I'm getting Broadband. I have Windows 2000. Should I upgrade to XP or just get some anti virus instead?

Answer 1

I'd strongly recommend a firewall and Avast or AVG antivirus, an anti trojan, an anti spyware and an anti adware.

The Windows firewall doesn't stop malware on your pc from dialling out. Either of these firewalls are free for personal use and stop unwanted incoming and outgoing traffic. You choose which programs are allowed to access the internet. They are both fairly easy to use and updated regularly.
http://www.zonelabs.com Zone Alarm firewall
http://www.kerio.com Kerio firewall

Shields Up security site, check your firewall works
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

http://www.mozilla.com/ Firefox web browser
http://www.opera.com/ Opera web browser
Instal both these web browsers, turn off javascript on one and use that browser for vising unknown websites. They don't support Active X so thats one less way for problems to get on your pc.

Winpatrol is a handy utility that tracks cookies on your pc and stops unwanted changes to your startup folder.
http://www.winpatrol.com

Spywareblaster works with Internet Explorer. It won't uninstall spyware that is already on your pc, but it will prevent hijacks and other malicious changes to
I.E.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

The best antispyware is Spyware Doctor
http://www.pctools.com The free version will give you the file name and location so you can get help removing them without having to pay.

http://www.ewido.net Ewido anti trojan

Ad-Aware SE Personal anti adware
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

Spybot Search and Destroy anti spyware
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

http://www.avast.com Avast Antivirus

http://www.ccleaner.com Cr*pcleaner Registry cleaner and privacy tool

Microsoft have two free online scanners that look for malware.
http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
You can also download Microsofts free Windows Defender from the official Microsoft site, and the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

Remember to update and run all of you anti malware programs at least once a week.

Answer 2

Forget XP, just go for anti-virus and a decent firewall. I personally would never put any Norton software on my machine because of two reasons: 1) They're a rip-off, 2) I've heard of too many spyware and other issues surrounding Norton products, never about their freeware alternatives. Instead go with AVG anti-virus and Ad-Aware anti-spyware, both are free and very good. Use a modem/router as a firewall, making sure you have activated all the firewall-type security (which is typically off by default). You may also like to have a software firewall such as Zone Alarm, but I don't think that's really necessary unless you're going to be visiting risky websites or you have sensitive data on your machine.

Important note - you should only ever have ONE of each thing, so only have ONE anti-virus program etc. installed at any one time.

Answer 3

I was on the microsofr website earlier and it says that windows XP service pack 1 is soon to be taken off the support list, this means from october you will not be able to get technical and problem solving support from microsoft. I think updates will still be available though. As you have windows 2000 you can get a FREE upgrade to windows XP service pack 2 through the website. I suggest you do this once you have installed broadband because the download will take 10 hours through dial up but only 2 hours through a broadband connection. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Windows 2000 looks fine. All you need is an anti-virus software and perhaps anti-spyware and firewall in order to keep your computer safe. McAfee and Norton are the best. You can buy them or download them, but buying them yourself in a shop is safer.

Also, you can decide whether to upgrade or not. Just make sure your PC is P4 because XP orks only in P4 PCS or Microprocessors exceeding 1.4 GHz.

I'm working on this P2 laptop running on Windows 98 SE for one year and never had any problems. It has McAfee, CCleaner and Diskkeeper Lite.

Good Luck on your 2000.

Answer 5

XP, but be sure you get it upgraded to sp2 as soon as possible.

Anti-virus is a must, but I do not recommend Norton as the newer versions hog resources and will make your pc much more slower then some equally as good antivirus and in some cases even better like Kaspersky 6 (and much more light weight on resources).

Also you should consider a firewall and a adware/spyware blocker.

Just my 2 cents.

Answer 6

Upgrading to XP from 2000 gave me happiness. Microsoft doesn't bring me happiness very often so it was a memorable day. Truth is that 2000 is a howling mangy dog of an operating system - top heavy, crash happy. XP is much slicker.

BUT you should still get antivirus on top of that. We're using Trend which works very well but there are plenty of big names.

Answer 7

XP will speed up your machine. By having Broadband, you must, without doubt, have anti virus software. You can download cracked versions of both XP and Norton from Limewire.com or ARES - both programs work fine - this is what I use.

Answer 8

You need anti virus whether you get XP or not. XP has a lot of nice features but i wouldn't pay for it.

Answer 9

nothing wrong with 2000 but xp has a lot more to offer totally up to you on that but make sure u always have an antivirus program

Answer 10

It could be cheaper to keep win 2000 and download the service packs. Then get a good antivirus / antipy software. Finally you need a firewall . Your router should have one .