everyone help me please..

[Andrew2489]

ok im new at this .. anyway i am going to build my own comp in about a month or 2 but thats not what this is about.. i have a few questions hopefully all of you can help me

i was wondering.. what is the difference between mac and windows or whatever else is there
witch is best for gaming and using Adobe products such as running ( Age of conan ) ( War hammer ) etc etc and using adobe products such as Adobe illustrator CS3 , photoshop Cs3 and After effects CS3 Etc etc...

secondly.. umm What is some really good Utilities or programs that helps your computer? such as anti viruses.. firewalls or like cool programs like yahoo widgets etc etc.. music /video players..... etc etc..

third .. umm what is the best Operating System for windows or if there is one for Mac.. or anything like that..

All and every answer is appreciated ALOT please do not hesitate to post i thank you 100x for your post/reply and have a good one :)

P.s: whats with Dual moniters or what does that do? how does that help..? Trip moniters Quad etc etc.. What does it do .. how does it work ?

[Cricket]

If you're going to build a computer you're kinda stuck with Windows...I don't think you can build a Mac.

And if you are going to build a computer in a month or two it sounds like you really need to do a lot of homework before you even begin...you don't seem to know a whole lot about computers right now.

:) Cricket

[Andrew2489]

ok ok cool cool..... windows is fine since its the only one i know how to use ( using xp now )

.... so is anyone else gonna reply?

[blue60007]

1) I'd stick with Windows. Not many games will run on Mac, plus Mac will only run on Mac hardware.

2) AVG free is great for A/V software, along with Ad-aware for spyware. If you are running the computer behind a router I find the Windows firewall to be sufficient. As for the "cool programs" I guess what ever you find works...that's a pretty broad category to nail down.

Discrete video cards (not integrated graphics) usually have two video ports. This allows you to hook up two monitors increasing your workspace. You could have one window open on your main screen and something else going on your second screen (like IM windows, email, weather, etc.)

There are ways to do more monitors than that but now you are talking big bucks...

[Andrew2489]

For the Anti Virus etc etc money isnt a problem so shoot out some good progs etcetc

[glc]

AVG Free is every bit as good as any pay-for antivirus.

I'm moving this to General Software. Please read some threads in General Software and the Security forums, there are ongoing discussions on all this.

[XenaWP]

Adobe products are pretty much exactly the same on Windows and Mac. To me, the advantage of Macs (and I used them for years) is that they aren't as "complicated" to set up and use. This ease of use, however, is at the expense of the ability to tweak and upgrade the system. Macs have an "elegance" of their GUIs and this eye candy attracts a lot of people. And their Marketing attracts a lot of people who like to feel like they're renegades, but are simply slaves to another master.

Go poke around Source Forge for some great free software. PC Magazine and PC World run articles every couple of months listing the best free software for different purposes. I have found a lot of great stuff there.

[glc]

My philosophy is this - if I can find open source, freeware, or low cost shareware or low cost commercial software that will do what I need, I'll take it over the big guns.

Everyone seems to have this fixation about Adobe - they just MUST have Photoshop. The ONLY reason anyone would need Photoshop is to be compatible with industry (the ability to work with .psd files) - the average user who wants to edit photos and do some creative graphics can do the same thing with free and low cost software. The most expensive graphics software I have is Paint Shop Pro - and if I felt like learning Gimp, I'd probably use that instead - it's free.