Software to stay away from

Yesterday I did a reformat on this thing. It's an old computer and I'm taking a couple of classes on line starting next week (too lazy to drive all the way to campus in the heat of the summer ). I figured I'd do a total reformat to get this thing in top condition. I've been using Comodo for a firewall for a couple of years now and when I was putting everything back in this I saw that Comodo offers firewall and anti virus together and thought I'd try it. STAY AWAY FROM IT! The anti virus wants to call all sorts of stuff a virus and I was stupid enough to let it delete a couple of files that are needed to install software from a cd and there is no way to get them back. I'll be spending the next few hours doing my second reformat in two days.

Anyone have any comments about other software to stay away from? If so please post them here so others will know too.

buckethead wrote:


For example ...

• Windows Vista
  
• Internet Explorer
  
• Outlook Express ...
  

Norton antivirus - slows your PC to hell, a right bugger to get rid of cleanly (easier to re-format)

AVG also calls any keygen a trojen.

Make sense if the prog is a patcher.

nudge96 wrote:

AVG has done that to me too. I put in avast yesterday and hope it will work well.

To get totally rid of Norton and McAfee you need to download and use the removal tool from their repective websites.

The #1 major piece of shot software that I've been cursed with is Iolo's system Mechanic/AntiVirus/Firewall. A total poop job.

Guys! Get a Mac!

But I prefer Firefox over Safari ....

Don't use Game Speed Adjuster, it made flash file (video / game) stuck in the middle

Windows VISTA

If you are running Windows XP on a pretty decent computer, by all means keep your system. XP is probably the best OS that Microsoft ever developed.

It used to be when you buy a computer you get an option to upgrade your OS: ie, windows 98 to windows 2000 or windows 95 to windows 98. Now, they give a DOWNGRADE option from Vista to XP. Seems like Vista is a step back and not forward.

What makes re-installing an OS so time-consuming is that you have to install all your applications again as well. And most of them come with default settings that you don't want. They mostly search online for updates (sometimes every day) and bother you with that. Also all kind of automatic file indexing is a pest, although they say it will be done when your computer is idle. Be careful when there is a option "start with windows": you mostly don't need that. This can seriuously slow down your pc. Think of all these scanner softarwe, graphic card tools, webcam applications, printer stuff that is started with windows. Only start it when you need it.
So my advise is when installing a new shareware or regular program, don't just click through. Be careful of the prechecked boxes (do really need a new google tool bar when you just install a new mouse driver), and always go first to the options and un-click all these "stay in the tray" or spy-options away.

And one thing you should definitely avoid is "RealPlayer". They want to know everything about you and it takes you 15 minutes to unclick all unnecessary options.

And although everybody needs it from time to time: when you have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader, go to the options and disable automatic updates and all kind of online storing options.

Loui375 wrote:

I second that. I've been playing with computers and the internet for about a dozen years now and in all that time I don't think I've had a good experience with RealPlayer. It truly is a piece of crap.

Avoid Quicktime at all costs.

And I think it's funny that people say avoid Vista and stay with XP. I had XP on my desktop for maybe 3 weeks, went back to 2000 Pro and have been there ever since.

Spybot Search and Destroy is an amazing program that does a great job getting rid of spyware.

Just don't immunize!

Immunization used to work perfectly, but now it will slow your web browsers to a CRAWL. In Firefox, you will hang on "Looking up http://www.whateversite.com" for AGES before it loads, and then with every click of a link.

Philip28 wrote:

I agree with RagingBuddhist - Windows 2000 Pro is probably the best OS that MS ever produced. Unfortunately, a number of vendors have subsequently produced software that does not run on this OS, so I had to upgrade to XP and in one case Vista.

GrumpyOne wrote:

Yeah - unfortunately, I'm running into that too. I've yet to find a video capture card that's 2000 compatible. I'll deal with that just to keep out of XP - and pray I never get **** into needing Vista