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[toastyToast]

So, I plan to upgrade in roughly 2-3 weeks

Build is looking pretty good, have you cross checked with MSY? I'm not sure if PCCG price match, you can get $13 off the mobo if they do or get some stuff from MSY itself if you have one nearby. From their latest price list their cheapest 580 is $499.

The Silver Arrow might be over-doing it a bit unless you live in Cairns . A Hyper 212+ should suffice, these are some pretty cool chips.

 

[JaseC]

Build is looking pretty good, have you cross checked with MSY? I'm not sure if PCCG price match, you can get $13 off the mobo if they do or get some stuff from MSY itself if you have one nearby. From their latest price list their cheapest 580 is $499.

The MSY stores here in WA are lousy with stock. Plus, they're ages away. As far as I'm aware, PCCG don't price-match.

The Silver Arrow might be over-doing it a bit unless you live in Cairns . A Hyper 212+ should suffice, these are some pretty cool chips.

Something to consider, I suppose. Thanks.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Freezer bag + bubblewrap

Thanks!

 

[Hazaro]

I've had a Black Widow Ultimate for just over a week now and the thing is of surprisingly high quality. The build quality is pretty robust, no flex at all. The finish on the keys is slightly rubbery, I don't know if it'd be to everyone's preference.

I wanted Macro keys and the mic passthrough is pretty useful for getting my mic plugged in since my computer is far from where I sit, the backlighting is pretty neat too. My opinion of it is pretty positive, probably because I got one without any defects.

Oh the build quality seems pretty from what I saw, but to have needed firmware updates seems silly. Also can't press Z,X,C at the same time.

 

[Binabik15]

Some problems/kinks with the new pc:

-Norton won´t deinstall. It says preparing deinstallation for what feels like forever and then says error deinstalling and shuts off the deinstallation. Heh. I couldn´t delete the preinstalled Norton fully from my laptop either, because the deinst. crashes. Now I´m stuck getting annoyed every two weeks that my Super Norton Awesome Protection is expired.

-It´s noisy. The cpu+chassis fans were running at full speed when I set the mobo to automatic or whatever it´s called. We set them to speed 3 manually in the ASrock extreme thing and it´s considerably quiter, but someone explaining to me how to properly set up the fans that they shut the fuck up when th pc idles and speed up under load would be nice. The paper manual is no help.

-It makes a weird, very faint, high pitched da da da noise, which is not loud at all, but audibly over the much louder fan/air sound because of its frequency. It´s driving me crazy, I think it might be the HDD? It seems the be coming from the front of the case. It´s a Samsung EcoGreen 2 tb, btw.

-It went to the www just fine over LAN cable, then we installed MS Security Essentials and now it doesn´t load the net over LAN cable and while it connects to our router via wifi stick, it´s in local only mode.

Halp.

PS: Which game is working really good with Crossfire to show off the pc to our dad? I have Crysis 1 (plus Warhead where I can´t find the manual-> no cd key D, TW2, BF BC2, AssCreed2, Red Faction Guerilla and Metro 2033 for good looking/demanding games. Best wow effect would be Crysis or Metro at 60 fps locked, any micro stuttering or compatibility problems? I don´t want to show him that he spend 1000€ on a present that crashes games and turns textures pink

 

[Hazaro]

Some problems/kinks with the new pc:

-Norton won´t deinstall. It says preparing deinstallation for what feels like forever and then says error deinstalling and shuts off the deinstallation. Heh. I couldn´t delete the preinstalled Norton fully from my laptop either, because the deinst. crashes. Now I´m stuck getting annoyed every two weeks that my Super Norton Awesome Protection is expired.

-It´s noisy. The cpu+chassis fans were running at full speed when I set the mobo to automatic or whatever it´s called. We set them to speed 3 manually in the ASrock extreme thing and it´s considerably quiter, but someone explaining to me how to properly set up the fans that they shut the fuck up when th pc idles and speed up under load would be nice. The paper manual is no help.

-It makes a weird, very faint, high pitched da da da noise, which is not loud at all, but audibly over the much louder fan/air sound because of its frequency. It´s driving me crazy, I think it might be the HDD? It seems the be coming from the front of the case. It´s a Samsung EcoGreen 2 tb, btw.

-It went to the www just fine over LAN cable, then we installed MS Security Essentials and now it doesn´t load the net over LAN cable and while it connects to our router via wifi stick, it´s in local only mode.

Halp.

PS: Which game is working really good with Crossfire to show off the pc to our dad? I have Crysis 1 (plus Warhead where I can´t find the manual-> no cd key D, TW2, BF BC2, AssCreed2, Red Faction Guerilla and Metro 2033 for good looking/demanding games. Best wow effect would be Crysis or Metro at 60 fps locked, any micro stuttering or compatibility problems? I don´t want to show him that he spend 1000€ on a present that crashes games and turns textures pink

Try CCleaner to run registry cleanup and disable the startup application

Can't say anything on the noise, try to isolate the component.

Some auto settings can be more aggressive, what are your temps? (See OP)

Uninstall MSE and see if it keeps the problem. You want to remove other AV first, might be causing problems. Also try the Tech support help thread in off topic.

Crysis + a custom cfg (Very High 1.2.1 (?), Mster, [HP]). The opening cinematic + darkness into the sunrise is pretty amazing.
Just Cause 2

 

[Wallach]

Oh the build quality seems pretty from what I saw, but to have needed firmware updates seems silly. Also can't press Z,X,C at the same time.

Haha, I never bothered to check. Somehow I'm not surprised they bunged that up.

Rosewill needs to get the next run of RK-9000s done and shipped. Supposedly they're doing at least blue/brown/red instead of just blue, and if so they can really clean up in the US.

 

[Hazaro]

Haha, I never bothered to check. Somehow I'm not surprised they bunged that up.

Rosewill needs to get the next run of RK-9000s done and shipped. Supposedly they're doing at least blue/brown/red instead of just blue, and if so they can really clean up in the US.

Yeah, honestly I would have looked at them if I didn't get the DAS for $103

 

[toastyToast]

Oh the build quality seems pretty from what I saw, but to have needed firmware updates seems silly. Also can't press Z,X,C at the same time.

It's pretty odd actually, some really dumb combinations work. One baffling one is m,n,b,v,c. You can get 4 keys just about anywhere (if you include WASD you can get 6) except if you involve z,x and c which will lock out at x. z,x,p,o works somehow.

The BW probably fails as a mechanical keyboard without a PS2 input but it's far better than anything by Logitech unless you really like their screens. It's like the marijuana of mech keyboards.

 

[Wallach]

Yeah, honestly I would have looked at them if I didn't get the DAS for $103

I haven't seen any place that has them in stock anymore, they sold out of their entire first run as far as I know. Not sure when they'll come back, but they're really fantastic boards for the price. The only minor complaint I have with the Rosewill is they don't ship with a PS/2 adapter in the box, but that's pretty trivial compared to my issues with the BW.

Edit - Speaking of boards I have a Filco 104 w/ browns coming that has a set of basically unused Dolch replica doubleshot keycaps. Should be here in a few days.

 

[daviyoung]

Yesterday I gutted my old PC and only came away with a 40GB HDD and a DVD-ROM that I can transplant into the new machine. These should do for the time being, since I have an external HDD for storage.

My new build:

600W PSU
Asus P8P67 Pro Motherboard
Intel i7 2600K 3.4Ghz
Corsair Vengence 8GB DDR3 RAM
Nvidia GTX580
Crucial 64Gb SSD
Wireless PCIe adapter
Old 40GB HDD + 250GB for storage
Old DVD ROM
Windows 7

Now, for a monitor I'm torn between Philips and LG 21.5" screens. Philips is DVI only, while LG supports both HDMI and DVI. I know very little about DVI, but I'll probably be using this method for visuals. Is there any reason to expect DVI to perform better than HDMI?

 

[Hazaro]

It's pretty odd actually, some really dumb combinations work. One baffling one is m,n,b,v,c. You can get 4 keys just about anywhere (if you include WASD you can get 6) except if you involve z,x and c which will lock out at x. z,x,p,o works somehow.

The BW probably fails as a mechanical keyboard without a PS2 input but it's far better than anything by Logitech unless you really like their screens. It's like the marijuana of mech keyboards.

I was almost ready to buy the regular version for $71, since I liked almost everything about it. Just hard for me to overcome Razer stigma (great products that die).
If it had full keys rollover (this is more me saying, why didn't they include this?) and no firmware issues I'd probably get it.

I spent a long time bouncing back and forth between the two before I figured I'd spend $32 more.

Yesterday I gutted my old PC and only came away with a 40GB HDD and a DVD-ROM that I can transplant into the new machine. These should do for the time being, since I have an external HDD for storage.

My new build:

600W PSU
Asus P8P67 Pro Motherboard
Intel i7 2600K 3.4Ghz
Corsair Vengence 8GB DDR3 RAM
Nvidia GTX580
Crucial 64Gb SSD
Wireless PCIe adapter
Old 40GB HDD + 250GB for storage
Old DVD ROM
Windows 7

Now, for a monitor I'm torn between Philips and LG 21.5" screens. Philips is DVI only, while LG supports both HDMI and DVI. I know very little about DVI, but I'll probably be using this method for visuals. Is there any reason to expect DVI to perform better than HDMI?

Which 600W?
I'd suggest the Seasonic X650

 

[RS4-]

I just remembered that the hole to access the back of the motherboard isn't big enough for me to install the Noctua D14 plate without taking everything out.

I'll have to grab a Das keyboard; trying to remember the other mechanical brand.

 

[Wallach]

I was almost ready to buy the regular version for $71, since I liked almost everything about it. Just hard for me to overcome Razer stigma (great products that die).
If it had full keys rollover (this is more me saying, why didn't they include this?) and no firmware issues I'd probably get it.

I spent a long time bouncing back and forth between the two before I figured I'd spend $32 more.

It's worth it. The build quality of the Das is head and shoulders above the BW.

 

[Hazaro]

I just remembered that the hole to access the back of the motherboard isn't big enough for me to install the Noctua D14 plate without taking everything out.

I'll have to grab a Das keyboard; trying to remember the other mechanical brand.

Filco?
Ducky?
Zowie?

 

[archnemesis]

My PC have been acting up lately and I might replace it all together instead of just upgrading it as I initially had planned. Is there any interesting new tech on the horizon? Does it matter if I build a new one this fall or next spring? Are UEFI and SSD standard yet?

 

[Hazaro]

My PC have been acting up lately and I might replace it all together instead of just upgrading it as I initially had planned. Is there any interesting new tech on the horizon? Does it matter if I build a new one this fall or next spring? Are UEFI and SSD standard yet?

AM3+ Bulldozer in 2 months
Other than that, not really.

UEFI on everything but some Gigabyte
SSD standard? Nope.

 

[daviyoung]

Which 600W?
I'd suggest the Seasonic X650

It's just the store's (Novatech) standard model. I'm sure it's good enough. The Seasonic is double the price of this one and although I'm sure it's a lot more reliable, if there's a problem with Novatech's it'll be part of the first set of updates I make to the machine once I get more funds.

 

[archnemesis]

Cool, thanks Hazaro. Maybe I'll start working on a new build this fall or when my motherboard finally collapses.

 

[Hazaro]

It's just the store's (Novatech) standard model. I'm sure it's good enough. The Seasonic is double the price of this one and although I'm sure it's a lot more reliable, if there's a problem with Novatech's it'll be part of the first set of updates I make to the machine once I get more funds.

The Novatech supplies are (last I checked) similar to the OCZ modxstream units which are above average. You just were dropping a lot in other places, so I made a suggestion. The HX 650 is fine too.

Cool, thanks Hazaro. Maybe I'll start working on a new build this fall or when my motherboard finally collapses.

I missed the Spring part. Spring will likely bring (barring no delays) Intel Ivy Bridge (1155), nVidia GPU refresh, AMD(ATi) GPU refresh (Maybe Q2 2012).

 

[Binabik15]

Try CCleaner to run registry cleanup and disable the startup application

Can't say anything on the noise, try to isolate the component.

Some auto settings can be more aggressive, what are your temps? (See OP)

Uninstall MSE and see if it keeps the problem. You want to remove other AV first, might be causing problems. Also try the Tech support help thread in off topic.

Crysis + a custom cfg (Very High 1.2.1 (?), Mster, [HP]). The opening cinematic + darkness into the sunrise is pretty amazing.
Just Cause 2

Core temp is still sweet 29°C on the 2500k when idle according to the ASRock monitoring program, even with CPU fan set to 1.

MSE deinstalling helped, but now we´re without AV :/ And internet is still slooow.

The noise must be the HDD, weird. At least it´s not making scratching noises like mine does sometimes.

I´ll switch threads if anything else happens, bye bye.

PS: The Crysis custom config I tried turned everything really, REALLY bright, like "water blinds you" bright. Maybe I´ll get a ToD without the actual custom config. Vanilla is still very sexy.

Just Cause 2 is already in my possession, but I can easily max it with only a 5850, that´s not showing off two 6950s

 

[Tom Penny]

Anyone know why I would hear a slight buzzing noise every few minutes from my PC? I cannot pin point the area. I heard GPU sometimes do that. It only lasts under ten seconds but after you get used to hearing it you can't not hear it.

 

[daviyoung]

The Novatech supplies are (last I checked) similar to the OCZ modxstream units which are above average. You just were dropping a lot in other places, so I made a suggestion. The HX 650 is fine too.

Yeh, my build is perhaps over-kill but I'm seeing it as an investment. I appreciate the suggestion though. Hopefully none of the parts let me down when I come to setting up.

 

[archnemesis]

I missed the Spring part. Spring will likely bring (barring no delays) Intel Ivy Bridge (1155), nVidia GPU refresh, AMD(ATi) GPU refresh (Maybe Q2 2012).

That was what I was hoping for. My ATI HD4890 is still decent and it will probably be enough to run Skyrim with good performance. Unfortunately, I might need to underclock it even further to avoid the BSoDs.

 

[Hazaro]

Core temp is still sweet 29°C on the 2500k when idle according to the ASRock monitoring program, even with CPU fan set to 1.

MSE deinstalling helped, but now we´re without AV :/ And internet is still slooow.

The noise must be the HDD, weird. At least it´s not making scratching noises like mine does sometimes.

I´ll switch threads if anything else happens, bye bye.

PS: The Crysis custom config I tried turned everything really, REALLY bright, like "water blinds you" bright. Maybe I´ll get a ToD without the actual custom config. Vanilla is still very sexy.

Just Cause 2 is already in my possession, but I can easily max it with only a 5850, that´s not showing off two 6950s

Run CCleaner again and reinstall MSE. Make sure its the right version, you've restarted and cleared out Norton.

If MSE still denies net access I'd just look at Avira/Avast. Add Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware too.

JC2 has amazing colors, view, graphics. Keep turning up settings until you get below 60, then back off!

Crysis ToD I don't like the LoD changes. That's what usually messes things up. You can go into the .cfg file and change it from 0.4 or something up or down.

 

[f0rk]

Yeh, my build is perhaps over-kill but I'm seeing it as an investment.

With a set up that powerful why are you limiting yourself to a 21.5" screen?

 

[daviyoung]

With a set up that powerful why are you limiting yourself to a 21.5" screen?

Desk space mostly. 21.5" seems reasonable to me since I'll be only a few inches from it when using it.

 

[ithorien]

MSE deinstalling helped, but now we´re without AV :/ And internet is still slooow.

I've installed MSE on countless computers, and not once have I had it mess with any of the network settings. It's not a firewall, it's strictly an AV program.

If you're having issues with Norton however, there's a slight chance it modified settings because of MSE being on top of it.

If it was up to me, I'd be reformatting and keeping that POS Norton away from any and all computers I own, for the rest of my life. Format, install MSE, and you should not have a single issue at all.

PS- First time ever I feel like I have to correct Haz Avast/Avira/AVG have historically made errors in judgment creating false positives, which could result in some fun times. I think Avast just recently deleted crucial Windows files iirc. I install MSE on pharmacy computers, and it's never been an issue.

 

[thiscoldblack]

Which one should I buy? XFX has lifetime warranty, but supposedly it is loud. I've never heard of HIS before, but supposedly it is quiet. Can anyone help me on this one? Thanks.

XFX Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506

or

HIS Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349

 

[vitaminwateryum]

Got all my parts in yesterday and put it together last night. Many thanks to the people who took the time to help me out in here.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

In the $1000+ build from the OP, what is the reasoning for going with the MSI twin frozr II OC 570 over the EVGA superclocked 570? I'm mainly looking at the lifetime warranty with EVGA versus the 2-3 year warranty with MSI. Is it just preference or something else?

 

[ithorien]

In the $1000+ build from the OP, what is the reasoning for going with the MSI twin frozr II OC 570 over the EVGA superclocked 570? I'm mainly looking at the lifetime warranty with EVGA versus the 2-3 year warranty with MSI. Is it just preference or something else?

Most likely temps, the EVGA card runs real hot. I'm at a constant 85 degrees when running a heavier game.

 

[Smokey]

In the $1000+ build from the OP, what is the reasoning for going with the MSI twin frozr II OC 570 over the EVGA superclocked 570? I'm mainly looking at the lifetime warranty with EVGA versus the 2-3 year warranty with MSI. Is it just preference or something else?

I'd assume because of the quietness/coolness of the card and it's OC ability.

I want to reset my ASUS P8P67 PRO mobo so that it takes off the OC so that I may do it manually. What 'button' do I need to push to do this and will it mess anything up?

 

[n0n44m]

I'd assume because of the quietness/coolness of the card and it's OC ability.

I want to reset my ASUS P8P67 PRO mobo so that it takes off the OC so that I may do it manually. What 'button' do I need to push to do this and will it mess anything up?

go to bios and hit F5 to load optimized defaults, this resets everything to factory settings

*I think it was F5, you can check yourself on the right side of the screen in advanced mode or just select optimized defaults in the the advanced->system screen*

 

[Horsemama1956]

Which one should I buy? XFX has lifetime warranty, but supposedly it is loud. I've never heard of HIS before, but supposedly it is quiet. Can anyone help me on this one? Thanks.

XFX Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150506

or

HIS Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161349

They both have the same reference cooler, so they will both be loud, and hot. I have the XFX and slapped a 25 dollar Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev 2 with a 120mm CM Sickle R4 attached. Stays well under 60 and it's no louder then my 212+ with the Blademaster fan running at 100%.

 

[Aegus]

Pulled the trigger on my PC.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl Gaming Midi Tower Case
Intel 510 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA-III Solid State Hard Drive
2xMSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR III HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - OEM
850W Corsair AX Series Modular ATX2.3 SLI/Crossfire Compliant Power Supply
8GB Corsair Vengeance Blue (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

Going to put an order into Amazon UK for the Dell U2410 and a Steelseries 7H headset.

Should all be delivered on Saturday with any luck.

 

[kurtrussell]

Anyone know why I would hear a slight buzzing noise every few minutes from my PC? I cannot pin point the area. I heard GPU sometimes do that. It only lasts under ten seconds but after you get used to hearing it you can't not hear it.

I heard that this a known flaw on some Radeon cards - capacitor makes a noise briefly when being pushed under load...

 

[Zel3]

The MSY stores here in WA are lousy with stock. Plus, they're ages away. As far as I'm aware, PCCG don't price-match.



Something to consider, I suppose. Thanks.

I have the Silver Arrow, best air cooler there is even beating the Noctua on most benchmarks. Can't recommend it enough.

 

[knitoe]

Core temp is still sweet 29°C on the 2500k when idle according to the ASRock monitoring program, even with CPU fan set to 1.

MSE deinstalling helped, but now we´re without AV :/ And internet is still slooow.

The noise must be the HDD, weird. At least it´s not making scratching noises like mine does sometimes.

I´ll switch threads if anything else happens, bye bye.

PS: The Crysis custom config I tried turned everything really, REALLY bright, like "water blinds you" bright. Maybe I´ll get a ToD without the actual custom config. Vanilla is still very sexy.

Just Cause 2 is already in my possession, but I can easily max it with only a 5850, that´s not showing off two 6950s

Norton has a uninstall program. Download and run it. If that doesn't work, try reinstalling the norton, and then, run the uninstall program again.

As for someone saying Norton is POS, that maybe true before 2009(?), but the new versions are one of the best out there. I have tried pretty much very option out there, paid or free, and always comes back to Norton Security. It's light, fast and barely uses any system resources. If you want it for cheap, always buy the previous version which allows free upgrade to the latest.

As for noise, open you case and detach unnessaey fans, ie case. Power on the computer and see if you can find the noise. Places to look are CPU, video card, PSU and HDD.

For games to show off, Witcher 2 stage 1 forest area.

 

[Futurevoid]

Oh the build quality seems pretty from what I saw, but to have needed firmware updates seems silly. Also can't press Z,X,C at the same time.

Thus far, I'm liking it. It's got a nice feel to it that I'm not used to as of yet but the backlighting is excellent. I looked at the DAS keyboards but I wanted to go a bit cheaper considering the money I'd already put into the rig.

Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly things went. I made some quick mobo level changes to the RAM and was up and running with nary a problem. The only issue I did have was that I could not set the SATA controller to AHCI. It would blue screen when booting into Windows. Low and behold I didn't know I needed to set it to AHCI BEFORE I installed Windows! Thankfully, I found a quick registry modification and was able to get AHCI enabled and working (and it made an immediately noticeable difference).

Today it's on to overlocking. I don't have a lot of experience with it but I OC'd my old Q6600 to 3.0ghz without too much of an issue. I'm familiar with applications to run for stability testing, etc. Are the default turbo modes selectable in the ASROCK UEFI pretty good? I'm not looking to do anything extreme. 4.2-4.4 OC would please me on the 2500k. Not sure if those modes make the proper voltage changes, etc.

 

[CoachKevin]

Ok I am thinking of jumping in and leaving my 27" iMac and OSX. The thing is just so slow and feels like it is about to catch on fire when editing video.

So, I want to make this as easy as possible while keeping it reasonable (under $1400 as i will need a 26" monitor).

A buddy at mine who does a lot of intensive work (art lead at Riot games) recommended the Dell XPS9100.

Basically I want multiple drives, fast as hell, tons of ram.

Something that will be a pro at editing and encoding video as well as play some games from Steam.

 

[ithorien]

Norton has a uninstall program. Download and run it. If that doesn't work, try reinstalling the norton, and then, run the uninstall program again.

As for someone saying Norton is POS, that maybe true before 2009(?), but the new versions are one of the best out there. I have tried pretty much very option out there, paid or free, and always comes back to Norton Security. It's light, fast and barely uses any system resources. If you want it for cheap, always buy the previous version which allows free upgrade to the latest.

You are the bane of my existence. Every single pharmacy I deal with (I work for a software company that provides pharmacy software as well as troubleshoots pharmacy PCs and everything that relates) gets that shite on their computers, and it's the biggest pain in the ass. Their AV flags everything as bad, their firewall is the most intrusive thing I've dealt with next to McAffee, and it's just an overall nuisance to deal with. Their approach is that you're a baby that shouldn't be allowed to use your computer for anything but Word and an occasional google search for diapers, and anything that's partially signed or not signed at all (bug fixes, patches) create false positives.

If you're a smart, safe user, you shouldn't need anything aside from MSE (that runs noticeably lighter than Norton), Windows Firewall (Comodo maybe if you feel like dealing with the setup) and Malware Bytes for the occasional scan.

I absolutely despise Microsoft for almost everything they do, but MSE is quite possibly the greatest thing they've put out next to Win 7, and I'm 153% confident in it's ability.

/rantoff

 

[knitoe]

You are the bane of my existence. Every single pharmacy I deal with (I work for a software company that provides pharmacy software as well as troubleshoots pharmacy PCs and everything that relates) gets that shite on their computers, and it's the biggest pain in the ass. Their AV flags everything as bad, their firewall is the most intrusive thing I've dealt with next to McAffee, and it's just an overall nuisance to deal with. Their approach is that you're a baby that shouldn't be allowed to use your computer for anything but Word and an occasional google search for diapers, and anything that's partially signed or not signed at all (bug fixes, patches) create false positives.

Tell them to upgrade to the new version. Knowing most companies, they are are probably still using one from at least 5 years ago. When it comes to security, I wouldn't take the word from anyone. Read the reviews as a baseline and try trials yourself.

If you're a smart, safe user, you shouldn't need anything aside from MSE (that runs noticeably lighter than Norton), Windows Firewall (Comodo maybe if you feel like dealing with the setup) and Malware Bytes for the occasional scan.

How about you get those "pharmacy" to run MSE? I have no doubt you will have the same problems and some. People at those places aren't usually very "smart and safe" users.

I absolutely despise Microsoft for almost everything they do, but MSE is quite possibly the greatest thing they've put out next to Win 7, and I'm 153% confident in it's ability.

/rantoff

MSE is probably the best free security, but not better than top rank paid, Kaspersky, Eset, Norton and etc.

 

[ithorien]

Tell them to upgrade to the new version. Knowing most companies, they are are probably using one from at least 5 years ago.

They all use the latest because it gets bundled with Dell PCs, and we have a contract with Dell to provide their computers to our pharmacies.

How about you get those "pharmacy" to run MSE? I have no doubt you will have the same problems and some. People at those places aren't usually very "smart and safe" users.

I install MSE on as many of their PCs as I can (I'm not the only tech here after all), right after I uninstall Norton permanently. Norton, McAffee and TrendMicro (from what I've seen) have this amazing feature that disables networking components and firewall when the software expires, preventing access to some of our SQL tools until you renew your license. Yes, some of them love to click things they shouldn't, but I've been here almost a year now and we've had maybe 2 stores with more severe issues, and those weren't stores with MSE.

MSE is probably the best free security, but not better than top rank paid, Kaspersky, Eset, Norton and etc.

That's pretty much the biggest reason why I'm so gung ho about it, it's the best -free- solution that is very competitive with pay for packages.

 

[mkenyon]

I absolutely despise Microsoft for almost everything they do, but MSE is quite possibly the greatest thing they've put out next to Win 7, and I'm 153% confident in it's ability.

/rantoff

I couldn't agree with this more. However, the absolute best anti-virus is your right index finger. Before MSE, I went 4 years without a single virus, only installing an anti-virus every few months or so to scan, and then uninstall with this method. Pro-tip: install a Linux virtual machine to use if you need to go to questionable places on the internet.

 

[B-Dex]

So, since i'm going for the 510 120GB, if I install win 7 on it and my most played games, would it be alright to still partition 20GB of it for ssd caching so any games on the other drive would get a bit of benefit or is it too much of a hassle to bother?

 

[ithorien]

However, the absolute best anti-virus is your right index finger.

That right there is gospel, hands down. That and perhaps common sense. "You mean I should click the battlenetwow.us.tw/accountsecurewepromise link???"

 

[scy]

That right there is gospel, hands down. That and perhaps common sense. "You mean I should click the battlenetwow.us.tw/accountsecurewepromise link???"

But ... they promised.

 

[knitoe]

These days, you really need some sort of active monitoring security program. Just being "safe" is not enough. There have been many instances of "safe" websites unknowingly installing spyware. Not to mention, people you know getting infected and passing them on to you.

 

[desh]

I'm trying to figure out what I'm losing going with the MSI P67A-G43 over the MSI P67A-G55 motherboard. I went to the MSI website to do a comparison, but the G43 didn't show up.