24 Aug
2010
24 Aug
'10
7:39 a.m.
At 08:55 AM 8/24/2010, Jerome H. Fine wrote:
Can you make any suggestions as to how you have managed
your Windows XP
system over the years that would help me to avoid malware and virus problems?
Download and install the free Microsoft Security Essentials, their
antivirus / antispyware solution. Don't click on attachments. :-)
The horrid ones these days are drive-by infections you catch from
web sites, and they blow right past most AV/AS solutions, on purpose.
Also to reduce the base size of the system when I do a
backup? On my present
system, all of the files are about 2 GB and that compresses with Ghost to about
1 GB which allows me to fit 4 months on one 4.7 GB DVD and keep the backup
files at the end of each month. If I could even end up with just 4 GB of files on
the Windows XP system which would fit on one DVD a month, that would be
sufficient.
You don't have backup problems yet. Don't focus on the size of
the base or final Windows installation. If your system goes up in smoke,
you'll be reinstalling, and much of what's there comes from the
Windows Updates, so you don't really have it either way.
If you only have ~300 meg of personal data, continue to use CDs or DVDs
for your files. Or switch to thumb drives. Four gig USB thumb drives
are $14 at Walmart. By January, the eight gig versions will be that
cheap (if they aren't already.)
Backup the entire system once in a while by imaging to an external
hard drive. One terabyte external hard drives are $63 these days:
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/38313/1tb-western-digital-elements-external…
Better yet, sign up for a cheap web-based backup service like Carbonite
and know you have an automatic off-site backup.
- John