[vygo]

Hi all,
I have recently replaced the second Hard drive. The first just broke down and I couldn't to start up it. The second seems to be damaged on it's way from manufactures. Obviously in both cases I lost my data.

So here I'm again trying to stand up straight after the weeks of mourning. What would u recommend in building up my PC?
1. What about splitting the hard drive in two(it's 80 GB)? Any comments on that?
2. What about an anti-virus program (currently using Avira AntiVir)?
3. Which Personal Firewall to choose?
4. Do I need Anti-Spyware software after all and which?
5. What about the Back up?I haven't had before. I have heard about the program called Ghost , any good? Or maybe there is a better one?

Please don't hesitate to add your own comment or advice over the above mentioned already!

Thank You very much in advance!!!!

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Splitting the hard drive in two, depending on how you use the computer, is either pointless, unnecessary or makes a rod for your computer's back. If the drive fails again, you still will lose everything on it. Splitting just creates the illusion in Windows that you have more than one drive.

As to Anti-Virus, they all do the same job, all have cons and pros, others have a higher success rate than others, some find things that others don't. Same with the firewalls. Some internet security suites (such as Norton, McAfee, Panda, etc) come with built-in antispyware software.

Ghost is used to clone everything from one drive to another. If you want just to backup your personal documents and pictures, its overkill because it will clone a whole load of things that are replaceable (such as Windows files for example). An easier solution is to either use a pen/flash/USB drive for documents and picture or use a separate hard drive and then just use Windows to copy the files to your pen/hard drive.

[Neil Jones]

Splitting the hard drive in two, depending on how you use the computer, is either pointless, unnecessary or makes a rod for your computer's back. If the drive fails again, you still will lose everything on it. Splitting just creates the illusion in Windows that you have more than one drive.

As to Anti-Virus, they all do the same job, all have cons and pros, others have a higher success rate than others, some find things that others don't. Same with the firewalls. Some internet security suites (such as Norton, McAfee, Panda, etc) come with built-in antispyware software.

Ghost is used to clone everything from one drive to another. If you want just to backup your personal documents and pictures, its overkill because it will clone a whole load of things that are replaceable (such as Windows files for example). An easier solution is to either use a pen/flash/USB drive for documents and picture or use a separate hard drive and then just use Windows to copy the files to your pen/hard drive.

[SRX660]

This is only my Opinion here so take it with a grain of salt.

If you really want a secure computer then download one of the free Linux flavors and learn to run it on your computer. Windows will always be compromised by the ability to be easy to use. Somewhere in making it easy to use Microsoft had to compromise security.I personally have windows computers that have very few updates, and no security software installed. This is because i do not connect these computers to the internet that i can do this. There is only one computer that has the latest updates, runs Avast Anti-virus and uses both a software and a hardware firewall. This is my internet computer.

On partitioning a large hard drive into 2 partitions. I do this with all my computers. I make a 20 gig opetrating system partition and the rest of the drive isa "D" data partition. This way if i have a problem with Windows i can wipe the "C" partition and reinstall windows easily and never worry about losing the data on the "D" drive.

I use AVG and Avast on different computers had have no problems so far. I alos use the free Zone Alarm firewall and have had no problems with it. I did have some problems with the latest versions of Adobe Acrobat reader but now i use Fox-it reader for PDF files and have deleted all adobe software off my computers.

The only security software made by microsoft i have is what comes with SP2.

The best backup you can get is to buy a CD burner and learn to use it to backup all files you want to save from the computer. This method gives you a permanent backup that will last a long time if you take good care of the cd's. I have programs from 8 years ago that i saved the programs to cd's and now install and run them on my newest computers. I make sure i have at least 2 backups of my important data becaus you never know. One backup is in a safe where even a fire cannot harm it.

Norton Ghost is good if you want to make a recovery type CD or DVD of your system for quick repairs.

http://ghost.radified.com/

Something that may be a bit easier to use is Acronis True Image, or Paragon True Image. These are graphical based unlike Ghost which is DOS based.

SRX660