Laptop advice, please?

[tenaya]

Mom, 75, will be going to Salt Lake City to do geneology research (just her hobby, we're not LDS.) Rather than lug huge notebooks, she asked if she could load her program on my Lifedrive PDA. Nope.

But, that kinda gave me a green light to buy a laptop that we can both use. I've wanted one for years so, why not? I bought one something like this, but new:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300148947595&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020
It's on the small side and seems to have lots of cool features.

I also decided to buy a router and make the house wireless so we can both be on the net at the same time. Woo who!

So, I've been up all night fiddling with the bits and making decisions and playing with all the parts. I need another piece of DSL cable before I can add in the new computer to the router. And then I can start downloading stuff like Firefox and Thunderbird. Bill Gates hasn't made Vista incompatible with those, has he? ::looks worried:::

Then I need to figure out what sort of security a laptop should have. I don't suppose some of my more techie-blessed flist has some words of wisdom? I kinda don't want Norton as it crippled my desktop last year when I went to renew it. Defender seems to be doing a good job with here.

Round two, tomorrow, or should I say later today....

Comments

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

My husband is running Zone Alarm, and I've got Avira AntiVirPE- both free, both seem to do the job, and we haven't had any problems. The Avira does keep trying to sell me premium services, but I just ignore it. (Not sure about the Zone- I don't use that machine much.)

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I've had Zone Alarm on my last two desktops and have no complaints. I've downloaded the free version already and now am wondering if I really need all that stuff that goes with the Security Suite. Does your husband have anti virus and anti-spy ware, too?

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

He doesn't use the ones that come with Zone, he has PC-cillin or something like that. I vaguely recall that it had something to do with conflicts with some work stuff he was doing. But you really do want antivirus software. Even if you practice safe computing, the can slip in on messages from other people you know. The antispyware is a matter of preference, if you don't care what people know about what you do, I expect it doesn't matter.

[xochiquetzl]

What I use on my work machines are Windows Defender, McAfee antivirus (we have a site license), and the default Windows firewall. We bought the McAfee antispyware, but I haven't had a chance to mess with it yet. I also run Spybot Search and Destroy from time to time to see if Defender missed anything.

I second the "Zone Alarm is good" above. It's better than what comes with Windows.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I've got the free version of Zone Alarm on it now. When you run Spybot and Destroy, does it pick up anything? I was thinking of just having Zone Alarm and Defender (since Norton crashed my desktop--which is worse than any thing done by what I was paying Norton to protect me from!--and I'm not sure if I need all the bells and whistles that Zone Alarm Security Suite wants to plant on my computer. Sensible, neutral or foolish?

[xochiquetzl]

Sensible.

You basically need antivirus, antispyware, and a firewall. How you get that is up to you, really. And Spybot doesn't find anything except cookies, which aren't that big a deal. I mainly run it because I'm paranoid. ;)

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I'd call it prudent. I'd be more inclined to be prudent too if I didn't fear some incompatibility would foul things up so bad I have to pay someone to fix it. *g*

Sensible works for me. Thanks!

[xochiquetzl]

Oh, also? Run your windows updates. You probably do, but I'm always surprised by the people who don't, so I'll mention it.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

I do forget. I have the desktop doing it automatically once a week. Thanks for reminding me what I have to do next on the laptop.

BTW, do you know off hand where to find whether Vista is 32 or 64 bit?

Thank you!

[xochiquetzl]

That's based on the processor.

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested to pick your brain at some point, because I'm going to be buying a laptop either early December or in February, whichever I can afford ;-)

I too have DSL and need to know about "router hookup stuff" when I get the laptop and the router.

One thing I would say about security features - the 'lighter' the better, in the sense that the heavy hitters (McAfee, esp. Norton) can make your computer take FOREVER to boot up. Arrrgh!

And on another note: I have just started looking into a wee bit o' genealogy in a very minor way (don't have that much info), and would appreciate advice at some point. I'll email you.

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

The router was pretty simple. I just needed an extra DSL cable for the new laptop. It needs to, ah, shake hands with the router physically before they can start wifi-ing together.

Ask away about the family history stuff. Mom knows her stuff pretty well.