This is aimed at Shifty, but anyone who can help, Thanks in advance!!

I'm gonna be gettign a new laptop for school next year, (program specific and required I get it from my school) It's for my accounting course and comes all preloaded for my course.
This will be my first computer that only I have access to, and I want to keep it running right and fast, I hate when my computers slow down!
What are some ways to keep this from happening?
It will be running Vista I'm sure. I'm looking forward to having my own computer. This won't be til september, but I'm looking into things early.

Also, I have to return it at the end of two years or buy it out, if I buy it out, apperently they will clear all the info from the hard drive and leave you with just an operating system. Is there anyway I can put everything somewhere else and put it back on after they are done with it? I mean everything from the mp3s and pictures to the programs they charge me 1400 for and then take away.... (2800 for two years...) (Office, some accounting programs, etc

Thanks!
Andrew

My advice: Don't drop it. Shifty can fill you in on the details. :D

lmao thats a given isnt it? ;)

Yes, it is.

Laptop Hard Drives do not mind the fall ... it's the sudden stop at the end of the fall that they are not too fond of. :D

I replaced my laptop HDD a few weeks ago because of this. <DOH>

Things change too frequently to say. Come back and bump this thread when you get the laptop and I'll fill you in on the latest and greatest ;)

Meanwhile, check the two sticky threads at the top of this sub-forum :)

I usually run an Ubuntu Distribution, currently-

Linux version 2.6.16 (root@shell) (gcc version 4.0.2 20050808 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.0.1-4ubuntu9)) #8 SMP PREEMPT Tue Oct 3 14:30:44 MDT 2006

I have had it with Microsoft. HAD IT. Ubuntu is a great distribution. With Firefox, Thunderbird and Openoffice, even though there is a learning curve, it is getting VERY good. It is a VERY VERY stable OS. This system hasn't gone down once since I have installed it.

Funny. My fileserver (XP SP2) has been up and running for about 3 months now without a reboot.

I always get a little chuckle when people get fanboi on *nix distros. I work with True64 Unix, Fedora and several Windows servers at the office. Uptime is roughly the same.

An OS is like a car. It's prone to errors made by the operator. Its stability and longevity are a direct byproduct of the user.

will do shifty.
whats all this talk of servers and such? I'm so lost... lol

Is it a good idea to put all your spyware and such guards on when i get a new computer? I really want to take care of it because its for school!:gi:

Funny. My fileserver (XP SP2) has been up and running for about 3 months now without a reboot.

I always get a little chuckle when people get fanboi on *nix distros. I work with True64 Unix, Fedora and several Windows servers at the office. Uptime is roughly the same.

An OS is like a car. It's prone to errors made by the operator. Its stability and longevity are a direct byproduct of the user.

I guess I won't take any offense to the fanboy statement... Since I work in HPC cluster hardware validation running SLES 9/10 distros with all Linux kernel from 2.6.x on for a living, I don't think my opinion was that of a novice who tried the new flavor of the week.

I agree with your statement somewhat, and I wasn't talking about enterprise stability- I agree with you on server stability; I also agree that users are more harmful to their systems then anything. The problem is, most end users can directly or indirectly jack up their windows systems much easier then os X or *nix system.


Back to the point, the one thing you can do is NOT download any tools, toolbars, games or applications from sources you don't trust. That is typically how spyware and viruses make their way to your system. If you do download something, CAREFULLY read the EULA (End User License Agreement) and make sure they aren't trying to sneak something in.

the term fanboi wasn't intended as an insult ;) i get "fanboi" on lots of things.

with regard to installing the security stuff, this is what i do with new laptops:

* Go to Windows update and download any security updates available.

* Go to manuf'ers website and download any software/driver updates possible.

* Remove any software you know you won't use using add/remove programs in the control panel. Be sure to reboot when prompted, or just reboot after all uninstallation is done.

* Install any security software you want to add (only one antivirus, one firewall, and as much spyware stuff as you want).

PS - redz, i actually envy your job. i have an equally interesting job at times (DTV conditional access/MPEG technolgies), but ... yours sounds a lot more focused.

awesome shifty thats what i was lookin for... now, one more.
What do I use to scan incoming files onto my comp to make sure they are clean? (music from my home comp, downloads, and school stuff. Or does one of those programs cover all that?

Thanks again!
Andrew

the term fanboi wasn't intended as an insult ;) i get "fanboi" on lots of things.

with regard to installing the security stuff, this is what i do with new laptops:

* Go to Windows update and download any security updates available.

* Go to manuf'ers website and download any software/driver updates possible.

* Remove any software you know you won't use using add/remove programs in the control panel. Be sure to reboot when prompted, or just reboot after all uninstallation is done.

* Install any security software you want to add (only one antivirus, one firewall, and as much spyware stuff as you want).

Antivirus will cover a lot, but so will SpywareGuard if I remember correctly.