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4 Tips For Your New Laptop
Yes, a lot of this will be obvious stuff to techies, but I've found that if a human asks a techie "I just got a new laptop, can you give me any advice?", the answer frequently will (a) not cover these crucial bases, and/or (b) include a lot of unhelpful stuff to impress the listener. The following is a baseline for what I think a useful answer should consist of. (And if you're the techie, you may want to walk the laptop owner through following these directions, since I'm not actually spelling out what icons you have to click on, etc.)
(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, at least install a free one.
Your PC probably came with a trial version of an anti-virus program that will stop working after a month unless you upgrade to the paid version. Of course you can do that if you want. Especially if you ever think you might want phone tech support for your anti-virus software, I expect it's better for a product that you've paid money for.
On the other hand, I know people who thought that if they didn't want to pay for the upgrade to their PC's default anti-virus program, their only option was to let it expire and let their computer run unprotected. If you don't want to pay for a non-free program, install a free one -- Wikipedia has a list of 15 different free or freemium anti-virus products for Windows. PC Magazine gave their "Editor's Choice" award for best free Windows anti-virus to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.70 in 2013 and AVG Anti-Virus Free in 2012, so either of those will work.
(Yes, I know you guys know this. But pass the word on to your Mom or kid brother with the new laptop.)
(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups.
The era in which everybody talks about backing up, but nobody actually does it, should have ended completely in 2013. Old-style backups, even the incredibly easy options, still mostly required you stop what you were doing for a minute, connect to a remote server or connect a piece of hardware to your computer, and twiddle your thumbs while waiting for some copy process to execute. So nobody bothered.
With cloud-mirrored folders, there's no excuse any more. I found out about Dropbox by asking a mailing list, "I would really like it if there were an online backup service that let me open and close files from a local folder so that there was no delay, but as soon as I made any changes, would automatically be queued to be backed up over the network to a remote host," and my listmates said, "That already exists." Windows 8 comes with the similar SkyDrive service already built in.
You can read a detailed comparison of Dropbox vs. SkyDrive vs. Google Drive, but the key point is to use one of them to mirror one of your local folders to the cloud, and get into the habit of saving stuff to that folder. Obviously this may not apply to you if you have something special going on (if you're creating large multimedia files that won't fit within the several-gigabyte limit imposed by these services, or if your privacy concerns are great enough that you don't want to back up files online), but it's good enough for most people. The horror stories about people saving months or years of writing, and then losing it all in a hard drive crash, should never happen to anyone again.
(3) Create a non-administrator guest account, in case a friend needs to borrow the computer.
Some of my friends and relatives have no problem telling people, "No, I don't care if you need to check the weather, you can't touch my computer!" But if you can't resist the urge to be helpful if someone needs to borrow your laptop for a few minutes, then eventually one of those people will mess it up somehow -- either by installing a game, or visiting a website that installed malware on your computer, or just changing a system setting that you can't figure out how to change back.
When the day comes when someone needs to borrow your computer, you may be too rushed or might not know how to create an unprivileged non-administrator account that they can log in under. So go ahead and do it when your computer is brand new, while the thought is still fresh in your mind. Then if people who borrow your computer sign in under that account, in almost all cases, nothing that they do while logged in should interfere with your user experience when you log them off and log back in as yourself.
That's not a completely secure solution to stop someone from accessing private files on your computer. (There are many pages describing how to boot up a Windows machine from a Linux CD, in order to access files on the computer -- they are usually described as "disaster recovery" options, but they can also be used to access files on a PC without the password.) However, it will stop most casual users from messing up your computer while they borrow it.
(4) Be aware of your computer's System Restore option as a way of fixing mysterious problems that arose recently.
I say "be aware" because, unlike the other three tips, this may not ever be something that you have to actually do. However, intermediate-level computer users just need to understand what it means: to restore your computer's settings and installed programs to a recently saved snapshot, while leaving your saved files untouched. This means if your computer has started acting funny in the last couple of days, you may be able to fix the problem by restoring to a snapshot that was saved before the problems started.
Intermediate users sometimes confuse this with either (a) restoring files from backup, or (b) doing a system recovery (which generally refers to restoring your computer to the state in which it left the factory). So if you're the techie doing the explaining, make sure they understand the difference. (A system recovery will often fix problems, too, but then of course you'll have to re-install all your software; a system restore is more convenient since it only undoes the most recent system changes.)
So these are the first four things I would tell people who were the recipient of a new laptop. What would you tell them?
News for noobs,
Stuff that doesn't matter.
All four suggestions are included when you buy a Mac.
Just saying!
and you are going to have to support it, buy them either an iPad or a Chromebook.
ERROR: Null
"Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups."
Was this article written by the NSA?
ZOMG! Thank you so much! I had no idea how to use a Windows computer at the most basic level. Thank God I found this computer n000b beginner site called Slashdot that posts insightful stories about how to do it.
I'm going to tell everyone on AOL and MySpace about this article.
"(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups."
Anyone with experience in ransomware know if they encrypt the files in, say, the user folder (where all of these mirrored cloud services live by default) does that echo to the cloud host, ransoming everything there too? If thats the case then it might be a good idea to at least stay one step ahead of the bad guys and put the folder somewhere else in the system.
Why is this garbage on Slashdot? the people who read this site don't need to be told about running AV software or the danger of running as admin or root.
Editors, please stop pandering to the lowest common denominator end user who will never read Slashdot anyhow
Augh! A mirrored folder to the cloud is _not_ backup! If you delete a file from the folder, that gets mirrored into the cloud so it's gone there too. If you overwrite a file in the mirrored folder, that gets mirrored to the cloud and it's changed there too. This is the same story as RAID drives. That's adding redundancy/resiliency. In the event of a failure of your local drive, yes, there's a second copy elsewhere. But in the event of "oops, I accidentally deleted a file I wanted to keep" you're out of luck.
If they may need Office... a Windows RT machine is pretty good too and requires the same low level of support as iPad or Chromebook.
This space for rent.
Create a non-administrative account for yourself, not just your guests. You are a security problem too.
So what is the default solution for free (or paid) AV software these days?
Running only a terminal session.
Then I never have to worry about loaning my machine to anyone, guest accounts or whatever.
Have gnu, will travel.
All four tips boil down to "don't be an idiot", and not one of them is specific to a "new laptop". Here are my equally-insightful tips:
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Umm. Malwarebytes is a *removal* tool that doesn't offer real-time virus scanning. It's only useful after the machine is infected. It scares me when a "how-to" post has only 4 points, and one of them is so blisteringly wrong that it makes you suspect the OP doesn't actually know how to drive a computer.
1) If you buy a new Win 8 laptop, immediately replace with your favorite Linux flavor. Don't even bother with dual boot.
2) If you are unfamiliar with Linux or how to install it, then buy a Mac.
3) Don't ask me for Win 8 support. I don't know. I don't want to know. Windows 8 is dead to me :)
Unencypted personal data should never be stored in the cloud. If you need a revision control system use one, If you need backups use one. Neither is particularly hard, hell windows built in backup works pretty well. But encrypt anything leaving your possession (not a bad idea for stuff not leaving your possession either) but basic bits like bios HD passwords work pretty well without any performance penalty.
No sir I dont like it.
Or, if you don't want to use an anit-virus program, at least use a Netbook/Chromebook/GNU Linux/OS X?
This isn't even a thorough article. Slashdot has jumped the shark so bad since the last time I was here.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
"(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, at least install a free one."
Never had a positive, other than the EICAR file I tested the damn things with, but sure, go ahead.
"(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups. "
Don't use the cloud if your data is important, use 2 external drives, one mirroring the other.
"(3) Create a non-administrator guest account, in case a friend needs to borrow the computer."
Never, ever, let anyone else use your computer, phone or other device, if you can't figure out why...
"(4) Be aware of your computer's System Restore option as a way of fixing mysterious problems that arose recently."
When I see system restore I think Windows, if you need Windows run it as a virtual machine, for the rest of that know what we are doing system restore is turned off.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
This reminds me of a computer tip that a non-computer savvy person will tell their non-computer savvy friends, who then end up calling tech support for a product that doesn't support their home setup, and then the person on the other end has to explain how real-life works (me). 1. Don't rely on an anti-virus program. Your primary defense is a. not being stupid (which is doing things like visiting pron sites, sites with tons of popups, etc), install noscript, and if you must, periodically install anti-virus and run a full scan. 2. Cloud isn't a backup. If you want a backup, spend a little bit of effort. If your stuff is important, back it up yourself. Use your brain and use redundancy if it's actually important to you. 3. Don't let pesky friends use your computer, especially unsupervised. You don't know what kind of sites they are going to visit and what malware they are going to install. 4. Never use system restore. Just backup your stuff, don't install malware (or "Free" programs that want to install themselves with your real programs) and don't follow horrible tips on slashdot (which I would have expected more of)
First, syncing to cloud is not backup. Second, being at the mercy of a provider doesn't strike me as a good idea in long-term.
Better invest in a NAS. A 2-bay Synology would suffice. 2 4TB drives in Mirrored Raid work great. WD has the "red" line of drives specifically made and tested for NAS storage. They are not as fast but run cool, silent, no vibrations.
Most NAS units run on linux so you can easily add syncing, versioning, "personal cloud", maybe use to play movies on smart TVs via DLNA and so on.
Finally, from time to time do proper backups. For home use, proper backup means burning data on DVD/BD - on 2 separate discs.
Excuse the language and the caps, but... SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS DOING ON SLASHDOT?
Is this site called "News For Nerds, Stuff that Matters" or "Site that links to trivial shitadvice you sent to your computer-illiterate parents if you do not want to talk to them yourself about it?"
What was the person who submitted this thinking? What was the editor who put it here was thinking? Are we getting trolled by one or the two? A lot of questions we will not find an answer to, simply because it does not exist. Slashdot, are we ending the year with a total low, are we?
(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, or even if you do, immediately delete, destroy and cleanse with fire all pre-installed 'security' software. After you have finished that, use an angle grinder to finish the job, as this stuff can be particularly difficult to remove.
(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless access by law enforcement and law violation agencies. Be sure to include all of your account names and passwords in a file called "yellow-sticky-note-on-the-monitor.txt" for the convenience of everyone who trawls through your gooskybox.
(3) Create a non-administrator account, in case you want to use your computer without blowing it up. The convenience of not having to authorize system changes isn't worth the damage you could do.
(4) Be aware of your computer's System Restore option as a way of fixing mysterious problems that arose when you ignored rule three. If you ignored rule one I can't help you, you're on your own.
"(2) Save files to a folder that is automatically mirrored to the cloud, for effortless backups."
NO. Fuck off already. I never want to hear anyone suggesting/promoting "the cloud" again.
"The cloud" is newspeak for "somebody else's computer".
Oh I though this was slashdot. I guess I logged into MSNBC accidentally.
Value your privacy.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
My vote goes to SpiderOak for zero-knowledge, dedupe'd backups.
Trolling is a art,
Very good points. My few additions:
#1: MSE or Windows Defender that comes with Windows 8 and newer. AV doesn't catch much anyway, other than Malwarebytes which blocks by IP, something no other products do. In addition, use a browser (Chrome, Opera, Firefox) that has AdBlock. By blocking the malicious sites, that is dealing with most of the infection vectors right there. SpywareBlaster is another nice tool which installs killbits, restrictions, and blacklists cookies.
#2: The cloud can easily kill data as a HDD. I've had a sync error blow away all my Dropbox files. So, having an external drive for backups is important.
#3: This is a wise thing to do, although going with the separate account is keeping it disabled until it is needed.
#4: System restore is bullshit. I've yet to see it actually be of any use against malware. Even against trashed drivers, it is iffish at best.
Previous Versions on documents functionality can be useful, but trying to "restore" the OS using System Restore may bring more pain than it cures. Instead, one should use a backup program that can do image backups, and dump to an external hard disk, switching them out every so often. That way, if one is certain malware stung them at a point of time, they can boot OS media, format the system drives, reload from the stored backup image, or even more secure, format, reload the machine from known good media, reload apps, then recopy the documents. That way, if malware did infect the backup media, the damage is mitigated.
Of course, for crucial documents, backing them up to CD-R, DVD+R, or BD+R is a good thing since once the media is finalized, it will be extremely difficult for malware to tamper with a burned copy.
As for cloud storage, it is just another piece of media, like tape, CDs, or USB flash drives. Each has their good points, each has their disadvantages. A good backup procedure uses different media types. A good compromise might be copying files to a TrueCrypt container on a Dropbox partition.
If you're buying a laptop for anyone competent, they won't be running Windows on it (or if the do, it's their problem). If you're buying a laptop for anyone incompetent, they shouldn't be running Windows on it. Patching a hopelessly insecure operating system with anti-virus and other bloatware is so twentieth century. Chrome OS is a far better solution for non-technical users.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
1 hit ninite.com first thing to get your "Must have tool for X" things (hint avast , 7zip , classic shell and teamviewer are a "good idea"
2 its a bit techy but WSUSOffline can be used to speed up the process of getting your patches done
3 adblock plus can be installed on all of FireFox , MSIE and Chrome for very good reasons
4 before you panic or install something call %tech_friend% to verify things
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
Why the fuck is this on Slashdot?
OR do what I did on the new laptop I got for Christmas.. Booted the thing up to make sure it worked, then pulled the original drive out, and slapped a spare drive in and installed Debian Linux.. If perchance the machine gives me the finger some time during the warrantee period, I can pull the Linux drive out and avoid all the "We don't support Linux" crap from support... Actually beginning to like Gnome3 on Debian 7.. Since the machine has 8GB of ram, I went with 64 bit (why would ANYone in 2013 still use a 32 bit OS???), but, unbeknownst to me, the old way of running 32bit apps (ia32-libs) on a 64 bit OS has been replaced on the newer distros with multiarch.. Alas some 32bit apps are not multiarch-aware and makes for a really fun bit of work to get them to play nicely.. Takes me back to the mid 90s with Linux and Xfree86...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Fixing that on your PC will take me a couple of hours. The bottom of my garden needs a couple of hours digging. Do we have a deal ?
I just go with my family and friends when they want a new notebook. I check out the software and hardware and I make sure it fits there needs. I always get them to buy good quality computer protection software like Norton 360 and I always tell them to call me before anyone touches the computer for work, such as a futureshop or bestbuy. The biggest single point that I can make or recommend, NEVER buy a notebook from a seller who can't tell you solid hardware details, such as the audio chipset, the rev on the processor or model of the HDD. The reason being if they can't give you the proper stats, they shouldn't be selling notebooks. I also always make sure they buy a backup drive and make sure they setup Norton or any other software to auto backup for them. Basically I just help them get to a steady state and from that point on I just make sure I'm around for repairs or help. Never send someone who doesn't know how to, to buy computer hardware, they will get bullied into buying what they don't need.
The cloud? Again?? How about a local backup, you know, that doesn't require you to upload everything you have to some unknown host? /quote.
I hear local backups aren't very resilient when your house burns down or gets burglarized.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
Huge issue here. In fact, doing this will get rid of the top three reasons you'd want to create a "guest" account anyway. The only remaining issue is folks messing with your desktop. Well, that and one regular guest who likes to hit that damn "mute" button I didn't even know my keyboard had..
Create an additional administrative account, with a complex password (but don't lose it). You will use this to effect repairs if malware infects your main profile. (Most Win6.x malware is confined to the user profile and C:\ProgramData folders to avoid the UAC prompt).
Download the Hosts file from http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm, which will protect you from all kinds of threats (and it hides a buttload of advertising, too).
"The Cloud", frankly, sucks.
The bandwidth of your Internet connection is a fraction of the bandwidth of a local storage device will be.
"The Cloud", in spite of any encryption used, still puts your data at risk of snooping and theft even from the company providing the service.
"Cloud" service providers aren't forever. Enjoy having one go out of business and take you data with it, or fall prey to hackers that trash your data.
The NSA loves "The Cloud" because it makes their job of snooping that much easier for them.
Just buy a USB hard drive and back up your important stuff to that then put it away in a safe place (safe deposit box at your bank if it's that important), or if it's small enough to burn to a DVD or Bluray disc, do that and store the disc(s) somewhere safe. Even USB flash drives come in sizes of hundreds of gigabytes and are not anywhere near as expensive as they used to be.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
If you don't have antivirus, you shouldn't have a computer.
Someone above said:
Editors, please stop pandering to the lowest common denominator end user who will never read Slashdot anyhow
Now here's living proof that there /are/ such people on slashdot after all, seeing this one even thinks Windows and computers are someone the same.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
I have just one tip: Install Linux. Then you don't have to worry about tips 1 through 4. (Well, I guess you could still consider 2, rsync is your friend).
Don't backup to the cloud anything of a personal nature such as itineraries, credit card and purchase receipts, anything with your identity in it or your address, anything of a business sensitive nature or related to sensitive health issues the list goes on and on, just anything that could be used by criminals to harm you or identify you or anyone you have documents concerning.
The problem is, there's no reason to believe that the cloud storage corporations will be any more effective at guarding against intrusion and theft than Target or any of the other thousands of credit card data breaches that are occurring on a rolling basis.
As soon as you outsource your disk drive to the cloud, you are giving thieves a view into something that would have no hope of viewing otherwise- everything on your computer.
It's far too burdensome for most people to divide their hard drive folders into "potentially sensitive" and otherwise. It's not how people think or organize their drives and what's potentially sensitive is not well defined.
A better way to achieve security is through a couple common external hard drives, (make a back up of your back up with the second one). Using very modestly priced or even free backup software that's scheduled to wake the computer and run (Seagate gives free backup software with some their external disk drives) will give you all the data redundancy you need and if you use a back up once a week to an encrypted drive (Samsungs SDD are both hardy to drops and shocks- no moving parts and come automatically encrypted) that spends the rest of its time *somewhere else* (work, a friends or relative's house house) then you've safeguarded against fire and natural disaster with at most a week's lost data.
I made a chart that details all the different ways that you can lose data or have it compromised and effective responses to them. unfortunately I can't post it here but I can list the threats . The ones in bold have actually happened to me and resulted in significant data loss. The arrows point to countermeasures. They are
multiple physical external drives, multiple storage locations for drives, versioned backups on all backup drives , different power lines (internal cables) for each internal drive, surge protection , encryption.
Maybe no one is likely to do all these, OTOH with just two external and one internal drives you could and if it's automated there is no hassle. It's looks more complicated than it is. Also for small valuable files, you could use multiple cheap USB drives and keep them at different locations, encrypting each.
Backup plan:
accidental overwrite during backup --> versioned backups, multiple disk backups
accidental overwrite during editing --> backups generally
drive failure --> multiple disk backups
lost drive --> encryption
virus / spying --> encryption
power surge / misbehaving power supply lines --> different power lines for internal backup drives, surge protection for external backup drives
lightening,--> surge protections, multiple physical locations
fire, natural disaster--> multiple physical locations
break in, theft--> multiple physical locations, encryption
HTH
About creating that guest account - I have NEVER let anyone 'borrow' my laptop. It is mine, passworded, encrypted and the whole nine yards.
Mysterious problems? That's called malware.
Yeah, because there has never been perfectly legitimate, non malware, driver / explorer shell extensions that misbehaved... ever.
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!
Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Sabayon .. link
Please stop approving Bennet "stories." He's a Roland Junior that everyone loves to hate. You're tech savvy, aren't you? Surely you know this submission is some pretty rank tripe.
TYVM HAHNY
Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, at least install a free one.
If you don't have antivirus, you shouldn't have a computer. Note that AVG works fine.
Which "antivirus" (when was the last time you saw a virus) product should I install on my Mac mini, macbook, ubuntu T410, android phone, ipad, raspberry pi, and mikrotik routers?
Vote with your wallet, let the NSA and U.S gov know that all the shit they pull only works as long as we are willing to support the U.S economy. Buy local brands first, other brands second, and American brands last.
Signature intentionally left blank.
Erase Windows and Install Linux.
In fact, if you want a cloud service, open a port for openvpn connection and tunnel into your hard drive at home.
-Hack
PS: I would also like to issue a warning. If you are a person or a company, do not use cloud services. If you need that sort of service, it is trivial to build and secure yourself now days with free software like a LINUX kernel and openvpn.
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
If you don't have antivirus, you shouldn't have a computer. Note that AVG works fine.
All major brands of AV eventually become bloated pigs that manage to bring your system to it's knees while also not being able to detect viruses. ESET is by far the worst in my experience. I literally am unable to work on my laptop while this pile of puke is thrashing my hard drive for about 25% of my day. I literally have my laptop running about 23 hours a day, and it spends about 6 hours a day running the virus scan (300 GB drive about 2/3 full). ESET is required by my work so I am stuck with it.
I found the free AVs to be better than the commercial ones, but even the free ones eventually become bloated pigs. I've given up on AVG. I am reasonably satisfied with Avast, but I'm sure it will become a pig in the next couple of years and will have to be replaced.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
And accessing your files / data / passwords, which everyone should know is far more important than the OS it sits on.
No way. It fucking is my computer, I am the ADMIN so i fuken log in as AS ADMIN. Period.
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
Here's a decent list for you:
1. Use free software.
FTFY
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
Install or isolate your OS on a separate partition from everything else...so that you can keep "Your computer's guts and what makes it go" and "The rest of your stuff that doesn't need your computer working right if it suddenly wigs out." away from each other. Which is just how I put it to my parents and relatives so they can hopefully minimize the clusterfuck that I'll eventually have to sift through and try to salvage somehow when something screws up and they call me.
2: Whoever wants to touch it gets their own user account.
FTFY
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
Really, nobody should ever log in to their system - especially if it is running a Microsoft OS - with admin rights for regular work. You're just asking for trouble when do you.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Last time I remember seeing a piece on here, lots of people screamed at you: USE THE JOURNAL. Stop putting blog posts on /.'s front page. Link to your goddamn journal if you want to use Slashdot as hosting. Furthermore, this entire thing is Winbloze-centric, on a site populated by huge amount of people who use other OSes. Back to CNET or whichever hellhole you came from. Would someone please delete his account?
Dropbox allows you to restore deleted files. You can even view and restore previous versions of the file if you overwrite it and want to get it back.
Make a backup. The cloud is not a backup. The cloud is a way for Microsoft, Google, or Amazon to look at your pictures too before passing them on to the NSA. Thumb drives are much cheaper and do not require a high end internet connection.
The best tip for novice users is to ignore anything Timothy says.
(sorry about the title, silly beta slashdot requires one it seems)
I would like something like Apple's Time Machine. It's simple to use, automatic, doesn't suck up resources, convenient to browse and restore from. Nothing for Windows is that useful and also free, and Microsoft keeps changing their default backup application every release.
The drawback is lack of dual drives for backing up to, in case the user is hyper paranoid about fire. But seriously, if your computer is the only repository of you incredibly valuable baby photos, there are more problems to deal with than backups. Start printing those things out and putting them in an album. Things you really really don't want to lose tend to be few in number so put them on a thumb drive.
Saving to the cloud is silly. It's just wasting bandwidth so that you can save your drafts of Christmas letters, or all twenty of your Thanksgiving photos even though you'll delete 19 of them a week later after reviewing them.
Clone the original drive before you make any changes or investment in the new machine. That way, you can go back to the original factory finish any time you want. It will give you extra confidence in making changes or installing other operating systems.
You should not rely on the re-installation tools provided by the manufacturer. They don't always work.
(1) If you don't want to pay for an anti-virus program, dont install a free one. Learn from your mistakes of clicking random shit, it makes you a better user in the end.
(2) Save files to a NETWORKED SERVER. Or USB HDD/Stick if you care about your privacy.
(3) If you have friends, they will most likely rather use their own phone than your laptop.
(4) Be aware of your computer's System Restore option as a way of ignoring your own failures.
Every year or so I make a forensic copy of my Windows machine's HDD and use F-prot to scan it on an air-gapped clean scratch system. It always comes up clean. It is possible to use Windows without any active AV and still not get infected. It'll be a sad day if ever universal active antivirus becomes mandatory as suggested by GP.
Not only does this "news" in no way matter for people reading /. it is even wrong on so many levels, that it actually does more harm than good.
Instead of giving them a list of To Do's and waiting for them to call me asking for help doing these basic things, I would prefer to just take the laptop and set it up for them. I also suggest they allow me to put Teamviewer in a folder called HELP on the desktop (along with a few other tools), so they can allow me to take a look at a problem without driving 100+ miles round trip. Helpful suggestions: Host file from MVPS; use task scheduler to have it update (free) Malwarebytes daily and scan weekly
Dropbox allows you to restore deleted files. You can even view and restore previous versions of the file if you overwrite it and want to get it back.
For backup purposes, use a proper backup program. Dropbox is probably better than nothing, but it is atrocious for backups. I had Dropbox delete most files from my account due to a bug (booted up an old linux partition which Dropbox quickly filled, and then it proceeded to delete everything that wouldn't fit on that partition from all my boxes). Turns out you can't undo a whole "delete" operation from Dropbox, although you can view it. You have to restore files individually (or by folder, I can't recall. It would have been a huge job to do in any case). I quickly restored from one of my other local backups (Crashplan).
So, use a proper backup solution which preferrably backs up locally *AND* online (offsite). Use Dropbox for sync if you want, but back up your Dropbox folder as well :)
Are you a grammar Nazi? I'm trying to improve my English; please correct my errors!