Windows7 Questions

[nightsky]

Black Friday brought Windows7 and MS back into my life after many years.

Helped housemate buy a Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5992 for 469. with AMD Turion II dual-core 500M, ATI 4400, 350GB, Skype, 16" with Windows7 (32bit) Home Premium. Way too much computer for basic word processing, Excel, Access, Power Point, internet access, & email but she wanted a built in removable media device; So I chose this solid quality low end toshiba that is not so low end.

I removed all the trial software, setup wireless connectivity, installed AVAST which in combination with Firefox served me very well but that was with windows98se, I built an Windows XP box that rarly goes online, and the rest of my computers are all linux.

So the questions are:

1) Is AVAST Free Home Edition - Still a great anti virus protection system and does it work well with Windows7???
I googled but you know how people get into heated biased flaming wars, I respect PCMech members' opinions.

2) Also, when I installed AVAST it strongly recommended I download Google Chrome as another line of defense against malware and "Click Jack"?

3) As using Win98 with Firefox and Avast kept my computer clean. I continued using FireFox with Linux. I have noticed Firefox slowing down as it grows;

But Question is whether or not it is still considered safest browser for MS and how compatible is it with Windows7?

4) Is anyone running OOo Open Office on Windows7? It was pretty interchangeable with MS OFFice on Windows XP.

Windows 7 seems sooo much cleaner than its predecessors, wow I would feel more comfortable if i could get a tree directory to explore under the hood where things are. lol Need some voices of experience please... AVAST Windows7, Firefox, Google Chrome? Thanks and Happy Holidays

[12twelve12]

I will tackle your question regarding anti-virus. In the last 6 months or so I set out to find the best FREE anti-virus software that worked for me. I tested AVAST, AVG, NOD32, Panda Cloud & Security Essentials. I was looking for which one that provided a very high and accurate detection rate while also having a very low footprint (use low resources). My top 3...

3) Panda Cloud - The only real negative, for me, was that this program was basically a install it/forget it type. Meaning that once you install it there was nothing really left to do. While this is great for many people, I like to have some advanced options to mess around with. Panda Cloud is a terrific anti-virus for those that want a free alternative and don't want to worry about messing with it once it's up and running. This is the A/V I recommend to friends & family that...how can I put this nicely....are not yet very PC experienced.

2) NOD32 - Love it! But...it's not free and it's footprint is larger than my #1 choice.

1) Security Essentials - I can't believe SE ended being my top choice. It's by Microsoft and I assumed it would be bloated and a pain in the butt to work with. I was wrong on both issues. It uses the lowest amount of resources than the others I tested, has some nice advanced features, has a great detection rate and is free.

This is what worked best for me given my needs. Might not be for you but nonetheless I hope this info can help you out.


EDIT: At this time I do not see that AVAST Free Edition is compatible with Windows 7. From their site regarding the free edition...

PLATFORMS

* Windows 95
* Windows 98
* Windows Me
* Windows NT 4 (No Server)
* Windows 2000 (No Server)
* Windows XP (No Server)
* Windows Vista

[MikeMoss]

Hi

I use AVG for my antivirus software with Windows 7 and it seems to work fine.
New version 9. I don't have any experience with Avast.

I use Google chrome, never even opened Internet Explorer.
I have used Chrome ever since it came out.

It has the ability to browse with out importing into or sending out anything from your computer if you desire.

I also run Open Office in Windows 7 with no problems.

In addition to AVG I also run a Malwarebytes scan daily .

Mike

[nightsky]

I am falling in love, is it windows 7 or this toshiba? Setup IE8, Firefox 3.5.5, and Chrome 3 ... Sticking with AVAST + CCleaner, set history to 0, No third party cookies, no auto fill forms, no save psswrds. So I will try this setup and report back...
Just keeping windows works and home student office edition for simplicity and ease of use without transition. Thanks all

[nightsky]

Windows 7 is supported by AVAST and my experience with it is 100% Positive here is MS Jump Page for support reference: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-an...r-windows.html
Google Chrome so far has been a pleasant suprise.... I am impressed, its a keeper. Will keep all three, to use in the following order: Google Chrome for general browsing, Firefox and IE as needed if need for specific websites. I was also suprised by IE 8 - although i have first hand knowledge with customer issues - so far i did not experience browsing draw backs. All three seem to work well, speed is awsome. Security being the main concern I think at least in part security problems are created by "User's Not Implementing Safe Browsing Habits".