Help! Vista Anti-virus Recommendation Please.

[Tiger7Moth]

I have been using Windows Live OneCare for anti-virus and backup/restore. Microsoft is discontinuing this product (which I chose because I am technically obsolete and stupidly thought MS would ensure this product was compatible with its current and future OS).

Since I am no longer technical, I would appreciate a recommendation for easy to install and use Anti-Virus and backup/restore software.

Regarding the backup/restore software: my hard disk is 80gb and I have an external drive with 3 times the capacity. Naturally, I would like fast, daily, incremental backup of my data. But, if possible, I would also like to be able to do a once a week image backup of the hard disk which could be used in case of any problem (for example, if my hard disk went bad - so, I wonder, if I had an image backup in this case, could I purchase a new hard disk and be ready to go; if there a better, more simple solution that I am unaware of do to my lack of knowledge please inform me). Hopefully, you get the idea. I don't want to lose my data and want to be able to handle worse case scenarios.

Anything that I am not considering that I should consider, please tell me (for example, should I upgrade to Windows 7 even though it is expensive?).

Oh, I prefer free (of course) but am willing to pay for anti-virus and backup/restore. And, I need to emphasize simple and easy are needed for a dullard like me.

Thanks very much for recommendations and comments.

[H2oDunc]

Depending on what version of Vista you have it already has its own back up and restore. Avira anti virus is quite good and free to download. Malwarebytes is a good free spyware / malware program. For a free back up & restore program look up computeractive.co.uk in their download section. Most are very easy to use. Simply plug in your external drive and select it as the place to put your back up

[siamect]

Dear All

The question about backup software is interesting. Here are my thoughts and experiences...

In most cases I see the applications and OS simply as tools. They are relatively easy to reinstall and they are of no particular value unless they are running on the computer in front of you. Therefore I do not normally take partition backups.

There are cases when the software is difficult to install or configure, or if the computer is running non standard hardware with nonstandard drivers. If the software comes with rigid licensing and you don't want to keep a complete spare computer for some critical application. Those are the cases when I do partition backups.

I ran into problems in one case where I changed a WinXP hd and restored the partition backup. The system knew I changed the drive because it is checking a "normally not used" space containing number in the master boot record and compares that to what is know it should be. Do you think MS give you a nice warning... no way. They just let the computer silently shut down after you log in, with no indication of what the problem is... Luckily I had the old disk and I could read the number from the disk and tweak the MBR... you only friend in those cases are Google and the people in the forums.

I don't know if Vista or W7 have this kind of traps but I wouldn't be surprised.

So don't see the partition backups as the key to trouble free success.

The second thing I want to warn people about are the format under which backup software stores the data. If this format is proprietary then you have no choice but to use the same software for restore as you used for backup. Normally this is no problem since you usually want to restore the last version of your backup, indicating that you have used this software not long time ago and it should therefor be available.

But if you make backups to store data that you may need later...maybe years in the future. Like when your customer want to make a change in a program you made ten years ago... That's when it can be a real problem. Or when the auditor need you book keeping from 2003...

I usually don't use any backup software. Instead I use a distributed versioning system. My favorite is "git" but there are others like "mercurial" that can be good. Just make sure the system you use has an imutable system to verify your data so that you know if there are any corruption...

Also make sure you have a remote place to push you data to (usb stick or a server)... and make sure that the storage format is well documented and that there are other tools than the versioning system itself that can be used to retrieve the data in case the product is discontinued.

Versioning systems are usually made for program developers but they can be used for all kinds of files... maybe you should avoid running multi GB videofilms in a versioning system... it really doesn't make sense...

Another warning... online backup systems... Some of them are good...some only keep deleted files for a month...

Some of them also contain versioning... That means that over time you will have a lot of data there.

Will it cost you money? What happens if you stop paying?

Can you retrieve your history or is it only located on the server so you have to pull the versions one by one?

What happens if the company goes bust... Is your history lost?

You should have your history in your own computer plus a copy of it somewhere else. Git makes this easy and it is not even a backup software...

The valuable stuff is... your time and the work you spent creating the files on your computer. That's what matters. Everything else can be reinstalled easily.

So my recipe is... backup "project by project" using a distributed versioning system.

Push to a remote place (home server or usb stick or both).

If your computer goes to shit, get a new computer and pull you projects and continue your work.

Pulling a project is done in seconds or minutes depending on size. This is by far the quickest way to be back in business.

You can let the IT guys cleanup the mess on the old computer and when it is ready you just switch back again.

I usually do the work on a laptop and I have a dirt cheap home server... 10k Baht for the box with a Core2Duo and 2GB RAM, 500GB disk. I can use it as a spare workstation too, in case my laptop dies...

Martin

[davee58]

Excellent post Martin, some very good points in there.

- If you use backup software you need the same software to recover the data.

- Never trust online backup, (or free utilities).

I use an external hard drive for data backup, and save the whole file/folder structure, (using copy and paste) though the OS and applications will need re-installation. I have several drives, I always have more than one backup copy.

e-mail folders also need consideration, is a copy of the mail retained on the server, or do you risk losing all your mail.

It is well worth planning a good backup strategy in case your computer is lost, stolen, or just crashes.

[Tiger7Moth]

Depending on what version of Vista you have it already has its own back up and restore. Avira anti virus is quite good and free to download. Malwarebytes is a good free spyware / malware program. For a free back up & restore program look up computeractive.co.uk in their download section. Most are very easy to use. Simply plug in your external drive and select it as the place to put your back up

Thanks for the reply.