[Sarc]

I took a job to mantain a small network of Macs (no problems here) .... and three PC's running Win2K.

While I know how to use Windows, I don't know all the tips n' tricks for keeping them clean. SO here I am, asking for a little advice.

1st. Antivirus, preferably freem I hear that Avast and AVG are actually good antivirus software. Anyone got a better suggestion ?

2nd. Spyware. I guess AdWare is the way to go ?

Anyone got some other tips I should know ?

thx.

[klinux]

Here is my must-have list:

use AVG (free) for the anti-virus, Zonelab (free) for firewall, Firefox (free) for browser, Thunderbird (free) for e-mail, GAIM (free) for IM, iTunes or Yahoo Music Engine (free) for audio and Media Player Classic (free) for video.

Use these programs and I guarantee the PCs will be virutally as maintenance free as your Macs.

[:XI:]

leave them turned off?

[JoshuaZ]

How about using a hose?

[jasonsRX7]

Microsoft has their own Anti Spyware program now (they purchased Giant Anti Spyware). It's in beta, but is pretty stable and works well. The agent that runs can be kind of annoying with these huge warnings in the corner, but they do a good job of letting the user know when they've done something bad.

We have a lot of Win2k systems at work, and my standard install includes: Firefox, Thunderbird, 7zip (a zip program), Spybot, MS Anti Spyware, Norton AV Corporate, Filezilla, Acrobat Reader, and Office. I use Dameware for remote control.

Just for fun, I remove all desktop shortcuts to IE, and move the one in the start menu to Accessories. Then I change the icon to a red X and rename the shortcut to "Install SPYWARE". For those users that simply have to use IE for whatever reason, I tell them how to get to it, but the icon and the shortcut name makes them wary of using it unless absolutely necessary.

For users that are stubborn and complain about Firefox looking different, I suggest giving them a dose of FirefoxIE. It will make Firefox look almost exactly like IE.

Also, make sure to inform your users about the hazards of installing programs like Kazaa, Gator, and other common spyware installers.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by jasonsRX7

Microsoft has their own Anti Spyware program now (they purchased Giant Anti Spyware). It's in beta, but is pretty stable and works well.

Does Anti Spyware run on Win2K?

[discotronic]

1. Firefox
2. Ad-Aware and Spybot. I have found that one doesn't cut it when trying to rid yourself of spyware.
3. Make sure the system have all their up to date patches.
4. A good anti-virus program and firewall. ZoneAlarm is good but not that great for networking.
5. End user education is by far the most important.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

Does Anti Spyware run on Win2K?

Yep, sure does

[OwlBoy]

Don't visit stupid sites that just want your eyeballs is a good idea too.

-Owl

[exactopposite]

adaware, MS antispyware, and spybot search & destroy are 3 free programs that are great for adware/spyware. the ms program was actually made by a company called giant. ms either boguht the whole company or bought the program. each of them will soemtimes find somehting that the others miss.

i have also heard great things about AVG for antivirus but i've never tried it myself

as far as the Zone Alarm firewall by zoneloabs that someone above mentioned, the pro version of it has a memory leak. i haven't used the free version but i'm sure if the pro version has it, it wasn't fixed for the free version. when i was using the pro version on a 2.4Ghz pentium 4 with 1 gig of ram with xp pro i noticed one day in aprticullar that the compouter was running really slow. when i checked the running processes zone alarm was using 300 megs of ram!!!! as the computer is running it slowlly taked up more and more memory. i looked around online and it appears that the problem is well documented and they ahven't done anything about it. i'm not sure what another alternative is for a free firewall tho.