Tech: Need barebones internet security

Subject: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 05:47 AM

McAfee has given up on me. I've just spent 40 minutes on line (at their expense) trying to sort out how to get over the fact that their bloatware (and MS ditto) have filled up my C: drive so it won't work properly any more.

This is on a netbook, an Asus Eeepc running XP SP2 on its 3.73 Gb C: drive. The two of them continually updating have filled up the drive, leaving only 180 Mb free. I have moved out everything that I can to the D: drive, which has ample room. (Last time I dealt with this problem I tried a program which was supposed to migrate programs to the D: drive, which left the C: almost as full, and the D: drive having used up all its free space (currently 4.4 Gb) as well. I went back to factory again.) I did not reinstall SP3, which I did try for a while using its own security program.

I obviously need some sort of protection. McAfee have now told me that my computer does not have the minimum requirements for running their software. End of call. End of customer relationship on this, and other computers.

So what can I do instead?

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 05:50 AM

Install Ubuntu.

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 06:25 AM

As Jack said: Install Ubuntu

You can run it alongside Windows in a dual-boot system. You can even run it "live" off a DVD or USB stick to try it out first. You have absolutely nothing to lose, and from the description of your problems, rather a lot to gain.

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: wysiwyg
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 08:19 AM

Avast.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 08:29 AM

Forgot to mention the period during which I ran XP SP3 with its own protection program, and that also filled up the C: drive.

And Asus is no help, either. I bought it with XP because I had a deadline and my XP running Toshiba was in need of repair and I had no time to learn a new OS.

So, if I went down the Ubuntu path - and this machine was designed for Linux - could I install and run it from the D: drive, because there is no room for anything on C:

I assume I can run OpenOffice in Ubuntu - but what else?

Penny

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Stanron
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 11:31 AM

On my Windows 7 machine, yes I know it's not XP, but it half filled a 100+ gig hard drives with restore point stuff before I noticed and got rid of it all.

You can check this on XP by clicking

Start, Programs, Accessories, System tools, System Restore

and then selecting

System Restore Settings

This allows you to set how much of which drives are used for system restore

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 12:05 PM

+1 on Avast

(note..John McAfee himself has a VERY checkered criminal past... I have refused to let anything they put out anywhere near my PC for years)

and yes... 'restore points' can overwhelm a drive. Delete them every few months and start over.

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 12:23 PM

Avast or AVG, and download Malwarebytes to run a free scan regularly.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 02:38 PM

I'm not allowing system restore to do anything. I've got so little on there that doing back to factory doesn't take that long.

I went into John Lewis to have a look at tablets to see if anything could replace both the Asus and my ancient Palm. Something that can use a keyboard and allow handwriting recognition, and connect to the printer. The guy wanted to sell me a Microsoft Surface with free keyboard, and USB port, but it's a bit bigger than the Asus. I see Samsung no longer do a keyboard for the Galaxy Note. and that doesn't have a port. Ho hum.

Penny

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 03:58 PM

If you shop someplace like NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com) that has some of everything electronic, you can look at the features in the left side and select the size, the OS, keyboard, etc. and see what is left when you have made your choices. Then see if there are similar versions in the UK.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Gurney
Date: 19 Jun 13 - 04:18 PM

AVG just stopped being free for me, so I installed Avast. Seems to be working well. On XP.

Mind you, I don't do a lot of Web browsing, just a few sites.

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 04:19 AM

Well, I've just installed AVG (recommended by my nephew, in the business, and by the JL salesman) and I am impressed already. Not only did it allow me to install it in the D: drive (in fact, asked me to do so, in so many words), but its tune-up component has increased the free space on C: from 180 Mb before removing McAfee, 342 Mb after removing McAfee, to 783 Mb. Hooray, a working computer again. And I'm not bothered about paying for it either. As soon as my McAfee subscription runs out, its going on the other two computers as well. And no need to buy the new thing, either.

I'd been thinking about that since all the news about the man and his rather eccentric behaviour. Difficult to understand Indian accent on tech support was a second contribution, and then the dismissive response.

Penny

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 08:11 AM

And startup and close down are quicker, and I've lost a superfluous toolbar that I hadn't been able to switch off. Results all round.

Penny

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 08:26 AM

I have free Avast! on one machine and free AVG on another. It's the devil of a job at renewal time with both finding their free versions again (they want your money!) but they're there if you persist. Avast! works pretty well for me, though the nice lady's voice informing me that my virus database has been updated always seems to pipe up when me missus is in bed* and I've inadvertently left the volume up full whack!

*And no, I'm not looking at late-night porn, I'm arguing with non-atheists! :-)

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 12:21 PM

Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and it's the best and most unobtrusive security I've used and I've used most of the free ones and some of the non-free ones. Recommended to me by geeks at a local ISP I volunteered at

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: terrier
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 05:11 PM

I use MSE one one machine and Avast on t'other and both seem to keep my machines running effortlessly. I stopped using AVG when it began to fill my screen and harddisk with junk I didn't want (as did Mcaphew).

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 05:57 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 06:17 PM

Can't use MSE as it only comes with SP3 which fills up the hard drive. I did try it successfully for a bit, but it was back to factory and rebuild after a while. I'll have a look at Avast when renewal comes up for the other machines.

Penny

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 02:39 AM

Side point to start off: Progams to "migrate" stuff from one drive to another just make a copy of the source on the target, and don't generally remove anything from the source drive. In the case of your use, you probably just copied most of a full 4GB drive into the 4 GB free space you had on the other drive.

The eeePC was introduced almost a decade ago as an EBOOK whose only intended purpose was to run a web browser and maybe to look at your email. Since that's about all many people do with a computer, they thought it was a small computer. Asus didn't explain the difference to them. Some people still believe the myth.

The early models had a 4GB SSD (solid state drive) as the only "storage" on the computer, and it was NOT EXPANDABLE. The operating system was a Linux variant.

It was apparently when a later NETBOOK with 16GB SSD was introduced that WinXP was offered preinstalled on the newer ones (with enough storage space to install it) but WinXP was never, so far as I can tell, offered for the 4GB versions.

It is possible that Asus allowed users of the older machines to download and install their WinXP, but the storage space avalable, by itself, makes these older ones poor candidates for using any Windows version.

With the introduction of the later version(s) some people found ways to solder larger chips inside to get (theoretically) as far as 32GB, and some later models did have "SD Sockets" to allow plugging in different amounts of SSD storage, but if you have the original 4GB SSD you probably don't have an accessible socket. Many of the "expansions" claimed probably added more storage than the BIOS could support, so lots of the claims are questionable.

At least one later model apparently had a small mechanical HDD, but I didn't note a capacity given.

Since you mention a D:\ drive, you might have the later 901 Model (or even something newer) that has one 4GB SSD and a separate 16GB SSD that might be able to run another OS if you put only the operating system on the smallest drive, or you could rename and make the larger drive C:\ and use the little one (renamed D:\?) just for email. This swap isn't as simple as it might sound, but probably is doable.

It must be noted that SSDs do have a limited number of rewrite cycles, and you may have lost some storage due to deterioration of the chip, along with "bloat" in what's on the drive. Windows Explorer doesn't always give an accurate assessment of what you have - left, especially for SSDs.

Your best option, if you must continue to use this machine and if it is an early model, quite probably is to get rid of the WinXP and get back to a Linux OS. The Linux originally used is not well known (to me) but Asus might give you a copy to reinstall. You can also use any of the several popular Linux distros.

The Wiki article on this machine lists several different OSs that have been "successfully used" (at the bottom of the article) on netbooks in this series, but doesn't say which eeePC models can run them. As a guess, your apparently early model probably won't handle much of anything other than Linux very well, but you might have more options if yours is a later model in the series.

(Netbooks in the eeePC model line ceased production and sales in January of 2013, so support may dwindle rapidly.)

The eeePC was a "market changer" when introduced, but painful as it may be it might be well to consider something newer, and perhaps in a different "class" among the many now available, unless yours is one of the latest models. There appear to be lots of choices available now, (some significantly cheaper than what you probably paid for yours?). IHIWTH (I hate it when that happens) but it's sort of a fact of "life in the fast lane."

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: Penny S.
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 04:37 AM

Thanks for that. It came with XP, and its originaol setup has the 4Gb C: drive, plus an 8Gb D: drive - neither of which show up as having that capacity - plus an SD slot for increasing capacity further. That's where I keep my files.

This morning MS told me I had updates - thought I did that the other day - and lo and behold, I got only 85 Mb as free space, which AVG managed to convert to 525 Mb by removing junk files.

Your last para was interesting - the MS Surface was so cheap, I couldn't quite believe in it. And its native keyboard was worse than the one on the Sinclair ZX 80 (?not sure about numbering there). John Lewis was giving a slightly better one away free with purchase. I think I probably need a trip to Tottenham Court Road to see what alternatives there are.

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 06:39 AM

For hard drives its sort of a tradition that the "size" that's advertised isn't quite what you can use. There are a few files built in that allow the OS to know how to read/write to the drive, and some data checking/correction/recovery utilities that are "hidden" so that you can't access them and accidentally remove them. Only the "innards" of the drive itself can see them (easily).

The smallest drive I have regularly connected where it's easy to read the specs (and doesn't have hidden OS junk on it) is a 1TB portable external USB, that shows "Capacity" as 931GB, or 1,000,202,039,206 bytes. There's also the minor confusion that the advertisements sometimes treat 1,000,000,000 bytes as a TB, but since a KB is usually taken as being 1024 bytes (2¹⁰ bytes), sometimes a TB is 1024³ or 1,073,741,824 bytes. If it's only a little less than what was advertised it's not something to worry about.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the mini smartphoneswithteletypeandgames that are popular now, but there do appear to be quite a few options with "reasonable capability" for most users. Some "laptops" are now smaller with decent capability, and some of the super portable things are getting close to what causal users may get by with and actually do something useful.

I'm stuck with a desktop since I've got almost two dozen data files I need to keep handy (and look at monthly or more often) that are over 1.5 GB each and one pdf that's sort of important that runs about 9.47 GB by itself. My C:\ drive has to hold a few more than 4,200 Data files that I work with regularly. The other "less important" 75,000 files (mostly smaller) go on the external 1TB. For me a 1 TB internal HD is "cramped," and I didn't find out until too late that my BIOS won't support anything over 2 GB RAM - which ain't really enough sometimes.

I don't attempt to keep up with the mini machines since they've introduce a new one or two almost monthly for the past couple of years, and none of them will do anything that I need as well as what I've got - if at all.

There do seem to be some of the more recent machines that may be able to do actual "useful work" of the kinds most people need to do. I find it best to figure out what you want to do first, and then pick a machine that will do it; but if you're clever enough sometimes you can make (almost) any machine do things it wasn't meant to do. I prefer to avoid the need to be clever, but your results may be better if you do it your own way.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Need barebones internet security
From: EBarnacle
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 01:16 PM

Penny, consider getting a 30 gb or 40 gb hard drive on ebay. That sounds as though it will be large enough to meet your needs without having to wiggle your shoulders every time you turn it on. If you have not installed Malware Bytes, I suggest you do so. It finds things that Avast and AVG don't find and makes it very easy to delete them. I also suggest Glary Utilities as it also picks up space for you. Then, run each every week.

Do not install Avast and AVG on the same machine as they seem to conflict with each other.

I have found that AVG seems to slow our machines down whereas Avast stays in the background and updates itself 3 times a day.