I'm buying a laptop today!!

[cameo]

I'm going with my daughter today to buy her a laptop for her birthday.
I know it will have vista home premium on it. Do I need to buy any security eg. Norton, or does she just download something free when she gets it home?
If this is the case can someone please tell me exactly what she needs to download, so that she can do it straight away.

Thanks x

[daffy654]

I wouldn't touch Norton with a barge pole if it was me. There are 2 free anti virus programs that I would recommend you choose from and they are AVG from Grisoft
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0?prd= aff

or Avast
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

[cameo]

thanks daffy, so that's one or the other not both?

[daffy654]

Most definitely not both.More than one anti virus program running at once would cause all sorts of problems. I have used AVG for about 4 years and never had a problem with it but others swear by Avast.It s entirely up to you obviously which one you use. :-)

[sleepyj]

dont buy acer lap top ..

[Tichfield]

You also need a firewall. Don't rely on the Windows one. Turn it off and download one, for example:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_sygate_perso nal_firewall/

[ACtheTROLL]

also you need spyware ... (a detector that is!)

you need to add spybot search and destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

and ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_f ree.php

personally I'd go for avira (94%)
http://www.free-av.com/
for a free virus scanner .. (avg (84%) is getting bad press at the moment and avast (91%) is mediocre).

the problem with all the freebies is that they rely on you updating the definitions and scanning the machine.
which means at best ... you've had a problem on your machine for an hour or so ...before it's sorted out

the bought progs use real time scanning (which admittedly does slow things slightly) but sorts the problem (as the yanks say) before it becomes a problem.

at the moment the best all rounder witha 99% detection rate
is kaspersky
http://www.kaspersky.com/kaspersky_internet_se curity

which will look after just about everything ... without needing attention.
and (depending how old your daughter is) has parental control

[cameo]

Sorry to be a pain troll, but does that mean she needs one of the ones daffy said plus the first two that you said.

I'm getting confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm off to buy it now so will check back later to see if i can understand it better!!!!!

Thanks everyone x

[anotheoldgit]

AVG for your anti virus, plus Zone Alarm (firewall) plus these two, spybot search and destroy, and ad-aware.

[Jenga]

This is probably too late but I saw an advert on T.V last night and PC World are doing Norton security cheap. There is nothing wrong with it as far as I know.

[ACtheTROLL]

sorry

right
from the top

any machine should run only one virus scanner
there are two "classes"
the free ones
these rely on you updating and scanning manually (tell that to a kid!!!) - they are generally used as a "hook" to get you to buy their full version. (there are a few - currently Avira is the freebie that gets the best virus detection rates and reviews from the security comunity (94% of all viruses - none get 100%).

because you do the scanning ... the security is only as tight as you make it and you are always "curing" infections ... never preventing them.

the bought ones ... scan it real time ... so as a virus comes in over the net ... it's caught and killed before it can infect
currently Kaspersky is regarded as the best (99%)

the internet security suite is an all in one protection that includes extras ... such as firewall ... and content control ... so you decide what your kid looks at
and again Kaspersky is the best all rounder.


ON TOP of all this is the spyware ad-ware stuff
spybot and ad-aware are two of the better (best) ones
with this type of scanner ... more than one is a sensible precaution ... so get both ...

finally .... you need a firewall ... to stop people exploiting any malware that does get through your defenses. (included in the security suite).

kids are inevitably going to visit the sites with hight threats (swapping music ... and the rest)
so tend to need better protection (as in life) .

while banking and such probably won'y be an issue ... the net is a warzone....

the wrinklies who think that risque is the late night play on radio 4 get away with light or no defences.

and as always ignorance is bliss ...

[Bathsheba]

Just popping in to say thanks to AC + daffy. V informative! Am printing this page. Cheers all x

[bigmamma]

Wow what an informative thread , I'm popping in to take it all in and to thank you clever abers . I got a lappy 3 months ago and it came with 3 months Norton . This ran out 2 days ago and I needed to know what to get next . I haven't got anything protecting it now I don't think !!!

[Tichfield]

Norton will still be working, but it won't be getting updated.

[Bathsheba]

mamma - isn't a/b fab sometimes! I've learnt loads on here! (sorry for hijack, cameo ) x