how do windows users do it?

dtravis7 said:

Of those I have settled on MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). CWA and Bobtomay, do you both still use and like MSE? One of both of them recommended it to me a while back.

I used to use AntiVir at one time (For years) but found MSE better for me anyway and not very resource heavy.

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What about the 1st program in the list "Avira AntiVir Personal for Windows"? Seems to be a "top pick" of sorts among users & gets good scores from antivirus testing agencies.

- Nick

That is Antivir. I used it for many years but back away after the recommend of MSE. Their servers are in some other country and updates were getting so slow to download and toward the end it seemed to be dragging down my systems more and more. It's a good program though. I hope CWA and Bob chime in.

dtravis7 said:

That is Antivir.

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Ahh I see. Three of the first 4 programs in the list start with the letter "A"...so I probably got the names confused.

- Nick

It's not you, people call it many names, Antivir, Avira!

Still using MSE on my Windows rig for a year now with no issues.

I used to use Kaspersky on my old Windows box, primarily because I received it free with my bank account...

Bank stopped offering it up, so I switched to MSE and it's been great, as far as AV goes. No problems, isn't a massive resource hog like Norton, and it's free!

+1 for MSE.

pigoo3 said:

I have the installs on separate drives. So if I turn off Aero...what other "unnecessary effects" are there to turn off (and where do I find them)?

Thanks,

- Nick

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Take a look here for a few tweaks including the graphics ones that I alluded to earlier (some of which has been covered by Ctrl-Opt-Del above).

You could always just use the Windows Classic theme as well (right click Desktop > Personalize > Basic and High Contrast Themes > Windows Classic. That would disable everything and leave you with memories of the 90s.

vansmith said:

Take a look here for a few tweaks including the graphics ones that I alluded to earlier (some of which has been covered by Ctrl-Opt-Del above).

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Awesome...thanks!

- Nick

Let us know how much of a difference you notice - I'd love to know. I'd test this myself but since I can't get Aero to run in my VM, I can't test the difference (I think I've set up a challenge for myself).

vansmith said:

Let us know how much of a difference you notice - I'd love to know. I'd test this myself but since I can't get Aero to run in my VM, I can't test the difference (I think I've set up a challenge for myself).

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It will have to be a "subjective" observation. Unless there's a benchmarking program I can run (before & after)...which can measure the difference (before & after the tweaks)?

I would probably trust the numbers more than a subjective observation...unless there is a substantial/massive performance difference.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

It will have to be a "subjective" observation. Unless there's a benchmarking program I can run (before & after)...which can measure the difference (before & after the tweaks)?

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Hmmm...here's a list of five benchmark apps but I'm willing to bet that they likely won't measure any differences that comes with graphics changes (I'm sure they work at a much lower level). That said, 3DMark might show some differences (apparently older versions are still free).

pigoo3 said:

It will have to be a "subjective" observation. Unless there's a benchmarking program I can run (before & after)...which can measure the difference (before & after the tweaks)?

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Well, if you get-up Windows Task Manager (right-click the taskbar & select Start Task Manager) & go to the Performance tab you can see a continually-updated indication of RAM usage.

And the System Properties window I lead you through before includes the "Windows Experience Index" - a rather strange but fairly representative form of global performance rating that runs from 1.0 to 7.9...

Ctrl-Opt-Del said:

Well, if you get-up Windows Task Manager (right-click the taskbar & select Start Task Manager) & go to the Performance tab you can see a continually-updated indication of RAM usage.

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I'm thinking that this will help show how much ram is used (before vs. after...OS tweaks)...it may not help me determine hard to detect performance improvements. Like I mentioned...unless the performance improvement is clearly obvious (via user experience)...this is where a benchmarking program may help.

Ctrl-Opt-Del said:

And the System Properties window I lead you through before includes the "Windows Experience Index" - a rather strange but fairly representative form of global performance rating that runs from 1.0 to 7.9...

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Yes...I saw this. I will check it out to see if the number improves with the OS tweaks.

Thanks for the suggestions/ideas,

- Nick

Just my opinion but to me turning off Aero and all the other things in W7 make it very much like a newer XP. I like the new features.

I'm in process of doing a system restore on my old laptop before passing it to a happy new owner, currently we're on system update 43 only 50 more to go lol!

I do still use MSE and like it very much. The only niggle I have with it is that I can't easily disable it for gaming. At one time most AV products had a simple toggle, but the trend seems to be moving away from it.

Otherwise, it goes about its business quietly and is very much unobtrusive, which is a sight to behold for a Microsoft product. Do I recommend it to everyone? No - there's not enough nannying for the average user. For that, I recommend (believe it or not) Webroot's SecureAnywhere, which is mostly cloud-based - and while lightweight, it still has plenty of clout, assuming you have an "always-on" Internet connection, which most casual users these days do.

Geekbabe said:

I'm in process of doing a system restore on my old laptop before passing it to a happy new owner, currently we're on system update 43 only 50 more to go lol!

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Only 50 more to go?

CWA107 said:

I do still use MSE and like it very much. The only niggle I have with it is that I can't easily disable it for gaming. At one time most AV products had a simple toggle, but the trend seems to be moving away from it.

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CWA, Good point. AntiVir was easy to toggle off for gaming and I did that every time I played a demanding game. Is there a hard way to toggle MSE off? Never tried as lately I have been playing GTA Vice City on my iMac and not using the Gaming PC.

dtravis7 said:

CWA, Good point. AntiVir was easy to toggle off for gaming and I did that every time I played a demanding game. Is there a hard way to toggle MSE off? Never tried as lately I have been playing GTA Vice City on my iMac and not using the Gaming PC.

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You can stop its service either using services.msc, or by issuing the net stop command (which makes it easy to build a quick .bat file to keep on your desktops).

cwa107 said:

You can stop its service either using services.msc, or by issuing the net stop command (which makes it easy to build a quick .bat file to keep on your desktops).

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Ah ok. So no easy way. I will remember that when I start playing games on my gaming rig. I can do that easy enough. Thanks for the tips!

One thing I HATE (I am sure you do also) is for the AntiVirus to pop up in the middle of a Full Screen game right in an important part of that game! Had that happen way too many times.

Until about a year ago, I had WinME running on my 2000-vintage Dell 866...

Di-No-Saur.

WinME: The red-headed step-child of the MS family. Abandoned, ignored, and sent off to the corner for it's fussy, cantankerous behavior.

That ancient 866 has XP on it now, and is amazingly still chugging along, stubbornly holding onto life! It's the kids' computer now, and I'll keep it around as long as it clings to life!