The Right Tool for the Job - Top 10 Computer Repair Software

[ipodman]

Hi,

Well I agree that you need some of the software listed above but not all of it listed above, A good virus protection like Norton would help repair a computer from viruses.

For anti-spywear I would use something like Microsoft Anti-spywear remover as it is free and also is very effective.

For security I find that a very good firewall is a must have maybe the firewall you get with Norton can be used for this.

Or if all fails just do the extreme and wipe the HDD and re-install the OS

I thought I would just add my own views about what is needed.

 

[Bryce W]

I didnt recommend Norton as a antivirus as I find it causes more problems that it solves. I found that there is alot that it doesnt detect, alot of viruses are designed to specifically disable Norton and when Norton goes bad things seem to really go wrong because it is so deep-rooted into your system.

However, Norton Firewall was surprisingly good when I tested it. At the time I was running a linux firewall which I made run totally in stealth mode (no ports open and completely hidden from the net), I was bragging a little and I got a friend to try the port scans against his box protected with Norton Firewall, he got the exact same scores which was very surprising to me.

Microsoft Anti-spyware ive heard good things about however I cannot really comment on it as I have not used it myself.

 

[bongo]

avast is really good because it has protect me many years..i think its actually better then norton antivirus...the scan is accurate and no virus can escape its claw..

 

[a1whs.com]

I dont know how many of you guys are aware of the fact that once you install AVG, its almost impossible to get it off your system without having a breakdown. There are few bugs that are present in AVG which i heard from people who used it and do computer repair sort of jobs. F-Secure is better than AVG i used it for free for 1 year ( i think they have 1 year free trial )

 

[bongo]

really? is it true..all i know is that i have breakdown of computer when i install the zonealarm...i think i better look for another virus protection..argh..thxs for the info..

 

[ArticleBot]

When you are on the job, you better come prepared. This article is a list of useful computer repair tools.

Read the full article.

 

[ROBERTWIESMANN]

I Prefer Eset Antivirus ,and Zone Alarm For A Really Effective Firewall

 

[TechPro]

I like to take a TCP Settings tweaker with me to speed up peoples internet connections.

I find this one does the trick:

TCP Optimizer

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

Also a nice system information util like AIDA32:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html

or Belarc Advisor

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

 

[TechPro]

I know this article is old and I am digging it up but.....

You mentioned that you keep filemon and process explorer in your toolkit.

Does anyone have any real scenarios where they have used these tools to troubleshoot a problem and what kind of situations would you use these tools in?

Thanks

 

[gunslinger]

Hi everyone, i'm new here and so far I think its a great find.

As far as Protection for your system goes, i have found that less is more. A few years ago this was not the case for me. I had maybe 4-5 different spyware/addware/malware protection programs running , plus antivirus and firewall. These days i keep it simple. After a clean install I set up everything just the way i want them, with all my tweaks and programs. Next i partition my drive and using acronis true image make a secure zone to mount that image to. I use spyware blaster, and Kaspersky internet security suite. If i think i might have picked up spyware i'll run my own portable versions of ad-aware, and spybot s&d. If i really mess up i can always have my system back to perfect in about 15 mins. This works for me. thought everyone might like to know. Oh, and i agree that Norton causes more problems than it solves.

 

[breadtrk]

I know this article is old and I am digging it up but.....

You mentioned that you keep filemon and process explorer in your toolkit.

Does anyone have any real scenarios where they have used these tools to troubleshoot a problem and what kind of situations would you use these tools in?

Thanks

Process Explorer is my very first tool to use. I pretty much know what is supposed to be running or not and this tells me right away if something fishy is loaded up. It also lets me quickly turn things off to free resources for my scans or whatever. I also use Sysinternals Autoruns to help speed up all the reboots we do during a typical update and tune up.

You can also right click and goggle a process to find out if it is legit too. Process Explorer also lets you see the services that are running in those ambiguous "svhost" files. You can even disable the individual services in a process.

Very handy tools after you discover the real hidden power in them.

 

[Bryce W]

Process Explorer is my very first tool to use. I pretty much know what is supposed to be running or not and this tells me right away if something fishy is loaded up. It also lets me quickly turn things off to free resources for my scans or whatever. I also use Sysinternals Autoruns to help speed up all the reboots we do during a typical update and tune up.

You can also right click and goggle a process to find out if it is legit too. Process Explorer also lets you see the services that are running in those ambiguous "svhost" files. You can even disable the individual services in a process.

Very handy tools after you discover the real hidden power in them.

I agree, something I recently found in Process Explorer is that you can pick up a crosshair and drop it over any application and it will tell you which process it is.

 

[tauzin23]

I personally use Bitdefender Antivirus v10, find it does a good job. It protects against Viruses and Spyware. It also costs less than Kaspersky.

I also stay away from Internet Explorer and use Firefox.

Bitdefender Antivirus v10 (2-user for 2-year subscription)
$26.99 @ Newegg.com

 

[gunslinger]

Or you could skip the virus protection alltogether and just go with the Acronis true image and restore your drive anytime you get something unwanted. $26.99 @ Newegg.com and you own it for life.