure is safe, and don't worry, you won't lose any files. Only registries and some settings are changed. It's under accessories > system tools > system restore
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