Help! Electronically Challenged

[bassin_bug]

Hi, Guys:
This old computer is about dead and it needs to be baptized. I'm thinking of turning it into a boat anchor and dragging it over some underwater rocks at high speed to kill it and take it to the landfill for burial. My patience is already exhausted and it's managed to avoid a shootout by only a hair. lol

I've bought a new HP Pavilion PC with 7GB Memory, 640 GB Hard Drive, DVD Burner, and a few other bells and whistles. It has a 22" diagonal widescreen LCD flat panel monitor. I also bought an All-in-One, printer, copier, fax, scanner. How hard/easy is it going to be to setup? I'm usually able to follow simple instructions with no leftover parts when the job is finished. My problem is that I'm somewhat electronically challenged but do manage to navigate the systems reasonably well.

It has a 30-day free trial of McAfee Virus protection but I'm not sure how well I will like it and don't plan to download it until I know a lot more about it. The last McAfee virus protection I used messed up every program I had and slowed my high-speed internet down to a snails pace. I need some opinions from you about Norton vs McAfee or "other." Thanks for your help and guidance.

Bassin-Bug

[Grumpy]

Bug, you can't be any more electronically/computer challanged then I am but seeing that you bougt an HP, I don't think you will have any trouble setting it up.

The first home computer I bought was an HP Pavillion that I got on sale for a rock bottom price. I asked the salesman about setting it up and he said with the detailed instructions I would get from HP, to save my money and do it myself. He was right, they are very detailed, step by step, with a lot of pictures included and if you take your time it all comes together fine.

Sometime later, I had a problem with my printer and I called HP Tech Support. I found them to be very helpful but sometimes a little hard to understand their English (I think they are in India). They did, howver, take the time to talk me through everything and got it fixed for me.

What I am getting at is that I was so pleased with HP that when I was ready to upgrade six years later, I ordered another HP desktop and monitor on-line and set that up myself. Again the instructions were easy to use.

The bottom line is don't worry but if you do run into trou8ble CALL TECH SUPPORT.

McAfee trial versions came with both of my computers and I was not happey with them either. Fortunatly, both of my Internet providers have had their own virus protection, etc. and I used thiers. Right now I get CA Security FREE with my Insight Broadband and both are great.

Good luck,

Grumpy

[DJD]

Should be pretty easy. If you get in trouble and call tech support they can take the computer over from their site and help you or do things for you. I would suspect you will do fine with everything. Most of it (cables) is color coordinated as well.
If you have a router or wireless router you might have a few problems....at least I did! Good luck....

[Chubminnow]

We have a Dell at home and have the McAfee Virus thing protecting it...McAfee seems to do pretty good as far as I can tell.

[Devils Horse]

Hi, Guys:
This old computer is about dead and it needs to be baptized. I'm thinking of turning it into a boat anchor and dragging it over some underwater rocks at high speed to kill it and take it to the landfill for burial. My patience is already exhausted and it's managed to avoid a shootout by only a hair. lol

I've bought a new HP Pavilion PC with 7GB Memory, 640 GB Hard Drive, DVD Burner, and a few other bells and whistles. It has a 22" diagonal widescreen LCD flat panel monitor. I also bought an All-in-One, printer, copier, fax, scanner. How hard/easy is it going to be to setup? I'm usually able to follow simple instructions with no leftover parts when the job is finished. My problem is that I'm somewhat electronically challenged but do manage to navigate the systems reasonably well.

It has a 30-day free trial of McAfee Virus protection but I'm not sure how well I will like it and don't plan to download it until I know a lot more about it. The last McAfee virus protection I used messed up every program I had and slowed my high-speed internet down to a snails pace. I need some opinions from you about Norton vs McAfee or "other." Thanks for your help and guidance.

Bassin-Bug

The printer/copier/fax will be easy to set up, especially if it's USB attached. Just connect it to your computer and it'll detect it and try to install drivers. You should probably interrupt the install and use the drivers that came with the printer. I'd consider downloading the latest drivers from the manufacturer and using them.

AV/AS programs are, and always will be a source of aggravation, but you absolutely can't do without them. New PC's typically come with a demo version of AV protection which'll bug you forever with popups unless you either buy it or uninstall it. They often come with the AV mechanisms configured with a software firewall enabled and your PC locked down very tight. If you're using a hardware router/firewall (which you should definitely be doing) behind your DSL or cable modem, you're fairly safe from conventional brute force attacks and you can loosen it up some. Usually by turning off Windows and AV software firewalls which conflict with other programs and can affect your computer's performance.

A 22" screen? Dang, you can't hide money...

[pontooner]

You definitely need a good antivirus if your going to be surfing the web and with that said I would uninstall McAfee so fast it would make you head spin. It misses quite a bit of stuff and is a resourse hog.

There are a few really good free antivirus programs out there and here's a couple that are popular. Google them both and you'll find lots of good stuff about each.

Avast free home version - What I've been using for about 2 years now and really like.

Avira AntiVir - Lots of great features


You also might want to use a program called SpywareBlaster that helps prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software on you computer. Easy to use and set up.

If you use Internet Explore make sure to keep your computer up to date via Windows update to keep it safe or switch to another browser like Firefox, Opera...........

Too much info I know but it's a unsafe web surfing world out there but better safe than sorry.

[Col Forbin]

trend micro antivirus is the one that has been most trouble free for me. It stays up to date, and catches everything, plus you won't be bothered with continuous pop-ups.

[GeoFisher]

Hi, Guys:
This old computer is about dead and it needs to be baptized. I'm thinking of turning it into a boat anchor and dragging it over some underwater rocks at high speed to kill it and take it to the landfill for burial. My patience is already exhausted and it's managed to avoid a shootout by only a hair. lol

I've bought a new HP Pavilion PC with 7GB Memory, 640 GB Hard Drive, DVD Burner, and a few other bells and whistles. It has a 22" diagonal widescreen LCD flat panel monitor. I also bought an All-in-One, printer, copier, fax, scanner. How hard/easy is it going to be to setup? I'm usually able to follow simple instructions with no leftover parts when the job is finished. My problem is that I'm somewhat electronically challenged but do manage to navigate the systems reasonably well.

It has a 30-day free trial of McAfee Virus protection but I'm not sure how well I will like it and don't plan to download it until I know a lot more about it. The last McAfee virus protection I used messed up every program I had and slowed my high-speed internet down to a snails pace. I need some opinions from you about Norton vs McAfee or "other." Thanks for your help and guidance.

Bassin-Bug

Well.......

I do this stuff for a living................feel free to IM me or send me an e-mail message.

BTW.........McAfee is what we use at my company, and I like it but it is a HOG and kind of spendy.

For a really good FREE tool, that covers Virus and Spyware, get AVG antivirus from Grisoft.........they are the BEST FREE tool.

Again, IM, or email me if you'd like.

Later,

Geo