Laptop Mishaps
August 18th, 2008
Last week, my 18-month old Acer laptop started up for the last time, apparently due to a fried motherboard. I’m not sure what exactly a motherboard is or does, but all I know is that fixing it is as expensive as buying a new computer. Thus, this post is being written on a new Toshiba. Hopefully, it will last longer than the Acer did.
So my Toshiba has come with lots of “pre-loaded trial software”, some of which perhaps could be useful. However, there are some great but FREE basic programs that everyone should have on their computer, laptop or desktop. All recommended programs below can easily be found on www.download.com.
1. Anti-virus: you hear this all the time, but if you are like me, you hate having to pay anywhere from $40 to $80 per year for virus protection that seems to take up a lot of computer memory and run rather slowly.
Instead, try the free home edition created by Avast. The protection is stellar, comprehensive and FREE. Oh, it won’t slow down your computer like Norton or McAfee either.
2. Anti-Spyware: Spyware comes attached to websites you visit or certain programs or files you may download. Spyware tracks what you do and where you go online. It also can make your computer run slowly. To get rid of Spyware, try Ad-Aware 2008. Another easy to download and easy to run free program that’s definitely worth it. You’ll see your computer running faster in no time!
2. Malware: Malware programs are lousy viruses, trojans, worms, and other sorts of nasties that can infect your computer. To safely get rid of them, try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software. It’s comprehensive library finds and dismantles the worst of these programs that can attack and infect your computer. And it’s free!
Again, all of these programs can be safely downloaded from www.download.com.
Now get that computer protected!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: computers, top 10
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