I have installed, used and recommended the following programs. Uninstall all other Anti-virus programs, spyware hunters etc. Download and install the following (all free, by the way) 1. AVG Free Antivirus 2. Lavasoft Adaware (Personal edition-free) 3. Spybot Search and Destroy 4. Spyware Blaster (that name only..no variations) 5. Crap Cleaner 6. A-squared 7. System Security Suite (that name only..no variations) 8. Index.dat suite Use these..you will have no problems. Hope this helps.. txKen

do you happen to still have the paper work that came with it like the directions and the instructions manual that will have all your default info in it and how to reset it. If not look on the bottom for the model and google that you should be able to go to the manufacturer site and find the manuals. Did you set up your router originally with it connected to a desktop computer, in other words which pc did you install the software on? The router is setup on the family PC not my Laptop. Unplugging the router (and modem if one) itself from power and powering down all the computers, then power up the modem if you have cable first then after a while power up the router and once it is fully up then power up the various computers, often makes a big difference. I think we have a modem and a router for Xbox and laptops. are you just using the Vista built in firewall? Yes.I'm using the windows firewall. what are you using is it cable or dsl or what for internet? My son says it's cable/DSL internet. have you done all your windows updates? Yes.Except for three optional ones. I'm confused about resetting the router. That would be on the main computer. Will this help my laptop internet connection?

It's a very good article. Go back and read it again, shee. Essentially, Apple finds out about these things just about as soon as the AV companies most of the time. Yes, there is Mac malware, but the great majority of it works by fooling you into installing it. Never click a link in an email, unless it's something you started, like if you requested a password reset. Otherwise, if you get an email that seems to come from, say, your bank, go to their site and use the contact options there instead of the link in the email. Yes, flash is bad news. It's no longer included in the OS, and in these days when most people get to the web via their phones (no flash there), it's not so necessary, either, although there are apps which require it, like Adobe products. But if you have flash, you will always get the flash version instead of the html5 version of videos, etc Flash is baked into chrome. If you use chrome, you are going to have flash as part of it, in addition to everything you do in your browser being sent to google.

"tired of the habit Windows has of constantly trying to plug me into deals to monetize me" I don't use Windows enough to know for sure what you mean but maybe you mean those "Modern Apps"? Maybe that's why they're willing to give it away for free? The last computer I bought came with Windows 10. The first thing I did was go though the menu, turn off the annoying (to me) live tiles. Then I removed whatever I wasn't interested in that I could. Some by just removing from "Start". Others by uninstalling (right-click and read). The others that offered no easy way of uninstalling, I used PowerShell to remove. (I think CCleaner now offers a way to uninstall them?) " ... I'm intending to replace everything on my new ssd with everything on my old, now Linux machine ... " That should work the same as the first time. Or easier since you've done it before. If you haven't, you may want to create a boot-able version of your cloning software. If Linux is fast on the older spin drive, it will be even faster on the ssd. Especially booting. " ... trouble getting the computer to let me boot from anything except the Windows C drive ... " On my Acer F12 lets me select the boot device. You'll might want to go into BIOS/UEFI and change the boot order though. So you don't have to select it every time. I just not long ago got around to getting a computer with UEFI instead of the older BIOS. I had a lot of trouble learning how to deal with it. I'm still not 100% confident using it. So... I keep images just in case. And just in case I somehow mess up grub so badly it won't boot (I have): Super Grub2 Disk Of course, if you blow away Windows, you won't have to worry about boot order. I keep Windows as dual boot in case I want to use it. And I do use it, if for no other reason than to boot into and use Macrium Reflect to image my Linux drive. Gives me nice small images and it's quick.