Been using it since released to beta. And in the name of research, I've forced myself to browse porn websites daily to check its protection capability and it has, in fact, done its job. Now I must back to the lab for more research...
I was actually looking forward to this, but I remembered my university gets me a free copy of Norton (which is fantastic, because my university doesn't do much else for me). Norton seems a lot less bloated than usual so I'm very happy with it, but I will probably still try this out when I get Windows 7.
AVG is free, but AVG is also shit. Shitty shit shit as it were. I may have to sample this. Avast is actually not bad, but those who hate stupid noises may get irritated by the fact that it speaks to you by default, so you have to go into its settings to turn that nonsense off. I for one welcome our long-time coming freebie AV software.
@Jux: Some AV software behave like malware/spyware. Avira, for example, is a pain in the ass. There's a way to make it stop flashing ads at you to buy it, but nuts to that nonsense; it would be nice if it simply notified me that it stopped working and I need to pay a fee to get it up again. I don't need a huge window with happy business people telling me "This shit is GREAT! It's like a big CONDOM for the internet!", so I deleted that sucker. AV programs should not behave like adware. They shouldn't screw around with you. If they're trials, they should simply give me a notice that the trial is expired. They're intentionally annoying to force you to pay.
I've had to clean a couple of people's home computers that were infected even with an updated version of AVG on it. I used to swear by it, but no more. I'm installing either Avast or Security Essentials now. I've been part of the beta on SE and have had good results.
@token_illiterate_commenter: Where these trojans/backdoor programs/malware, which AVG tells you it doesn't protect against, and are usually installed BY the user willingly? [lifehacker.com]
@GitEmSteveDave_JustAddHotWater: Is it wrong for me to start crying halfway through this horrible horrible video. MAKE IT STOP! I'LL BE GOOD! PLEASE END THE USER STUPIDITY!
@Nick2: I'm cleaning a computer right now that got Cryptor that exact same way. Doing a system restore/repair as it infected the registry and also won't allow ANY program to go online now, even after I cleaned it out. I think it infected files, and there was no way to strip the virus, so the baby got thrown out with the bathwater.
No disrespect - but... Why in God's name would anyone go to such lengths to make a simple process so mindnumbingly complicated?
A 500GB pocketdrive costs $130, is BIG, can handle differential backups (TimeMachine for Mac users and Windows Backup for Windows users), and can also be used to share files with friends without the hassles of using the Internet... which, unless you're living on a backbone, is SLOW and has bandwidth caps - assuming you even have access to the internet when your laptop - you know - blows up?
If you're talking 4-32GB - get a USB key. An 8GB key is like $20. Get two and alternate for redundant backup.
I carry Win7 on a bootable install USB key just in case and a bootable USB Acronis kit on a key, and then everything I need to reconstruct my laptop from scratch on a 500GB pocketdrive (Acronis True Image + a 'safe' image of my core system + backup of my latest files).
And none of this is even remotely useful unless you actually DO it, so automatic and regular makes more sense... which brings us to Windows Sync Manager which lets you automatically sync folders from your laptop to your desktop (or a drive attached to your desktop) when you connect.
Sorry, I just can't see the logic or economy of doing it the way this article proposes. It's saving upfront for long term expense and unreliability (ie: being cheap where you shouldn't be).
Or use BackBlaze. It's not free, but it's $5 a month for unlimited backups. If you pay by the year you get two months free. Personally I use a mac server to time machine my laptop, and windows home server to backup the pc's in the house. Haven't had a problem with either solution. I trust Google with my data about as far as I can throw my Element. They're fine with email, and non-sensitive data, but not all my data.
A little tip for those throwing lots of files to SkyDrive: Try uploading in IE rather than firefox. This will give you an interface to drag many files onto the window to be uploaded at once compared to firefox's interface which allows you to browse for 5 at a time.
Important files go on my NAS, which gets backed up weekly to a bare 3.5" drive via a drive dock. That drive gets swapped every month with one in a safety deposit box.
Archival stuff (old documents, photos, videos) stays on the NAS but get backed up every year to DVD.
Sorry, but I'm going to have to shake my cane at this, and ramble on about how I don't trust the goldarned clouds to store my valuable moving pictures and pictobytes.
Honestly, all these "free" things are all well and good, but the amount of time and effort is still too drastic to be a reliable backup for 100s of gigs of data.
I still think the absolute best backup is get yourself a NAS or just a spare HDD. HDD Space is so so cheap nowadays, you can get a 1tB drive for under 100 if you look hard.
@Scazza: these solutions are meant to complement an external hdd or nas solution. unless you keep your hdd or nas some place else, a fire could take out the computer and all backup drives
I just buy a big HD and prettymuch open up 2 finder/windows explorer windows and drag over the contents of C: to F:Seagate/HP(dv7)backup 9-12-09/C:
That way I have all my files there, it takes a while but I get everything and I know where everything is. That way when I go to restore it, I can just copy everything or just a single document back to my pc.
Sometimes if I do a small update (like to update chat logs and documents) I just change the date on the backup in the title.
Funny seeing an article about backup right after my own hard drive crashed. I've lost about 200Gb of data yesterday, damn Western Digital — I'm not buying anything from them ever again.
Thanks to Mozy, however, this loss is temporary. All my data was backed up online, and I'm restoring it as we speak. It's going to take over a week to get everything back, but it's definitely better than losing it forever.
Backup your data online, guys. The peace of mind you get is more than worth the little they charge for it ($4.95/mo for unlimited data).
@PaintTheSkyGrey: RAID is NOT A BACKUP!!!
EVER!!!!!!
a backup solution protects you from accidental deletion.
No form of RAID does that.
Honestly, all you need is an external hard drive and the ability to store it off site.
you can use any of a hundred free backup solutions to create the actual backup, but you need to take it offsite to be effective.
Personally I use SyncBack and just copy left from the source drive to the backup drive and then take it offsite.
If you want to get a little better, get two drives and rotate them.
The bice thing about using something that gives you copy left capabilities is that it will only need to move the files that have been changed on the source drive to the backup drive.
it you want revisioning history, then you simply need a program that will copy without overwriting files on the destination drive (which may mean spending a little money on the program).
backup doesn't need to be a difficult project, and in fact is fairly easy.
however it's NEVER a 100% thing.
More layers of backup simply means more protection, but it also means more to manage.
09/29/09
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Been suing it for nearly 5 years now... Zero problems tons of viruses averted.
@Jux:
I've installed and removed several versions of AVG with zero problems for years...
What are the problems you guys speak off?
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
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09/29/09
check the hosts file, it probably got altered.
09/29/09
09/29/09
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09/29/09
/limp wrist
09/29/09
09/14/09
A 500GB pocketdrive costs $130, is BIG, can handle differential backups (TimeMachine for Mac users and Windows Backup for Windows users), and can also be used to share files with friends without the hassles of using the Internet... which, unless you're living on a backbone, is SLOW and has bandwidth caps - assuming you even have access to the internet when your laptop - you know - blows up?
If you're talking 4-32GB - get a USB key. An 8GB key is like $20. Get two and alternate for redundant backup.
I carry Win7 on a bootable install USB key just in case and a bootable USB Acronis kit on a key, and then everything I need to reconstruct my laptop from scratch on a 500GB pocketdrive (Acronis True Image + a 'safe' image of my core system + backup of my latest files).
And none of this is even remotely useful unless you actually DO it, so automatic and regular makes more sense... which brings us to Windows Sync Manager which lets you automatically sync folders from your laptop to your desktop (or a drive attached to your desktop) when you connect.
Sorry, I just can't see the logic or economy of doing it the way this article proposes. It's saving upfront for long term expense and unreliability (ie: being cheap where you shouldn't be).
09/13/09
09/13/09
09/13/09
09/12/09
Archival stuff (old documents, photos, videos) stays on the NAS but get backed up every year to DVD.
09/12/09
09/12/09
I still think the absolute best backup is get yourself a NAS or just a spare HDD. HDD Space is so so cheap nowadays, you can get a 1tB drive for under 100 if you look hard.
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
09/12/09
That way I have all my files there, it takes a while but I get everything and I know where everything is. That way when I go to restore it, I can just copy everything or just a single document back to my pc.
Sometimes if I do a small update (like to update chat logs and documents) I just change the date on the backup in the title.
09/12/09
Thanks to Mozy, however, this loss is temporary. All my data was backed up online, and I'm restoring it as we speak. It's going to take over a week to get everything back, but it's definitely better than losing it forever.
Backup your data online, guys. The peace of mind you get is more than worth the little they charge for it ($4.95/mo for unlimited data).
09/12/09
09/12/09
EVER!!!!!!
a backup solution protects you from accidental deletion.
No form of RAID does that.
Honestly, all you need is an external hard drive and the ability to store it off site.
you can use any of a hundred free backup solutions to create the actual backup, but you need to take it offsite to be effective.
Personally I use SyncBack and just copy left from the source drive to the backup drive and then take it offsite.
If you want to get a little better, get two drives and rotate them.
The bice thing about using something that gives you copy left capabilities is that it will only need to move the files that have been changed on the source drive to the backup drive.
it you want revisioning history, then you simply need a program that will copy without overwriting files on the destination drive (which may mean spending a little money on the program).
backup doesn't need to be a difficult project, and in fact is fairly easy.
however it's NEVER a 100% thing.
More layers of backup simply means more protection, but it also means more to manage.