Complete factory system restore is a valueable feature for today’s branded systems. Some of the new machines don’t even come with restore discs. They make you create them yourself with your own blank media. Many of them have built in restore methods to return to factory without the discs. The problem is that the built in restore can become corrupt or if the hard drive needs to be replaced the built in restore is no use. That is when the disks need to be found. If the discs can not be found and the machine is out of warranty then new discs need to be ordered or a new liscense of windows needs to be purchased. When the manufacturer is contacted to inquire about restore discs they will often try to transfer you from parts ordering to technicial support so they can attempt to charge you an hourly rate to tell you what you already know. Then they charge you for the discs also. The other option, purchasing windows, is even more expensive since to properly purchase windows you will need to buy a retail copy from a store which costs $2-300 depending on the version. Usually after the frustration of calling the manufacturer and the annoyance of the price of new windows the next step is taking it to the repair shop or starting to look for a new computer.
This can all be avoided by keeping the restore set safe when you purchase a new computer even if you have to make it first.
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It’s not just a vaccination anymore. There are too many terms for the problemware invading your computer nowadays. I think the industry finally settled on just Virus and Spyware, but for a while there people were using terms like Adware and Malware also. I would have thought they would have settled with malware instead of spyware because malware covers anything malicious while spyware is a term for a program installed in your computer to gather and return information or spy.
Anyway, so how about all those choices out there. Even after you pick a brand by asking that relative that is supposed to be a wiz and that elder shopper showing you the latest consumer reports you still have to choose a package. It seems like the major players have settled into a small/medium/large scaling system. Most consumers will base their choice by price at this point. If they really want to be protected and they have the extra cash they will buy large etc. This choice should be made based on the computer it will be installed on and not the price. If you are protecting an older computer that does not have much memory or speed and you are not planning on upgrading either of these statistics than you don’t need large. Yes, large will protect you more, but at what expense on performance. It may use what little resources you had left just to keep running in the background and then when you want to actually use the computer you have to wait much longer to complete a task. My advice for the older computer is buy the small option for basic protection. It will prevent a total crash by detecting and removing most baddies. If you are running at least 1GB RAM with XP or 2GB RAM with Vista then you can go for medium or large. Some software companies don’t have a large, but the difference between their medium and large are usually minimal.
Right now I am trying out Microsoft OneCare which I would think to be a ‘meduim’ even though Microsoft does not have a full line of choices like Symantec or McAfee. Another medium that I would recommend would be Kaspersky. They have a internet security package that is about the same price as its competition and boasts a couple bullet points that outweigh the others. The next one I want to try out is made by a company called eset. They say on their site that they were awarded by some major publications, but I think I found them through a google search and not by reading one of the reviews.
Thats all for now. Hope the info helps.
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