Stuff you can use......

[Ray in Kingwood]

Most of the time I use Linux. I also use 'Winders.

When I use 'winders for antivirus I use two free programs that together according to slashdot and some other sites I visit....

work better that any bought version.

I use Avast

www.avast.com/

and AVG

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1

I also used in conjuction

Spybot for spyware,

http://www.safer-networking.org/

and I use adaware for other nasties

www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

I use ccleaner for cleanups.

www.ccleaner.com/

These programs are for my Winders setup and keeps everything ticking along quite smoothly and all work together fine.

Wanna know the best part?

ALL of them are free. Even the Antrivirus programs and the updates. I have an extensive computer network in my home consisting of a large server, 5 destops, 4 laptops, print servers, 2 lazer jets, 3 lazer printers, streaming video and music to everything, both wireless and wired....

My setup has been jammin for a cople of years with no problems using the programs I mentioned for winders...

All of my 'puters dual boot in winders and Linux.
Linux for the most part just runs and runs...Does not require all the crap winders does...

Do ya want a free killer photoshop program?

Google for GIMP and download the winders version...

Do ya want a killer office program as good as MS winders stuff?

Go to open office.org and download the winders version

Doya like the IM stuff?

Google for Gaim and dl the free version...


ALL the stuff I just showed you is safe, no popups, viri or other nasty crap that usually comes with free programs.

ENJOY!

[USMCsilver]

Oddly enough, I'm using almost the same stuff; if I'm not currently using the stuff, I have used all of it in the past.

I've got four PCs all running a different combo of stuff. Trying to narrow down what works/what doesn't.

I LOVE Crap Cleaner! Probably one of the best programs I've ever found.

[Antonio]

Not just safe, but its a lot of great stuff to keep a clean computer and working great.

[timebroker]

AVG a long time favorite, there is not one Anti Virus which keeps every virus out but this one does the job nicely and most importantly, it is light in cpu and memory use, never needed anything else, only had a virus once in maybe 5 years which it did not detect but was picked up by other software.

Spyware and adware detectors

- Spybot, with certain OS/versions of Spybot there are some problems but nothing serious.
- Adaware, never has let me down in like 4-5 years, absolutely trustworthy.
- Spywareblaster, it has not much spyware definitions but it runs on the background and is very light, blocks before spyware can get on your computer.
- Windows defender, beta version was excellent, current one is a b'''' on cpu and ram usage but nevertheless still good and many functions.

All this, combined with a good defrag program has kept my computers (Windows) clean and fast for years (used other programs as well but they are not free). Most people need to format their computers every year or so to keep it fast, with this configuration (and actual use of them, you would be surprised how many computers have software but it is never executed) you should not need to format for 2-3 years and still have the same speed (depending on upgrades programs used).

If all else fails (for speed), try more RAM, cpu's most of the time are fast enough to do the job.

If it was not for the fact that most companies use MS Office, I wouldn't touch it (unfortunately I have to to keep up to speed), Open Office is free, reasonably fast and it has a lot of options. Star Office as well but is not free anymore.