"It Never Crashes" it does...

[Viro]

You should put Linux on it . Ubuntu gets my vote.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by Viro

You should put Linux on it . Ubuntu gets my vote.

I second Viro on the Linux reco...

You could also play around with FreeBSD, or even PC-BSD, which tries to be the Ubuntu of the BSD world.

[contoursvt]

Lt Major Burns, wow thats some list there You let it all out. Well I can definitly be sympathetic towards some...

The spyware and virus problem is definitly big, but I'll tell you what I do or use and maybe that might be good for you as well. For antivirus, I either use AVG Free edition from www.grisoft.com or use Bitdefender Free edition from bitdefender.com. Both work very well and have low CPU usage. For spyware, I use Adaware personal edition as my primary, Spybot search and destroy once in a while and last resort for very stubbon hijacks and things.. something called Hijackthis. That last one you gotta be careful because it just really shows installed IE items and startup items. Well you'll know when you look at it.

I think the install uninstall problem might be the same for both platforms no? I've installed things in OSX that have left items behind in Libraries..etc. Granted that is easier to clean up than a left behind .dll or an orphaned registry key. Still I dont think it will cause any issues leaving it behind...it will just cost a few K of disk space. I dont install or uninstall very often to be honest. I usually do a full install the exact way I want, then ghost the system. If I'm ever unhappy about anything, I restore my ghost...

Weirdness in terms of applications quitting and things might still be a memory issue. I'd run Memtest86 which can be downloaded as an ISO and burned. Its a bootable CD and will scan the memory. I'd go through at least 10 passes.... Also make sure the CPU is not getting hotter than high 60's low 70's under full load temperatures (celcius of course )

I dont use Firefox because I find it a bit slow but I kinda like IE - mostly for its speed I must admit. I like activeX as well for its convenience, but I'm careful about what to allow to install. I've adjusted my security settings to prompt me for any activeX installs.

As for defragging. I hope you're running NTFS. I'm sure you are. Anyway I dont know how often a single drive has to be defragged because I run two drives and well to be honest, they are very fast so any defragmentation I dont even feel so maybe thats why it doesnt bother me ( Both my C & D drives are 15,000RPM U160 scsi drives ).

I dont know if any of that is of any use..probably not, but the memory thing I'd check into for sure!!!

[Lt Major Burns]

1) i'm currently running AVG, Kerio anti virus (my dad[owner of machine]'s reccommendation) MS antispyware and AdAware. Crap Cleaner and Spybot get run almost weekly.

2) with macOS, files go: in apps. there will also be 1, maybe 2 com.apple.[ ].plist files added to the library. and that's it. in windows, they go everywhere. i have, right now, at least 20 random application ghosts around the computer, best to find them in Add/Remove Programs, in that list. completly unremovable without delving or using third party. and that's just what the computer chooses to tell you about. i have no idea the level of corruption in this horrid box. i'm guessing the level of a third world government. it's not the loss of disk space - it's the feeling of a loss of conrol. it is pretty much as clean as third-party apps can get it ( i know) and i still know its... dirty (sneered).

3) i'll try the memtest.

4)i don't like internet on this because a) it's dangerous, and b) because it's not safai. - safari is (without being shallow) sleek. it takes up 2 1/2 'lines' of title space. making my big monitor appear bigger (more room). IE uses 6 for the same configuration. seven if you include the start bar. making this 15" wonderCRT seem even smaller. safari is also FAST. very fast.

5 ) i must admit i don't defrag that much - if i was pro on this (i use my mac for pro) i would probably have to more often. i defragged my friends old thinkpad running xp. a 6gb hard disk took 4 hours. tedious. the one in this is 80gb 5000rpm NTFS.

and to the 'nixers, it's actually my parents machine. they'd flip if i did that. i can';t wait until the house is networked so i can get my baby back online. or just until i move out again. a month and a half until my flats ready to move into

[MBHockey]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

it's the feeling of a loss of conrol. it is pretty much as clean as third-party apps can get it ( i know) and i still know its... dirty (sneered).

I constantly feel this way whenever using my parents PC. It has the professional version of Adaware installed, and Norton AntiVirus 2005 with auto-protect enabled, and ad-watch enabled from Adaware, yet it has still become riddled with viruses, and i am planning on reformatting it in the next few days.

[Lt Major Burns]

well, we got hit with spyware. my sister installed msnplus!, and it trojan-ed. the thing is though, the pop-ups and toolbars are impossible to remove! it's completely immune to Spybot S+D, AdAware, MS Antipyware, Ccleaner, everything! it keeps coming back! and the pop-up blocker is useless! it blocks all regualr pop-ups, but won't block all these! its so irritating!

but, i've almost convinced my father to replace the big charcoal ricketty box with something small, sleek and aluminium. some kind of fruit box...

[MBHockey]

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

well, we got hit with spyware. my sister installed msnplus!, and it trojan-ed. the thing is though, the pop-ups and toolbars are impossible to remove! it's completely immune to Spybot S+D, AdAware, MS Antipyware, Ccleaner, everything! it keeps coming back! and the pop-up blocker is useless! it blocks all regualr pop-ups, but won't block all these! its so irritating!

but, i've almost convinced my father to replace the big charcoal ricketty box with something small, sleek and aluminium. some kind of fruit box...

My moms credit card # got stolen twice, two different cards. She does a lot of online purchasing with her windows pc. I told her it was most likely spyware.

You'd think 2 times would be enough to ditch the PC and get a Mac Mini

[fryke]

Hm... This thread kinda got off-topic, I'd say.