Last night while on this site my computer was infected with a virus. I am NOT saying I got it from this site!!! Anyways....I can not do anything with it and I believe it is toast. Soooooo, it is time for a new one. I am not computer savy at all. Heck I still haven't bothered to figure out how to post pictures to this site yet!!
I realize that there are several of you guys on here that are 'supreme beings' compared to me when it comes to computer use.
I would like your opinion on what I should get. I mainly surf the net and email. I do download pictures to the computer but other than that I am lost.
I am wondering if I would be just as well of with a new tablet. My wife thinks I would be fine with one or just a basic computer.
Of course I got all excited a few months back when reading the thread on the iPad and Galaxy (?) being able to utilize downloaded charts. Is there a preference that you guys feel about a particular tablet? Or would I be best off just getting another laptop. I do have a decent GPS but it does get expensive loading charts every cycle. Actually I rarely renew due to the cost and just buy a paper chart when I absolutely need it.
HELP!!!!
Which type/model do you guys recommend?
Thanks,
Keith

There are alot of viruses coming out of Oregon nowadays Isn't it amazing that a good GPS costs more than a good laptop? Make sure you've got a good anti virus protection like AVG (buy it and it's not too expensive). I like the Sony VAIO's shop them and you should be able to find a high powered one under $1,000. The screens are excellent.

See below, after buying an IPhone recently and seeing its superior performance and ease of use compared to the droid. I'm real tempted to try a Mac.

I got sick of the virus cycle...I was always suspicious that the very companies that sell virus protection are the ones creating the viruses in the first place. I bought a Mac. Problem solved.

Have an IPad and love it. My next computer is an Apple.

I'm not a computer guy, but I do depend on them for my business. After much frustration I switched to MacBook and have not looked back.

Just a new iPhone would probably do more than your computer that just died and an iPad or MacBook would be that much better. Go Apple.

After being a PC person for 25 years I say MAC and for you needs the ipad sounds like it would work. There are rumors that the ipad3 is about to come out - this month to be announced I think. Get the largest storage - for saving charts/pictures and what ever else comes along. Wish I had more storage on my ipad2, oh well.

Oh, and its not toast. All you have to do is save the stuff that is essential, and then re-install your operating system. Then you start with a "clean" machine again to re-bugger it up!

Computer manufactures love you, Keith. "Whoops, wrong click... Buy a new one."

Only buy a new machine if you truly feel that your hardware has outlived its viability cycle. If it's less than 3 years old, it's probably more cost effective to just clean it, and at the most extreme, reinstall Windows and/or format your hard disk. Viruses are just files or pieces of files. Once they're deleted or removed from your storage disks, they no longer exist. Keep in mind though that if you backup your files, and they are infected, reinstalling Windows and then copying your files back reinfects the system. You have to clean everything, regardless what you choose to do.

I used to run naked on Windows back in the day with no virus protection, and I never picked up anything from web surfing as long as I was using Firefox or Chrome. Using Internet Explorer is like walking around Picadilly Circus with your pants around your ankles and your wallet hanging out. It allows certain types of code to run and access your local machine that the other browsers do not allow (ActiveX.) The baddies can reconfigure/hijack IE pretty easily.

Buying a Mac is a good solution, but they are rather expensive by comparison (just bought the wife a new Macbook Pro in the small size = $2000), and they are getting popular enough that it won't be long before virus and malware authors begin to target them with greater frequency. The security model of the OS is better though in general. A Mac Mini is an economical choice if you already have a nice monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

An iPad can replace your regular desktop or laptop computer for about 80% of activities. Surf the web, email, play games, manage photos. You can even hook up external keyboards to them. Use it as an electronic chart in the cockpit. You won't be editing HD video, but you can watch Youtube on the toilet.

Thanks everyone so far for your mountains of wisdom!!! Sure is a lot more than I know. The spousal unit is better at this stuff than I am but even she is ready to throw a hammer through it!!! But then again she has the patience of a short fuse lit at both ends!!

Zane, The computer (Dell Inspiron 9400) is 6 years old but nearly everything has been replaced in it over the years. Had to replace the motherboard, fan, and screen 4 years ago. Hard drive quit 2 years ago so was replaced and then the new one was reformated last summer due to a virus. My wife has been trying to reformat and reload the OS but it will not accept it. She is trying to do it in safe mode. I guess all this means is that I am ready for a new one.
I did look at the Macbook pro a few minutes ago online, but I feel that is a lot of av-gas I could be burning.

Keith

I've got a MacBook pro 13 inch with all the bells and whistles. It's my first Apple product. While reliable and easy to use it is NOT a scientific or heavy graphics capable machine. The word processing, photo processing and some of the other stuff is not even close to Microsoft Office capability. Just opinion here. No need to start a fight. Apple has ZERO vector graphic ability. Adobe does provide illustrator for just about the same price as the computer. Corel threw in the towel. Some of the work I do requires vector graphics. So I installed a partition and Windows 7. So if I had to do it all over again, I'd get a Panasonic toughbook and load it with widows and google chrome. The best thing about Apple for the casual user is they don't abandon their products. As operating systems advance they will load on your existing machine. PCs are designed to die in 4-5 years. The other thing is that they boot up in about 10 seconds. PCs can take 20 minutes on a bad day as the damn operating system attempts to resolve resource conflicts. Also, PC software writers take deliberate steps to mess up competitor's software on your computer. WWIII is going on inside there all the time as each program robs the processor of resources just because they can. Grrrrrrrrr. Google is fighting back. With my next system I am not going to let anybody not approved by google through the door. Hopefully they will buy Corel by then and I'll be happy.

I'm rarely wrong but this time may be an exception.

wwhunter - hey mine too. Right after I watched a trailer for long props and big rocks someone posted. After getting infected, I clicked on a "fix it now" button and it is fried!

I got a warning of a virus when I tried watching the trailer for long props and big rocks.

That settles it, it's Gregs fault!
Is it the virus that makes the "virus protection screen" keep popping up on the screen whenever you try to do anything? It wants you to buy the "full protection", just enter your credit card information. If it is, get on another computer and google the "antivirus" protection they are trying to sell you. You will come up with a licence number to type into their information screen which will make it think you spent the money and it will quit doing what it does. Then you can access your computer and get rid of the pesky virus. My wife got that one about a month ago, only took about 10 minutes to get rid of it.

It sounds like the crazed pilot website is smuggling malware. It happens. They could have been compromised without knowing. I removed the link. Search for the trailer for BRLP5 on Vimeo where it is hosted.

John,

Yep, that is exactly when it fried!!! I just did not want to put the blame on anyone since I was not 100% sure that is what did it. I clicked on the long props link and my computer did the same thing as yours...except I did not click on the fix it now...somehow my computer automatically did it for me because I got all these error pop ups stacked on my screen like a bunch of playing cards. Tits up from then on.

Mr. Ed, When the wife gets home from work tomorrow I will tell her what you said and see if that will fix it. But I don't remember it asking for me to buy a virus protection program. It just seemed to self distruct just like Mission Impossible!!!

"Good evening, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to totally destroy Keith's computer. As always, should you or any of your I.M. Force be caught or killed by Keith, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions." " Good luck, Mr. Phelps, you have 5 seconds before this tape will self distruct."

I'd like to catch the bastards!!!

Keith

I got an iPad recently. Pretty cool. Get an external keyboard though, the built-in one is a little cumbersome. Works great for web stuff. Get the biggest one they have memory - wise.

If you reformat and reinstall Windows XP, make sure you install Service Pack 3 and all of the security fixes and updates that are available. Buying a new Windows laptop would have Windows 7 on it instead of XP, which should be slightly more resistant to virii.

Microsoft recently released IE9, and it won't run on XP. They're getting ready to release IE 10. Eventually, you will start seeing web sites that won't work on IE8 or earlier. Of course, smart people don't use IE unless someone pays them to do so.

Personally, I'd wipe the old computer, then download and install Linux for free.

kevbert wrote:Personally, I'd wipe the old computer, then download and install Linux for free.

This is a winning suggestion.

Personally, I'd wipe the old computer, then download and install Linux for free

I agree with that also. Been running Sabayon Linux for quite a while now and have never bought any anti virus. Can't figure out why everybody isn't using Linux. Just go to Linux.com and burn a DVD to install---I am pretty lucky that I have a friend the lives and breathes Linux so he helps me quite a bit.

180Marty wrote:

Personally, I'd wipe the old computer, then download and install Linux for free

I agree with that also. Been running Sabayon Linux for quite a while now and have never bought any anti virus. Can't figure out why everybody isn't using Linux. Just go to Linux.com and burn a DVD to install---I am pretty lucky that I have a friend the lives and breathes Linux so he helps me quite a bit.

I've tried prob 8 or 9 different flavors over the years, including SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD(unix), Slackware, Gentoo. I've always liked the Debian spinoffs the most. Ubuntu is one of those if I remember correctly, and has garnered the largest community and has arguably the best installer of them all. I'd recommend it.

I haven't installed this one yet but did burn the DVD for my friend to install on one of his computers---this is the latest greatest. I've used Ubuntu and Open Suse but like the Sabayon the best.

Sabayon_Linux_7_amd64_K.iso