Computers & Networking

[MarySue1964]

The Gateway DX4200-09 desktop computer died and this time my stepfather decided he wasn't going to spend any more money fixing it.   Those of you who have read my previous threads will remember all the problems we had with the Gateway computer ever since we got it.   He decided to replace it and have Geek Squad transfer our information to the new computer.  He replaced it with an HP Pavilion P7-1254 desktop computer.  I thought that was a good choice since the computer previous to the Gateway was a Compaq and we got a lot of mileage out of that one.   And this time, my stepfather got the Geek Squad 4 year service plan.  That was something he had neglected to do with the Gateway and has regretted it ever since.  He is finding that it is better to have but not need the Geek Squad service plans than to need but not have the service plans.  Anyway, we are in the process of searching for and reinstalling the programs that Geek Squad transfered from the Gateway computer.  Anyway, one of those programs is Norton.  My stepfather wanted to reactivate that since he still has several months remaining on his current subscription.  The HP computer already came preloaded with Kaspersky.  How does that compare with Norton?  At one time, my stepfather was considering replacing Norton because it let through all kinds of malware that caused all kinds of problems on the Gateway but before he could decide what to replace it with, his subscription automatically renewed.  So how does Kaspersky compare with Norton?  Should we keep that and replace Norton with that once the subscription with Norton expires?  Also, how is the HP Pavilion P7-1254 as a computer?  How many other people have it?  Also how many other people have had the Gateway DX4200-09? What was your experiences with it?

[AaronE]

Kaspersky and Norton are both good antivirus programs so I wouldn't worry too much about which one you use.

Most infections no-a-days come in because of vulnerabilities in Java, Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader regardless of what antivirus you have. 

I'd make sure you're keeping those 3 programs up to date (java will usually prompt at boot to check for updates; let it) and make sure your antivirus definations are up to date (Kaspersky and Norton both will pretty much take care of that on their own).

Those steps will help a lot in keeping your computer from getting infected.

[MarySue1964]

Thanks. At the same time he bought the HP Pavilion desktop computer, my stepfather also bought a Dell Inspiron 15 I15N-2718OBK laptap computer which also runs Windows 7 the same as the HP Pavilion desktop computer.  I think I pretty much found and reinstalled most of the programs that Geek Squad transferred from the Gateway computer.  Here's my question.  Can we use the same Dynex Easy Transfer Cable DX-C113231 that we used to transfer our information from the previous Compaq XP computer to the Gateway Vista computer to transfer information from the HP Pavilion desktop computer to the Dell laptop computer?  Both computers run Windows 7 and have Windows Easy Transfer.   I remember that an important step is to select the "customize" option before transferring anything because otherwise the default would be to transfer everything which may not be a good idea.

[AaronE]

Yes the Dynex Easy Transfer cable should be able to be used to go from a Windows 7 machine to a Windows 7 machine using Windows Easy Transfer. I use that cable quite frequently to go from XP/Vista/7 to a new Windows 7 machine at work.

[MarySue1964]

Thanks. I suspected that the cable would be reusable since the provided software was on a separate mini-CD rather than embedded in the cable itself.  And the provided software presupposed that at least one of the computers involved in the transfer would not have Windows Easy Transfer already preloaded so the software would have to be installed manually before transfer could take place.   But my stepfather says that he is only interested in transferring a few files from the desktop to the laptop.  So the transfer cable would actually take more time as he would wind up spending a lot of time de-selecting most of the directory.  So he's thinking that it would make more sense to copy the files he wants to some other media, like a CD or a flash drive, and then copy the files onto the laptop.  Or he could email the files he needs to himself and then open the emails on the laptop and download the files.  He did buy a SanDisk - Cruzer 4 Gigabyte flash drive at the time he bought the Gateway computer but he never used the drive.  Neither have I since I have material stored on my own flash drives (and a bunch of diskettes, that's why I ordered an external floppy drive from ebay).  I took a look at the SanDisk Cruzer flash drive and found that it came preloaded with all kinds of crapware.  That's why I didn't want to use it.  Will the crapware cause a problem if my stepfather uses it to transfer information from the desktop to the laptop?