Newbie just got R400 .... now what?

I decided against the mcaffee 30 day trial it came with, and installed norton 2009 (3 months free). so far i like it, but its only been a few minutes. i also installed the newest ad-aware. they are now updated. ive got both running scans right now. Also running thinkvantage system update. Does this sound like a good idea?

what about a firewall, should i get zone alarm or something? what else should i be doing? seems like an awful lot of icons in my startup menu .... i would appreciate any advice you guys can offer, this is my very first notebook. So far I love it. thanks!

R400
P8400
2 GIGS Ram
Intel 5300
Vista Basic
160 GB HD
Bluetooth
Webcam
6 Cell
X4500HD Integrated

 

Don’t drive yourself crazy and just enjoy the system. The firewall built into Windows is, largely, good enough and I dare say the built-in Windows Defender is better than Ad-Aware. If you have to ask these types of questions, creating a second account, non-Administrator account, and using this for day-to-day use, instead of the Administrator or equivalent account, will do more for securing your computer than all the extra software you’re adding/considering adding.

 

I would say the first thing to do is to make yourself a set of rescue and recovery dvd/cds. That way should something happen you can restore the computer to the factory contents. Other than that, enjoy the system!

P.S. lets us know your thoughts on it, don't hear too many people buying the R series on these boards.

 

^very right!!!dont go overcrazy..these things slow down your laptop..just enjoy the machine in its fullest!!!!

 

thanks! how do i make recovery cd's? i saved a few bucks and got the DVD ROM / CD RW ... I hope this choice doesn't hurt me here

 

Start>Programs>ThinkVantage>Create Recovery Media. Yeah, it's going to hurt cause it's like 12 CDs I think. If you can borrow an external DVD burner just for making the discs, it'd save some hassle. Don't forget to make a copy of the SWTools folder on the C:\ drive. It contains all the software, which would include the drivers and apps, installed on your machine.

 

- Set your battery threshold in order to maintain your battery capacity in the long term (search for that on this forum; I've got mine set for 35%-55% as suggested for people who keep theirs plugged in most of the time)

- customize your other power settings (double click on the battery icon on your task bar - the one with the time-remaining showing, not the windows one)

- this is personal preference, but I'd dump norton and download AVG. norton is junk and causes more problems than it's worth.

- fun stuff: customize windows mouse pointers - vista ships with a really boring one and they have other fun ones available (right click on the desktop -> personalize -> mouse pointers)

- hmm, i know there's more but i can't think of anything right now.

 

NiS 2009 is awesome my friend. I am considering to purchase it once the trial expires.

 

AVG 7.5 was good. The new AVG 8 is junk. Supposedly the new 2009 Norton is better than past Nortons (we'll see for now). Older Norton AVs (circa 2004-2008) were maligned for being extreme resource hogs btw.

Do not install ZoneAlarm! That program is very buggy, especially on Vista. The firewall that comes with Windows is sufficient enough.

 

Norton is horrible...except their corporate products are mediocre. As others said the windows firewall is fine for regular users. AVG, Avira, and Avast have better free AV products. There is always spybot search and destroy for those periodic checks as well. But the best AV is a skeptic mindset in browsing. Adblock and noscript work wonders too!

 

That is no longer true. I have also seen a LOT of trouble (up to completely spoiled systems) with Norton AV in the last years at my customers. However, Norton 2009 is a complete rewrite. According to several tests Norton 2009 is a good AV again, Norton got it right this time (although still not my *personal* favourite, I didn't like the Norton firewall).

I completely second what BinkNR said: A non-admin account is better than any AV software.