Got My Dell, Now I Need Some Advice

[Fighter Pilot]

1) What is the best anti-virus to use?
2) What is the best mail program to use?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!! Thanks all!!!

[sailorpatp]

If you use the virus programs that come with the machine, You will have to pay $30-$40 a year to keep them upgraded.
Keep updating XP every time MS comes out with a new patch.

SpywareBlaster is good to keep running and free http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

Ad-Aware is good to have and run every month or so....Free
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/...e_personal.php

No-adds is a good pop-up blocker if you want to allow some pop-ups..Free
http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/


Turn off message preview if you use outlook express for email.

I would turn off show images in your email program too.
Gifs can have tracking on them and spammers that are fishing will know if they have a live one!
Never click on an attachment that you do not know what it is.
I won't open an attachment unless I check with the sender and find out if they sent it.
Oh....stay off of the porn sites

[Lddrizzt]

Willie,
There are numerous antivirus programs out there. They are mostly pretty much the same, the trick is to keep them updated on at least a weekly basis. Norton is one of the most common, as is Mcaffee. One of these most likely came with your machine. Usually you can get updates for a year, then once a year you pay a subscription fee to update them. Prices will vary with what you are updating, if you are subscribing to only virus definitions (which is all you need) it is cheaper than subscribing to the whole package.

Email is already installed on your machine, Outlook Express comes with windows. Start with it and try others till you find one you like. Personally I use Thunderbird which is put out by the guys who make Firefox, which I also use. Most email programs these days have built in spam filters that you can customize to your tastes.

Internet Explorer has a pop up blocker built into it, as does Firefox and Netscape, so you don't need an external pop up blocker.

Hope this helps.

[minnesotabrad]

Who is your internet provider? You might want to see if they provide any free anti-virus programs. I get McAfee Security Center free though Comcast.

[Youngjedi]

As far as E-mail goes, I never bring e-mail on to my machine (i.e using outlook or outlook express) I always check my e-mail online. Also, I don't use windows internet explorer...tooooo many holes! I've been running firefox and I never have a problem.

I run two antivirus software programs...Norton and AVG (www.free.grisoft.com) the personal AVG program is free with constant updates. It's always a good idea to run more than one AV program.

Even with these two practices, I can't stress enough how important a firewall router is. not all routers have a firewall built into them. My entire home network, except for my phone (vonage) is behind a firewall/router.

[luckydog]

I use Yahoo email, I can access it from any computer.

[Fighter Pilot]

Who is your internet provider? You might want to see if they provide any free anti-virus programs. I get McAfee Security Center free though Comcast.

My provider is Comcast as well. I guess I need to look into that. I've been thinking that maybe it would be best to use Comcast's mail as well, since I could always use it when I'm away from home too. I guess there is no need to use another program.

Also, I think I will download AVG and use that since it is free. Next thing is... I keep hearing alot about FireFox, and many here seem to think it's better tha IE. Other than the reasons stated here, what makes FireFox better than IE7?

[birdbrain]

avg works great. firefox is much stabler as well as FAR more secure. it's free also.firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/

[Tulsa]

For email protection, I've always used Mailwasher Pro. Not only do you see your email prior to downloading it but you can bounce the mail back to the sender to make it look like a bogus email address to the spammers.

[minnesotabrad]

Firefox is the way to go. IE is improving, but still prefer Firefox.

[slothappy144]

Firefox 2.0 has built in spell checking, it works in this posting window really good, if you see me misspell a word it is on purpose, or apathy.
AVG is better than Symantec and is free, I had problems with the suite applications, the secondary firewalls block file sharing and printing for some people with multiple home PC's.

[fronzdan]

Since you have Comcast, you get McAfee for free. It's a full subscription with updates as long as you keep your account. I have been using it for a while and like it. They probably update virus files a couple times a week. Go to the Comcast subscribers site www.comcast.net and sign in. You'll be able to get McAfee there.

For email, I use Outlook and have been for years. You don't have to sign up for any of the webmail accounts i.e. Hotmail, Yahoo etc, unless you want to. Your Comcast mail can be accessed from their website. Received mail will be available on the web until you pull it down to your machine with Outlook. And even then, you can set Outlook to leave msgs on the server. You can also compose/send mail from the web interface, create folders etc.