I've taken the plunge and ordered a home connexion (512kb) and when it turns up will do the usual; having done a full backup (if I remember) I'll be installing whatever freeware I can find for a firewall (Defender probably) anti-virus (though I'll be sticking with Yahoo after the initial setup) and anti-spy ware (I've got some magasine CDROM's with stuff like Black ice etc.) and Mail-Washer or similar.
If anyone has useful suggestions for freeware, this would be much appreciated, but my main problem is I can't get on with Outlook Expresss (even the name annoys me; is it supposed to imply "looking out through a window...at high speed"?). I'd love to have a tool which allows more intuitive integration of my internet and regular files (I also dislike the way XP tries to mandate this) and which allows me to e-mail any document directly without dragging and dropping. I expect that OE can do this but I can't figure it out. I'm not keen on MS Explorer either so I'm toying with the idea of downloading Netscape or maybe Mozilla. Does any one have experience with these systems, or another way of sorting these issues?
Any help would be appreciated, and, now the thread's started, why not use it to provide links to any freeware that one's discovered and found useful, along with some notes about pro's and con's, ease of installation, incompatibility issues etc?
get mozilla!
don't use IE, use mozilla
oh, and make sure you get mozilla
IE is full of bugs and security holes, so much that the US government have stated that it should not be used by anyone in a critical environment
as for free software:
http://www.sourceforge.net
everything you need is here
p.s yes i am a big open-source advocate
Get Linux
more specifically: get SuSE Linux
because it rocks
and i use it, and i love it
and i want it's babys
Let's see if I've got this right Gareth; I get the impression you prefer Mozilla (LOL)?
Thank you too davixen, but the idea was that others would tell me what they've found (to save me doing the "trial and error"; no I'm not being lazy, well not much anyway, but with so much on, I really need to cut corners, especially as I've just landed another major head ache...).
One step forward, two steps back again! Was writing a response (to a notification of warning of possible eviction; it's mistaken identity yerronner!) when the computer stopped dead; no response from mouse nor keyboard, happened mid stroke. After switching off and on again, trying to re-boot, the process started as normal, then sent a suspend signal to my monitor and went static. Tried a re-boot and all as before then it started beeping at me (an approximately one second beep, every ten seconds or so).
This has happened once before, and repeated re-boots got it going again but this time it doesn't want to know. I've swapped hard disks, checked all connections, and reseated all the boards, to no avail and I'm out of ideas, other than to try clearing the c-mos. Might this do the trick? Failling that, does anyone have any other ideas? I can't access the motherboard manufactureres site, nor afford a professional repair (and my new modem's due in a few days!!!) so it's a case of...
Yours, desperately...
Further to the crash; a new memory card didn't fix it (but I wanted more anyway, so no loss there) and a special-offer AGP card (20€, no installation manual, only 64 mega-sigh-but hey, my moniter used to work fine with just a total of 16MB!) got an image, albeit shaky, but it went to suspend when I tried to reset the BIOS (couldn't read the page anyway; too blurred).
Is it just a case of working round the new card "set-up", or is there something else gone wrong here?
The good news is that my ADSL modem has arrived, and in an unusually sane and reasonable manner (particularly by French standards; they usuall start charging your account, and then write, by post, to tell you about it! And it's legal!!!) there's a 15 day grace period for setting up the modem, during which you get unlimited low speed access at no charge! I'm wondering what the catch is, but at least I've got a few days to sort out the 'puter.
Turns out it was the motherboard. Installed the modem (umpteen times) on my XP partition where it runs like glue (and so I supposed it was a case of the telephone line not yet being up to speed) but when I played around with the settings on the Win98 partition (attempting to get it to "recognise" the modem, I eventually found myself with real broadband!!!
I'd noted that the XP connection was working furiously (doing what I know not! It wasn't my doing.) and claiming a high speed , so could this be an infection of some kind?
Well I need to resize my partitions anyway, so the XP gets wiped tommorrow (which is the only way I can expand the 98 ) prior to a fresh install,which may cure it?
I'm so glad I put my applications and data on separate partitions!
It's internet traffic; this line is swamped with "TCP SYN flood" whatever that is (and it was causing 100% cpu usage, without me doing anything! No wonder the PC was getting so hot?) but it's now under control (now I've actually got rid of Internet Explorer; "deleting" it in the usual manner does nothing but hide the icons! Software from
http://www.litepc.com/ does the trick) using a combination of Spy Bot (highly reccomended) Zone Alarm (ditto, both availble form davixen's link) and BlackIce Defender (which I got off a magazine CD ROM, but a google should find it).
Spy Bot is having trouble with some adware so I'm still looking for a total solution, and also a way of modifying my Win 98 partition (the "free" wares I've found so far only let one do a virtual exercise, or else only do something that XP does better) so if anyone has some suggestions, they'll be much appreciated!
I'll keep you posted on my own researches.
Warning! Having got rid of IE, I now find I can't use my disc management tools within XP (not too serious as my partitions are fairly well sorted, but could have consequences? I guess this is what Microsoft meant when they said it was an integral part of XP?) and cannot re-install IE from my set up disk! Also, the IE page still comes up whenever I go online (?)!
I also got virused yesterday (PC slowly grinding to a halt...) my first such attack ever, wahey!
Now for the good news:
Downloading "Spyware Doctor" (same site, see Davixen's post) has dealt with nearly all the adware Spy Bot couldn't get rid of (and the only one left accessed via a known security breach in IE).
Zone Alarm et al now seems to have the attempted intrusions under control, possibly aided by another free down load "Registry Mechanic" and a trial anti-virus package "Anti-Virus & Trojan".
Still no partition package that actually does anything though, and some other stuff also tends to be of the "this is what you'll be able to do once you purchase..." variety.
Seriously useful site, just the same!
This is one of my favourite sites, the intertactive section has a forum which you can post on without becoming a member, I've had some great advice from other members in the past, especially when I was a complete novice (ok I still am somewhat).
http://www.computershopper.co.uk/
Zonealarm takes up tons of resources, i would recommend using a hardware firewall or a router that does NAT. (most ADSL routers will do this straight out the box without you even having to know what NAT is)
Personally i never plug windows machines directly into the public internet where possible.
p.s the best defence against spyware is a good debugger and a network sniffer if you've got the skills to use them