Pc maintance and security?

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Zhaoyun

Bronze Level Poster
Hi guys now I've spent quite bit of money on my pc delivered today I wonder if you guys can give me some advice and tips on how to keep everything on the computer fully updated and maintenance and secure..?

In the past I use avg free edition antivirus and did disk clean up and disk fragment and virus scan one a week and update windows whenever I can had auto update thing on. wonder was that enough? or too little?

friend told me need keep drivers updates on comps maybe clean dust of comp once a year but that again not sure know how... if guys can can advise me , any tips or advice would be grateful thanks

This spec of my pc below

Case
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3550 (3.3GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1.25GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 570 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD7502AAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£69)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1
 
L

leea12345

Gold Level Poster
i would be interested to know what others do as well, at moment i use the full avg package which i will put on new pc, and i do windows updates when they are available, apart from that i tend to just look for driver updates if something dont work right or crashes. The old saying if it aint broke dont fix it is what i go with :)
 
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jonny123

Bright Spark
Yeh im like leea,I use antivirus and i update when needed but i dont normally clean it up or anything unless its noticably slower than original then ill just go around deleting files/programs and using a program which i cant rember the name off :S.
 
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
AVG Free is perfectly fine, although malwarebytes anti malware works alongside it very well and both target different kinds of viruses and they are both free

If you feel your PC getting slow CCleaner always helps and so does a disk defrag although you wont need to do this so much as your machine will be super-fast :p
 
Corfate

Corfate

Author Level
I use norton, run a scan maybe twice a week while I'm not at the pc. Just be careful what websites you go on, any dodgy ones stay away :) cleaning out the pc will just be a case of using compressed air in bursts so the gas doesn't condense back into a liquid.(newegg sell canless compressed air, though it is expensive). Think about getting some dust filters on fans to keep the fans from pulling in dusty air, and make sure exhaust fans don't have filters on (you want them to blow dust out the pc unrestricted). Few tips for you :)
 
Buzz

Buzz

Master
Avast free fro anti Virus - Has sandbox, scans for root kits, and updates lots. Uses least amount of Ram I know for anti virus
free-antivirus-download

Zonealarm free for firewall. Easy to configure, low on resources, does the job
free-firewall

I take a backup of my comp about once a month, and a backup of my other drives, and I transfer everything to a backup external harddrive which is never on bar for backups. I also Zip and upload all my photographs to my gmail account for extra protection as these can not be replaced.

Auto updates for windows on. Other then that, dont go on really dodgy sites, and dont download dodgy Rar/Zip/Exe files without first scanning with anti V after they have downloaded and before I open them.
 
B

barryinwales

Member
I’m a bit paranoid – about computer security as well!
I use Norton Internet security (don’t buy or renew from Norton but from Amazon. PC World etc. –there always a promotion on somewhere and you should be able to get the 3 computer version for just over £20). This gives a complete package ranging from Firewall > anti-virus > anti-malware through to email and internet protection.
I also use Malwarebytes – the paid for version which does automatic & regular scans and updates
I use Ccleamer to clear clutter and also to clean the registry
I am currently trialling Zemana Antilogger – anti keylogger – but I’m not convinced yet.
I also do a continuous backup to an external drive with a program called Rebit (which also allows me to recover older versions of files)
Well I did say I was paranoid!
My main recommendation is that whatever software you pick you must keep it software up to date – essential with virus and malware software – I’ve seen so many computers with out of date software which is almost as bad as not having it.
 
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Z

Zhaoyun

Bronze Level Poster
thanks for tips guys.. so I ok with just AVG free edition and just do scan 1 a week, backup my files once a month, windows update?
what about disk fragment and disk clean up is that not needed or do that 1 week?
how often should clean dust of comp? one a year maybe? guess just open the side panel to check one in while...
and about drives not sure how on my comp and what drivers to keep update on my spec PC? guessing somewhere there function for it in window 7?
about dustfilters for my comp not sure know how.. think too technical for me lol. but think my case front fan got dustfilter on front panel only..?
 
P

paul1224

Well-known member
I think everyone has their own ritual with regards to their security and maintenance.

Me personally I do the following:

Daily: Windows updates (automatically and CCleaner scans + CCleaner registry scans)

Weekly: Virus scans (I use F-Secure Internet Security)
Check disk scans
Disc Defrag (on automatically)

Ad-hoc: Occassionally clean out the PC from dust and make sure all fans are as clean as possible.
Any lags in performance and I check drivers
 
mishra

mishra

Rising Star
Yup that is true everyone is using their own preference when it comes to security. I'm using following:
- Avast free (antivirus + daily updates)
- MalwareBytes scan once a month (free software)
- once a month I also defrag my drives (I use Defraggler - again free software)
- ... for any problem that sticks outside of the above I use CCcleaner (free again)
- on every power-off, of my PC I backup all documents, keepass files, etc ... on my second drive as backup (I use Sync Back - yes it is also free)

... and so far hassle free computing for months, no issues, no problems just pure joy and fun :)

Ah I also use ShadowProtect Desktop edition to perform continuous system backup once a week. It is not free software, but I got it for free cause I attended seminar. But if you want a bomb proof backup of your whole system, not just data but the whole lot... + fully hardware independent restoration - that is the right way to go.
 
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PaulJJ

Active member
£20 amazon.co.uk Norton Internet Security 2012. Post 2010 nis has changed considerably. Takes less space on the Hdd and is a lot faster imo. Live update for me takes a few mins.
£8.50 amazon.co.uk Malwarebytes pro with real time scanner. Great for scanning malware. Paid version gives you a real time scanner in the background. Free otherwise
Free Ccleaner for maintenance
Free Spybot search and destroy alongside Malwarebytes. More protection :)
£25 condusiv.com Diskeeper 2011 for defrag. Also gives you diskeeper 2012 when its out
£14.99 amazon.co.uk Tuneup utilities 2012 for maintenance.
Free Secunia Psi to make sure your computer has all the security patches, and will update all your software to the latest version (does it automatically if u want)

That's all you need. Never had any problems in the last 3 years so all good :)
 
Z

Zhaoyun

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks for all tips and advice guys will contuie doing my what do then to keep my pc protect and secure and download the software suggueted to proctect my comp:)
 
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PaulJJ

Active member
don't forget secunia psi Zhaoyn. Essential Imo for keeping all your security patches and software continously up to date and its free :)
 
Z

Zhaoyun

Bronze Level Poster
will check stuff you mention Paul:) sound gd but if worth getting paid stuff to protect you comp each year or just free software will do?
 
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