RE: Computer geek advice needed

[Hiram357]

When I upgraded it was from XP to Vista on the home machine and there really were no hitches or problems. My CD writing program had to have a vista patch, but vista went and found the patch that was needed and did the upgrade by itself. I too was skeptical about Vista, but having used it now for a couple of months I really like it a lot.

The only real issues that I have heard about involve some Dell Desktops and that involved having to do a backup of data and then wiping the drive to do a clean vista install.

I have a HP Laptop and it came with Vista.

Never look back.

Dude! I've got a dell!!..... and it hates the vista upgrade...

talk about better, faster, stronger... it's just the opposite... it's like switching from a garmin to a magellan...

it likes to randomly lock up, it's slower, i've only had a few problems with programs that quit working on me... (ironicly they've been windows programs that quit... and still didn't work after downloading patches...)

other than those few issues it works great...

[firefighterjake]

it has a remote control!?!?! that's fancy...

what the heck is a light scribe device????

btw... is that the real jake on the bumper???

I believe the remote is for the TV viewing aspect . . . but I'm not positive.

Light scribe device is a method to etch in a silkscreen type image to a burned DVD.

Nope . . . Jake is (or rather was since he has since died) a basset hound . . . that is (or rather was) Bubba, one of our firefighter's dalmatians.

[firefighterjake]

It comes with Windows Vista. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking Vista, but be sure you can afford it.

Software designed for XP may not be able to run on Vista. If you plan on re-using software from your ould machine, make sure it can be migrated. Maptech, for example, can be installed on Vista, but they charge $199 per state to upgrade their viewing software to Vista. I own maps for 8 states!

Honestly if it were up to me I probably wouldn't go with Vista . . . but it seems as though just about every company out there has made the switch . . . looks like it's just a matter of time before we all go that way.

[firefighterjake]

Sometimes too much is better than not enough. I had a TV card in my last computer and used it semi-regularly and even would like to get one for my new one. They are great for recording news articles to MPG. On the flip side, I ran into compatibility issues with some software that took a while to figure out. But it was worth it to me. I thought the remote was neat, but like a new exercise machine it got old fast and it's been in the back of the drawer since. I imagine it'd be nice in a dorm room or bedroom if you want to use the computer for both for TV and PC to save space.

As far as light scribe, it's a special CD/DVD drive which can print titles directly onto the disk, which could be handy if you made a lot of CDs.

I'm not a fan of Norton, so that'd be one of the first things I'd be removing early on and replacing with one of the less expensive and 'computer overtaking' ones available. You'll be in for a new learning curve with Vista too, but there are not many options for new PCs with XP now.

Other than that, it looks like a decent setup to me. It'd be nice to find a few reviews online, but I couldn't seem to find any.

I did check out a few reviews and user opinions of some similar set-ups and mostly they were favorable.

Any suggestions for anti-virus software . . . if memory serves me correctly there are a few that are free and available for downloading on-line. Any one have experience with those?

[firefighterjake]

The two most important factors: it has a high speed CPU, and 3GB memory. (Price is pretty good, too.)

As for Windows Vista, I haven't had any problems with software crashes our Two Vista computers (All our programs were transferred from Windows XP computers). And with the good CPU and lots of memory, you'll have no problems running Vista.

I also bought a $35 Belkin Vista transfer cable at WalMart. It was pricey, but really made the transfer of software from old computer to new computer a breeze.

But don't you really need a new laptop, instead? LOL!

How does the Belkin Vista transfer cable work exactly?

Laptop . . . nah, I have my faithful Palm for geocaching . . . and I'm getting a desktop for expandability and use for gaming (I'll most likely be adding in a higher end video card before setting this up.)

[brdad]

I did check out a few reviews and user opinions of some similar set-ups and mostly they were favorable.

Any suggestions for anti-virus software . . . if memory serves me correctly there are a few that are free and available for downloading on-line. Any one have experience with those?

I have used the Avast! free home version for a few years now without a hitch. It doesn't seem to hog resources, and I have not gotten a virus yet while using it, but it has caught about 15 I would guess. You will have to log onto the Avast web site every so often (60 days maybe?) and get a new registration number, but it's an easy process. I think they do it to make sure people stay up to date.

[Team Ducky]

A machine pre-installed with Vista is the way to go. Upgrading from XP would be a noightmare. The specs look decent. What is the main purpose of the computer?

[firefighterjake]

A machine pre-installed with Vista is the way to go. Upgrading from XP would be a noightmare. The specs look decent. What is the main purpose of the computer?

World domination.

[firefighterjake]

A machine pre-installed with Vista is the way to go. Upgrading from XP would be a noightmare. The specs look decent. What is the main purpose of the computer?

OK, and now the serious answer . . . mostly I use the computer at home for word processing (no real memory hog there), the internet/e-mail (ditto on the memory issues . . . although I'm hoping to get DSL in another year or two and then watch Netflix movies through the DSL which may mean there will be some memory issues) and gaming (which in reality is why I opted to buy rather than upgrade . . . for the newest game my wife bought me I needed more RAM, a better video card and a DVD player . . . while I might have been able to put the components in -- I'm not sure if I had the expansion slots though since I only cracked the case one time to put a new video card in there -- I figured I still would only have given the computer a tune-up so to speak as the motor -- the CPU -- would still be limited to 2.4ghz and would be a single core processor.)

[Gob-ler]

For anti virus AVG gets strong reviews. At MSN.com there is a section right now devoted to programs that the computer user needs, all free.