Computer help: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop?
Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop?
by Ziks511 - 11/6/09 6:34 PMAs noted elsewhere I am anticipating a new laptop (Toshiba L550) but offered with Vista. In a perfect world, what's best for usability and stability and particularly lowest vulnerability? And what has the smallest sensible footprint? And is there any way of coordinating the hoped for blizzard of answers?
Rob
LOL
by d_adams - 11/6/09 6:46 PM In reply to: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop? by Ziks511So, if your getting a Toshiba, then Vista is probably your best bet right now. Windows 7, as I'm sure you know, was just released, but I'm certain you'll agree that it is safest to wait at least 6 months after a OS comes out, so that the developers can fix all the bugs. The main advantage of win7 is that it takes less disk space, and slightly less power to run than Vista does. Vista is very reliable and stable right now, and is just as easy to use as win7. I really doubt one is better than the other when it comes to vulnerability. Windows 7 is still the same ole windows underneath and just a vulnerable to viruses. Anti virus ware is a must have. I recommend Microsoft's own virus protection software: Windows Live OneCare.
No idea on the coordination thing!
Thank you d_adams for appreciating my sense of humour.
by Ziks511 - 11/6/09 9:44 PM In reply to: LOL by d_adamsI dare not hope that you are a relation of or better yet the reincarnation of one of the funniest people ever to draw breath on this planet, the much missed (and very tall) Douglas Adams of Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame.
Yeah Vista for me until the new and improved Win7 crawls out of the swamp and proves itself.
Rob
What use?
by R. Proffitt
- 11/6/09 6:47 PM
In reply to: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop? by Ziks511
In a small factory we run DOS and some software to perform tests. It's never had a down day and not a single pest.
Fast forward to the (b)leading edge and I'm happy with the current Apple machines and their OS and my new workhorse (at work) which is running Windows 7 pro 64 bit.
Maybe the use decides the tool? (get the right tool for the job?)
Bob
Unless I hear happy tails from my retailer, I think it's
by Ziks511 - 11/6/09 9:48 PM In reply to: What use? by R. Proffitt
Vista until I can afford the upgrade. I've been scrimping for this purchase for over a year on a disability pension, and I don't have a lot of extra money (so much so that the purchase may not be made until 2010 by which time maybe Win7 will be available as the default install.
Thanks again Bob. It's really nice to hear news from a voice you can trust.
Rob
Vista (my thought)
by R. Proffitt - 11/7/09 3:49 AM
In reply to: Unless I hear happy tails from my retailer, I think it's by Ziks511
It's not so bad but I avoided it until lately and my only complaint was it sucked all the speed out of the machine, the lights seemed to dim, etc. I don't agree that going back to XP is the answer as those that want to and those that tell others to do that seem to overlook how hard it is to install Windows proper.
Let me comment on my change from Vista to 7. I was fortunate that the office paid the bill for that. But the office also dug in the heels on Vista until there was some bone breaking arm twisting and money was on the line. (Windows Mobile 6 development demanded Vista or better!)
But now that I'm on 7 I can't see why a person with a working Vista machine should make the leap. Yes it is zippier and the UAC is toned down but changing is not mandatory.
Try to get what mileage you can from Vista. Learn about the issues such as mixing Spybot and some Antivirus and the speed loss there. There are more gems like that.
Bob
NetBSD
by Porch-a-Geese - 11/6/09 6:57 PM In reply to: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop? by Ziks511That's the best OS for a laptop that I know of.
Colour me ignorant but that's not a system I'm familiar with
by Ziks511 - 11/6/09 9:51 PM In reply to: NetBSD by Porch-a-Geesesadly I suspect I'd better go with the dealer's recommendation and move up from there.
Rob
New Toshi L/T
by Phil Crase - 11/7/09 8:27 AM In reply to: Colour me ignorant but that's not a system I'm familiar with by Ziks511Check if and when you buy a new Toshi L/T. You should qualify for the free win 7 upgrade, definitely look in to that, the dealer should be able to explain the procedure to you. I just loaded 7 in my Vista/Toshi L/T and am very pleased with the result.
Basis for dealer's recommendation.
by Porch-a-Geese - 11/7/09 8:29 AM In reply to: Colour me ignorant but that's not a system I'm familiar with by Ziks511It's the OS that convinces the assembler it is the best for customer use.
Microsoft has the economic advantage but there are other options.
Sometimes, it means putting things together yourself.
Architecture and hardware are completely separate entities from the OS that utilizes them in many cases. Embedded and specialty CPUs area a different story.
Well
by Jimmy Greystone - 11/7/09 8:44 AM In reply to: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop? by Ziks511Well, since it sounds as if you're more or less "stuck" with Vista for the time being, the prudent thing seems to be to try and make the best of what you're given.
In which case, I'd have to strongly disagree with the person recommending Windows Live One Care. First off, because it was discontinued, and second, because it consistently put up a pretty embarrassing showing against even the likes of AVG Free and Avast, which are free for home use. It's kind of like how when Microsoft bought Giant Antispyware, which was the best of its class at the time, once rebranded as Windows Defender, it's become all but worthless.
I'm all about being proactive however, and preventing problems before they even happen, rather than trying to deal with them after the fact (reactive). So I have my little set of tips, or guidelines you might call them, that I use for this sort of thing. To my way of thinking, asking a question like which spyware remover is best, is the wrong question. It assumes that you will contract spyware, and I reject that notion. I would say the correct question is how to prevent spyware from ever getting onto your system in the first place. Turns out it's not overly difficult to keep your system largely problem free. It's just a matter of careful program selection and some minor behavioral changes. So then all you really have to worry about are hardware issues, and that's what a warranty is for. It's hardly rocket science, and you don't need to keep a small fleet of little programs to help manage the flow of crap onto your system. It doesn't cost a lot of money (there's at least one free alternative for every applicable situation in my tips) or any of the other nonsense most people will tell you.
TIPS FOR A SMOOTH RUNNING SYSTEM
================================
The more of these suggestions you follow, the fewer problems you should have. They won't solve any existing problems you have, but if you follow them all you should be able to avoid virtually all problems in the future.
Things you should NOT do
--------------------------------
1: Use Internet Explorer (1)
2: Use any browser based on Internet Explorer (e.g. Maxathon and MSN Explorer)
3: Use Outlook or Outlook Express (2)
4: Open email attachments you haven't manually scanned with your virus scanner
5: Open email attachments you were not expecting, no matter who they appear to be from
6: Respond to spam messages, including using unsubscribe links
7: Visit questionable websites (e.g. porn, warez, hacking)
8: Poke unnecessary holes in your firewall by clicking "Allow" every time some program requests access to the Internet (3)
9: Click directly on links in email messages
10: Use file sharing or P2P programs
11: Use pirated programs
Things you SHOULD do
-----------------------------
1: Use a non-IE or IE based browser (4)
2: Always have an up to date virus scanner running (5)
3: Always have a firewall running (6)
4: Install all the latest security updates (7)(8)(9)
5: Delete all unsolicited emails containing attachments without reading
6: Manually scan all email attachments with your virus scanner, regardless of whether it's supposed to be done automatically
7: Copy and paste URLs from email messages into your web browser
8: Inspect links copied and pasted into your web browser to ensure they don't seem to contain a second/different address
9: Establish a regular backup regimen (10)(11)
10: Make regular checks of your backup media to ensure it is still good (12)
Being a considerate Internet user & other misc tips
----------------------------------------------------------
1: Do not send attachments in emails (13)(14)
2: Do not use stationary or any other kind of special formatting in emails (13)
3: Do not TYPE IN ALL CAPS (15)
4: Avoid texting speak or "l33t speak" (16)
5: Do not poke the sleeping bear (17)
6: Do not use registry cleaners/fixers/optimizers (18)
Notes
--------
(1) Sadly sometimes this is unavoidable, so only use IE when the site absolutely will not work with any other browser and you cannot get that information/service anywhere else, and only use IE for that one specific site.
(2) Outlook and Outlook Express are very insecure, and basically invite spam. The jury is still out on Vista's Windows Mail, but given Microsoft's history with email programs, extreme caution is advised. Possible replacements include Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, The Bat, and dozens of others.
(3) When it doubt over whether or not to allow some program, use Google to find out what it is and whether or not it needs access to the Internet. Otherwise, denying access is the safest course of action, since you can always change the rule later.
(4) On Windows your options include: Mozilla Firefox, Seamonkey, Opera, Flock, Chrome, and Safari. I would personally recommend Firefox with the NoScript extension for added security, but it the important thing is to pick one and use it instead of IE.
(5) AVG Free and Avast are available if you need a decent free virus scanner
(6) XP/Vista's firewall is probably good enough for 99% of all Windows users, but other options include ZoneAlarm, Outpost Firewall, and Comodo. If you have a router with a firewall built into it, there is no need for any of the aforementioned firewalls to be running.
(7) Microsoft's usual system is to release security updates every second Tuesday of the month.
(8) Use of Windows Update on Windows operating systems prior to Windows Vista requires Internet Explorer, and is thus a valid exception to the "No IE" rule.
(9) Service packs should ALWAYS be installed. They frequently contain security updates that will ONLY be found in that service pack.
(10) You can go with a full fledged backup program, or simply copying important files onto a CD/DVD/Flash drive.
(11) I'd recommend a tiered backup system. For example, you might have 5 rewritable DVDs, and every day you burn your backup onto a new disc. On the 6th day, you erase the disc for Day #1 for your backup, and so on so that you have multiple backups should one disc ever go bad.
(12) Replace rewritable CDs and DVDs approximately every 3-6 months.
(13) These dramatically increase the size of email messages (2-3X minimum) and clog up email servers already straining to cope with the flood of spam pouring in daily.
(14) If you want to share photos with friends/family, upload them to some photo sharing site like Flickr or Google's Picasa Web and then send people a link to that particular photo gallery.
(15) This is considered to be the same as SHOUTING and many people find it to be hard to read along with highly annoying.
(16) Unless the goal is to make yourself look like a pre-adolescent girl, or someone overcompensating for their gross inadequacies, and you don't want people to take you seriously.
(17) Most REAL hackers are quite content to leave you alone unless you make them take notice of you. No dinky little software firewall or consumer grade router is going to keep them out of your system. So do not go to some hacker website or chat room and start shooting your mouth off unless you're prepared to accept the consequences
(18) Most of these programs are scams, and sell you something you don't need. Most of them report non-issues in an attempt to boost the number of "issues". Sometimes using these programs can lead to a non-functioning computer.
(19) The Windows registry is not some mystical black box of untapped performance tweaks for Windows, that will lead to untold improvements in system performance. Most of the tweaks will lead to very modest performance gains of 1-2% tops, and probably less than 10% all combined. There is also a good chance that you will render your system unbootable if you make a mistake when editing. Registry default settings are set that way for a reason. Just do yourself a favor, and forget you ever heard of the Windows registry unless you are a computer programmer/debugger and your job requires knowledge of the registry.
Thanks to everyone who has helped with this issue.
by Ziks511 - 11/8/09 12:07 PM In reply to: Okay, another dumb unanswerable question.Best OS for laptop? by Ziks511I have read everyone's post, and have learned a lot. I will be checking to see if my retailer offers a free upgrade to Win7.
I think I'm an average sort of non-professional user. E-mail, surfing the net, YouTubing for music (there's a remarkable amount of old jazz on YouTube), and Word Processing. My son is the gamer and he has his own system. I do like quick internet performance, but that's more dependent on the server than the laptop. The Acer I'm using, despite being 4 years old, still does pretty well, but it's not mine and I want to return it to my son.
Rob
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