Want a faster Laptop, Netbook?

Posted by Susan Guggenheim on 17 July 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: computing tips, security, performance

After months of testing various combinations of security applications, I think I have a good set to recommend for laptop and netbook users, that will not bog you down in real-time scanning.

1) Install and buy the $25 license for
Malwarebytes. This is your anti-malware software and primary defense against Internet malware. I consider this the most essential security product available today.

2) You still need an anti-virus, but the problem with the suites (McAfee, Norton, Vipre) is that they are resource hogs. So let's go for just anti-virus and not Identity, Firewall or Spam protection. I am still recommending AVG Free. Uninstall the trial or subscription suite from Control Panel|Programs BEFORE you install AVG Free. And do choose to install the AVG Browser Toolbar, it's v. useful.

3) Third, you still need spam protection, so use either Windows Defender, which is auto-installed on Windows 7 computers, or download Spybot, which is free, too.

This is a good balance of protection and speed and use of resources, but if you still are slow, then disable Windows Defender/Spybot.

Before I made these changes to a netbook, it was using 880MB of 1GB RAM, and 59 processes just to boot up. After making these changes, it dropped one process to 58, but regained the use of over 230MB memory.