General Music Chat

I've used Norton on my home PC for years and have never had a problem. The way most people get into trouble is they buy the AV software (or it comes loaded on the PC) but then they either don't update the definitions regularly or they let their subscription expire. Most viruses come from downloading illegal music/videos/movies. Just don't do it!

I forgot, #6: Use Firefox as your web browser.

I've used Norton on my home PC for years and have never had a problem. The way most people get into trouble is they buy the AV software (or it comes loaded on the PC) but then they either don't update the definitions regularly or they let their subscription expire. Most viruses come from downloading illegal music/videos/movies. Just don't do it!

You are officially the first person I've known, Jimmy, who has not had problems with Norton And I say good for you! It has to work for someone! hehe

Most people I know who have had problems with Norton fall into one of two categories:

(a) They try and update the definitions every year, and Norton double, triple or quadruple bills them and the update process doesn't work. htis pisses them off. This happened to my mother and my mother-in-law. I got them off Norton, onto AVG and some other free tools like Spybot, and got them to start following at least some of my"rules". Life has been better for them.

(b) The other category is people like myself who run a lot of CPU intensive programs and video games. Just about every piece of software I buy tells me to turn off my virus protection like Norton because it interferes with the software. So, turning Norton on and off all the time gets to be a serious PITA. I decided a long time ago it was way easier and stress-free to just follow my rules and forget Norton.

I'm lovin' my Ubuntu 9.04 on my computer except for recording. That's where they need more research. But, as far as everything else, it's free and most of the software average people use (image editing, internet, playing movies, mp3's, games, etc.) it all works great. You can load it on an older computer, replacing Windows, and it will run like a new computer. Takes a little bit to get used to, but so would Mac if your a Windows user. And you don't need to run any antiviruses as you don't get viruses in Linux. Cool thing is, you can download it for free, burn it as an ISO onto a CD, and boot from that to try it out, without replacing Windows until you are sure. In most cases you can do a dual boot on your computer by dividing your hard drive into two, one for Windows, one for Linux. Use Linux when you are going online, but if you still need any of your Windows apps, you just restart and boot into Windows. Linux comes with Open Office which has all the programs that Windows Office has (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), and you can open any of the Windows Office documents and work with them in Open Office. Then you can save them as either Open Office files or Windows Office files. It might be worth checking into.

I've used Norton on my home PC for years and have never had a problem. The way most people get into trouble is they buy the AV software (or it comes loaded on the PC) but then they either don't update the definitions regularly or they let their subscription expire. Most viruses come from downloading illegal music/videos/movies. Just don't do it!

IME it'll keep you clean of virus's no prob... I agree w you... it's not the evil it's cracked up to be in that respect...

the only prob I could see w it is how it slows your system down and hogs resources when running.

noticed a huge improvement switching to bit defender.

HELLZ YEAH! THAT'S ALL WE USE IS MACS IN MY HOUSE...NEVER...EVER A VIRUS!

Thanks Crip. Love the Mugsy logo. Reminiscent of the Looney Toons Logo (Bugs Bunny). Maybe your band could make a Mugsy cartoon: Four tough guys go into town, kick everyones ass, then gigs at the local bar, and LEAVES.

No Jokin' Bob.... you're on to something... I'll bring that up this Friday... Turns out that , besides my wife, 2 other members' wives are graphic geeks!
My wife does some awesome animations with Flash... Oh and BTW... They all use Macs!

My PC is continuously being infected by viruses. I Mac any better? Worth the money?

We have 3 Macintosh g5 quads processors, and 4 macbook pros at the studio and never had any problems with viruses or crashing. We also do a ton of file sharing with other studios, transferring audio and video all the time and never got infected. I think it is worth the money.

I've used Norton on my home PC for years and have never had a problem. The way most people get into trouble is they buy the AV software (or it comes loaded on the PC) but then they either don't update the definitions regularly or they let their subscription expire. Most viruses come from downloading illegal music/videos/movies. Just don't do it!

IME it'll keep you clean of virus's no prob... I agree w you... it's not the evil it's cracked up to be in that respect...

the only prob I could see w it is how it slows your system down and hogs resources when running.

noticed a huge improvement switching to bit defender.

We use Bit Defender at work, as well as FireFox and IE (we have to support both browsers). You get to use the home version of BD for free if you use it professionally so when my Norton subscription expires I'll be switching.

Garsh, forlong it wont be PC to have a PC.

My PC is continuously being infected by viruses. I Mac any better? Worth the money?

I used to have that problem too Bob. My computer crashed, and I had to reload the OS disk to reboot the computer and clean out the viruses.

I'm glad you downloaded the firewall software. I would also recommend downloading AdAware, SpyBot, or Ariva Firewall. All are free downloads, and they get rid of viruses, spyware, adware, and other "gritees" that you may aquire from being online. My wife usually runs them while I'm at work, at least once a week.

I don't have any experience with Mac's personally, but the studios that I record at use Macs. One studio's Mac did crash from a virus, but it is more rare than with PC's from what I understand. 3 free downloads and running programs once a week for free is much more expensive than a new Mac.

However, if you buy a new Mac when its time to get a new computer, you may not have to worry about doing all that in the first place.

Rat and I talked about this the other day. You know when you get to those stupid sites where it tells you that you are infected with a serious virus and looks as though its scanning your machine?

Funny thing is that they lie. Both Rat and I run Linux for daily use. Very funny when it tells you that you are infected. (Not).

For my money MAC is great but just like anything away from Windows will be a learning curve. Linux is free, it will wipe off that nasty business and get you going in a short amount of time. Though again a learning curve.

Mac might be best though I think for a newbie. Good luck Bob.

I've used Norton on my home PC for years and have never had a problem. The way most people get into trouble is they buy the AV software (or it comes loaded on the PC) but then they either don't update the definitions regularly or they let their subscription expire. Most viruses come from downloading illegal music/videos/movies. Just don't do it!

IME it'll keep you clean of virus's no prob... I agree w you... it's not the evil it's cracked up to be in that respect...

the only prob I could see w it is how it slows your system down and hogs resources when running.

noticed a huge improvement switching to bit defender.

We use Bit Defender at work, as well as FireFox and IE (we have to support both browsers). You get to use the home version of BD for free if you use it professionally so when my Norton subscription expires I'll be switching.

right on. I like it quite a bit.

I use mozilla too. had chrome installed for a min... but it blows.
mozilla plus 'noscript' has been a great combo for me.

After having geeks on site clean up our PC the other day things are working fine. I'll be calling them at least twice a month to keep it running good. It's worth the $25 a month to me. I expect to be using the computer more and more as time goes on. We still might get a Mac as most people tell me that it is much better for creative activities and a PC is better for accounting, spreadsheets and the like. I'm definitely the furthest thing from a computer geek I know so I appreciate everybody's input.

Typical LUDDITE, here!

Hey guys, I think I have an AdWare/Popup/malware/viral problem - the wife took the pop-up blocker off, for some reason. I often play solitaire while browsing, but 1 time I went to click on my game, & it had been popped off by that awful "About:blank" outfit.

Now, even with the blocker on, I get occasional pop-ups. I also hafta wait for the damned thing to go through the loading of every page as I look down to see the hated "about:blank" crap invading my territory & slowing me way down.


Also - every line of text I see has certain keywords underlined in green. When I click on them I get some stupid page from About what has nothing to do with the text I was reading.

It's most disconcerting. I've looked into my add/remove progs but can't find the program listed.

I've been using Webroot Spy Sweeper, but evidently bipassed it to get this crap, & it isn't recognising it as the awful sh*t it is...


What can I do to get rid of this @$#%#$^ thing?

Linux.