ritaweeda, I think Brushwork was advising that you remove McAfee if you've installed Norton's. Having two Active Anti-Virus Programs on a computer isn't a good thing. They usually end up fighting with each other thinking the other is a virus. Download the McAfee Removal Tool and run it. Windows Defender is included with Windows 10. It's not Microsoft's intension to stop you from purchasing a Good Anti-Virus product such as Norton's. Windows Defender will Disable itself if it detects another active anti-virus program such as Norton's, McAfee, etc... Microsoft's intension was to make sure Everyone had some kind of Basic Virus Protection. Many people think they don't need or just don't know they need an Anti-Virus Program. Microsoft is making sure these people are somewhat protected, keeping the rest of us a just bit safer! From what I've read, Microsoft Defender is a little better than Microsoft Essentials. I'm not exactly sure of the differences, you'd have to do some research on that one yourself!

Hundreds of choices and your demands are so minimal that almost anything will do. But look at Costco. Their online store has 18 computers under $500...all name brands like Dell, Lenovo, Acer, etc. You can buy one, try it out, and return it within 90 days if you don't like what you chose, and you get a 2-year warranty included in the price.

We sent our kids away to college with the PC type of their own choice, the PC being a HS graduation gift. My oldest daughter chose to get a Macbook and has been an iPhone/Macbook user ever since. She's the only devoted Mac user in the family, another kid alternates and the others don't use Apple products. The oldest is now a 30-something professional. She has never gone more than 3 years with a Mac without having a catastrophic problem and a number of times it's been almost annually. Fried motherboards (several times), crashed and non-functional hard drives (several times), a delaminated display (once), complete battery failures (several times), and other things I don't remember. She always gets the maximum available extended warranty (and laughs about needing it) but buys a new unit before the warranty expires or soon after any major problem. She's moved several times in her adult life and one of the essential bits of info when moving to a new area is to find where the Apple Stores are. She considers herself to have been serially unlucky with Macs but prefers them all the same. She can well afford to replace these things as frequently as she has to. She gets longer useful lives from her iPhones but I think replaces them at about 3 years. Do I consider this to be indicative of something? Not necessarily. Technology products from any manufacturer have exceptional individuals and lemons and everything in-between. It's funny she's had consistently bad luck with hardware quality. Apple's products aren't anything special when it comes to manufacturing or component quality.

Just because she plays games on a computer doesn’t mean she is a “gamer.” Gaming computers are for people who play serious games that require souped up components so that the computer can keep up with the huge graphics demands. Many online games place no greater demands on computers than does watching a movie or doing word processing. If your daughter isn’t engaging in high intensity first-person shooter games, say, like the ones you buy on DVD, or she doesn’t have a subscription to an online gaming service, she’s likely not a gamer. For that reason, she could probably get a laptop that is more than adequate for all of her needs for much less than the large premium you could be paying for a gaming laptop. It could be the equivalent of thinking you need to buy a Ferrari so you can drive to the local grocery store. I play games online, and though I don’t get involved in the intensive ones, I know from the specs that my $700 computer is powerful enough to play most games if I wanted to. Even basic laptops from Dell, HP, ASUS, etc., are pretty capable. Before you get confused by the dizzying options of computer specs, and spend lots of money, tell us exactly what kinds of “games” she plays. In my experience, people who are into gaming are very aware of the specs needed to meet specific game requirements. Since she apparently is not, it makes me question whether she needs to spend a lot for capability she will never tap into.