Computer advice, opinion, help please.

[jarv]

Trouble at home. Three computers, two very old and not performing well (actually one not performing at all now).
My son said if I keep watching streams of Fulham games, world championship darts matches etc. it will clog up my computer and do all sorts of dmamge because the streams are basically pirate sites which carry junk into my computer.
I have to admit to watching almost every Fulham game since I have been able to get good quality stream.

Is he correct? can anyone tell me what might be going on? what do I need to do to clean it up from time to time? Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks. :54: cloud9

[sipwell]

He is not correct. I am watching those streams as well and my virus scan has never picked up anything bad. They also don't clog up the system because you are watching them on the internet rather than on your computer. If you don't have a virus scan yourself, Avast is a very good one and, more importantly, it is free: http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index

If you work with Firefox, it is also recommended to install Adblock Plus as an add-on. You won't get those annoying commercials on the sides where you might accidentally click on.

It is however never a bad thing to clean up your computer. CCleaner is your friend there: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[jarv]

Thank you very much. Peace of mind now when I watch Fulham  (except for their defending of late)

[horse1031]

Go to this link to install MalwareBytes anti-malware
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol;1


install it and run the quick scan.  remove everything it finds.  this will keep your system from getting completely overrun.  I have also used ccleaner and that is very useful as well.  MalwareBytes has saved mine and other computers countless number of times.

[YankeeJim]

I had several problems picking up things on the various sites. ATDhe.net is one that has good streams but don't click on ANYTHING. It cost me a $125 repair and finally I just bought a new computer. Myp2.p.mu is usually good. I find that when Whitenoise of one of the other FOF's posta link they are usually good. Lastly, don't use Internet Explorer.

[horse1031]

I had several problems picking up things on the various sites. ATDhe.net is one that has good streams but don't click on ANYTHING. It cost me a $125 repair and finally I just bought a new computer. Myp2.p.mu is usually good. I find that when Whitenoise of one of the other FOF's posta link they are usually good. Lastly, don't use Internet Explorer.

www.firstrowsports.eu is where i get all my streaming now.  Tons of ads but there are usually over 5 links to different streams.  Close all other windows that pop up :027:

[sipwell]

I had several problems picking up things on the various sites. ATDhe.net is one that has good streams but don't click on ANYTHING. It cost me a $125 repair and finally I just bought a new computer. Myp2.p.mu is usually good. I find that when Whitenoise of one of the other FOF's posta link they are usually good. Lastly, don't use Internet Explorer.

Install AdBlock Plus, the benefit is that you cannot click on anything since everything is blocked :)

[A Humble Man]

Any one know how to get shot of incredibar, keep uninstalling it but it hides in the registry somewhere and keeps coming back.

[sipwell]

Any one know how to get shot of incredibar, keep uninstalling it but it hides in the registry somewhere and keeps coming back.

In firefox, delete it from the add-on. If that does not work, type in about:config in the bar where the addresses are shown, accept to be careful and look for incredibar in the list. You can reset to default there (making it obsolete). That should normally work.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6620_102-554465/how-to-get-rid-of-mystart-by-incredibar-on-firefox/

[The Equalizer]

I'm an IT consultant and have worked with Microsoft Windows nearly 20 years. My advice, after thousands of hours of cleaning up PCs and sorting out performance issues:

Get an APPLE MAC!!!!!

[Shredhead]

Any one know how to get shot of incredibar, keep uninstalling it but it hides in the registry somewhere and keeps coming back.

In firefox, delete it from the add-on. If that does not work, type in about:config in the bar where the addresses are shown, accept to be careful and look for incredibar in the list. You can reset to default there (making it obsolete). That should normally work.

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6620_102-554465/how-to-get-rid-of-mystart-by-incredibar-on-firefox/

I had to reset my Firefox to the default settings to get rid of it, after spending hours trying to remove it in other ways. However, I also did an in-depth Windows scan for malware and there were none. This was after I couldn't get my Virgin Media Security to work.  I've now installed Microsoft Security Essentials so I hope I'm 'safe'.

[nose]

the trick is to view in the browser and not download any new free software ever!
I used to get all sorts of problems until I just watched in the browser.
The mac is just as suceptible but has less users so is generally not attacked as often as windows machines.

[Airfix]

I'm an IT consultant and have worked with Microsoft Windows nearly 20 years. My advice, after thousands of hours of cleaning up PCs and sorting out performance issues:

Get an APPLE MAC!!!!!

Gay?

[Aaron]

Trouble at home. Three computers, two very old and not performing well (actually one not performing at all now).
My son said if I keep watching streams of Fulham games, world championship darts matches etc. it will clog up my computer and do all sorts of dmamge because the streams are basically pirate sites which carry junk into my computer.
I have to admit to watching almost every Fulham game since I have been able to get good quality stream.

Is he correct? can anyone tell me what might be going on? what do I need to do to clean it up from time to time? Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks. :54: cloud9

If you're a casual computer user  running "Windows" then your son is at least partially correct.

After a period of time you will invariably end up installing a mass of crap you don't actually need by clicking on the wrong link or advert or whatever.  It just happens.  Virus scanners, Adblock and all the other advice the guys have given you will help, but you can still make mistakes.

The best thing you could possibly do (It's easier than you would think) is to download something like this and burn it to a DVD:

32bit
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=117

64bit
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=118

Once you have this burned to a DVD you put it in the drive, restart your computer and when you get the "Would you like to boot from DVD?" option say "Yes."

2 mins later on your screen will appear something which looks like Windows, but isn't.  You will see a "Firefox" icon beside the "Menu" bar at the bottom.  Click on this and knock yourself out!

What you have if you do this is basically a clean slate every time you boot from that DVD.  It doesn't effect your existing "Windows" setup, doesn't leave any traces on your machine.  It's like a new computer every time you switch it on.  You can't get any viruses or install any crap.

[Snibbo]

Download a free anti-spyware tool and run it regularly. You'll be amazed at the stuff it finds for you.

The one I use is Superantispyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/

Another useful tool is Ccleaner (crap cleaner) which can do lots of cleaning up for you, including getting rid of temporary files, cleaning your cache and finding problems in your registry:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[Horse]

Watching streamed games is not inherently dangerous, though some of the websites that host these streams may be dodgy.

Defiantly run Firefox with Adblock plus and I also use Noscript, which allows you to only run scripts from selective servers, but it's not really for laymen.
Malwarebytes is probably the best for checking if you have any viruses on your pc. Don't use anything other then malwarebytes or perhaps Avast cause a lot of them are worse then malware themselves.

And keep windows and firefox up to date.

[hongkongfulham]

I'm an IT consultant and have worked with Microsoft Windows nearly 20 years. My advice, after thousands of hours of cleaning up PCs and sorting out performance issues:

Get an APPLE MAC!!!!!

Gay?

Amazing  :plus one:  :plus one:  :plus one:  :plus one:  :plus one:

[PLB]

I'm an IT consultant and have worked with Microsoft Windows nearly 20 years. My advice, after thousands of hours of cleaning up PCs and sorting out performance issues:

Get an APPLE MAC!!!!!

But everything's in the wrong place! And they have that annoying mouse! I guess it's something you get used to, but I dread it when I have to use a mac!

[lamby]

I'm an IT consultant and have worked with Microsoft Windows nearly 20 years. My advice, after thousands of hours of cleaning up PCs and sorting out performance issues:

Get an APPLE MAC!!!!!

Yep.

Similar here - 20 years (mainly trying to avoid anything Microsoft) Infrastructure Architect (design large scale computer installations for big companies)

I told all my family and friends (for whom I am still the PHY* IT support guy) a while back that I will no longer support any of their set up unless they buy a Mac. My invitation to dinner (oh, and by the way can you have a quick look at my computer) have decreased though!



(*PHY - Pimply Headed Youth)

[sipwell]