This is an alternative to an article originally posted by me on Technorati.
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Desktops are powerful and relatively cheap. You can get a fully equipped system with speakers and a monitor for under $1,000 that will work for you for 5+ years if you take care of it. There is a trade off to buying a fully built, Bloatware. Bloatware is all the extra programs, trials, features and functions turned on by the computer manufacturer installs along with the operating system to make more money. Like anything now, those programs a walking commercials, paid placements to get you to spend more money. eReaders, AntiVirus, Firewalls, Internet Security Programs, and so on. If you were to purchase all of those programs you have to add another $100+ dollars on top of your computer cost. It adds up and it's not necessary.
Commercial products that are for sale are just fine and do what they say they do, but you have top pay for them and with some you have to pay every year. Why when you can get the same protections, functions, for free using open source products. Every computer I build and tune for friends, family and business partners I enable them with open source tools. The tools I list below are my persona preference I have come accustomed to, but there are many, many more out there to choose from.
The most important piece of software you need is an active Anti Virus program. With computers always on, always transmitting to the internet, you computer needs to be protected and being watched to make sure that next big virus or malicious program doesn't infect you and destroy or steal your data. I prefer Avast Anti Virus. As a scanner it has not let me down once, it has caught viruses trying to get on my computers when I am not even using them. The most important aspect of Avast that I love is that is has very regular, automatic updates for the virus definitions and the program itself. It's pretty much hands off maintenance and that's why I use it for the less technical.
Another important piece of software you should have is a spyware cleaner. These programs go through and detect and remove all the junk you pick up from browsing around the internet. All those background things that seem to slow your once fast computer to a halt. Clean out the junk to keep your computer running as it did on day one. You do not need a computer shop to do this for you, you can do it yourself.
Unlike Anti Virus programs, you should use a few different kind of cleaners. Each one looks for slightly different things in different ways and sometimes the junk finds dark corners to hide in. The first one I put on there is Malware Bytes. I found this program and used it in one of the worst infections I saw a computer have. It was a root kit that latched on to the Bios and this program found it when no others did. After that I always use this one. The other one which is very good at finding browsing related cookies and scripts is SpyBot Search and Destroy. This program scans and finds everything from legit to suspicious files, it does a very good job of telling you which is which so you don't remove something that is important.
The last component you cannot do without is a firewall. This is the gatekeeper of protecting the traffic in and out of your computer. Windows comes with Windows Firewall and it does an OK job of base protection, but your home network may have more than one PC that you want to share files with, share printing functions or you just want to see more data about what is getting blocked and Windows Firewall starts to show it's limited features. I prefer to put in my own that has the features I look for.
Privatefirewall is the current firewall I use. It's flush with features, easy to use, very robust in configurations and it works.
Those programs that are listed above is just one individuals personal preference for the big protection points. There are many options to choose from and more security protections you can add. It all depends on what your needs are as a PC user.
Another great advantage you get with the open source community that you do not get with commercial products is flexibility to change whenever you want. If you buy a program and it turns out to be hard to use, a resource hog that slows your computer down, it doesn't meet your needs, you either stop using it and have no protection or buy something else. Now that $30 program turned in to $60, then $90 as you keep dropping an average of $30 per software. With open source programs if you don't like it, go find something else, installed it and try it out. The cost involved is your time, but look at how much you will learn in the process.
Posted in: Internet,Technology
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