Hwæt! I have a new computer. It’s a Windows type. I’ve never had a Windows type before, personally, although I’ve used them at work for mumblety-mumble years. At work, there’s the IT people who keep it running. Now, I need to do stuff myself, so I come to you wise computer gurus.
First, the Cloud. It keeps telling me I have to sign up for the Cloud. Why? and how? will it cost anything?
Second, I keep getting a warning that my McAfee anti-virus is expired and needs renewal. However, from earlier contempt heaped on McAfee by you wise folk, I understand that is a bad thing, and I should rely on the Windows anti-virus app. What is the Windows anti-virus app, and how do I turn it on? Will it cost money?
Third, I have heard chatter of malware checkers. What are they, please, and how do I check for malware? Is it an app? Will it cost money?
Fourth, I have seen wise denizens of these boards talk about ad-blockers. What are they, please? I don’t get much by way of adverts. Are they recommended? essential? nice to have? And how would I get one and will it cost money?
(You may have noticed a theme to the closing parts of my questions. Yes, I’m skint.)
I cannot speak to the Windows’ anti-virus app, as I use Bitdefender myself. It seems to work nicely.
But McAfee came pre-loaded on my current machine (purchased in 2020), and I’ve got those annoying slide-ins coming from the right hand side of the screen. Note that my McAfee isn’t working, as I did not subscribe at time of purchase. I hit the X in the top right, and the message goes away, until it reappears next time. “Next time” might be later today, tomorrow, next week, or a couple of weeks from now. But it will return.
I just deal, and close down the McAfee slide-in. I’m not tech-savvy enough to know how to stop it. But it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm, and I’m protected anyway by another anti-virus, so if I have to take a step to get rid of it, I do. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s a minimal one.
Congrats on the new PC. Sorry you are being set upon by pre-installed programs (very common).
That sounds like Microsoft OneDrive which is their cloud storage option. It can be free for a little storage (up to 5GB) or cost money for more. It’s up to you if you want it. There are certainly other competitors out there that do the same thing which you can use if you prefer. Or not. If you want to turn off OneDrive see here.
Delete McAfee is my best advice. You can use it if you want and it will cost you money but I recommend getting it off your PC. You can uninstall programs here. The built-in protection is Windows Defender. It’s just there. You can find other antivirus programs at a cost if you want. They are mostly not needed these days unless you know you need the added protection. I use Eset because I am keen on extra protection but it costs money.
Most people suggest Malware Bytes. It’s a bit of added protection. Some (most?) anti-virus programs protect the same way. Malware Bytes can be free or cost money for more thorough protection. Generally I see Malware Bytes protection as protection while browsing but not protection from email threats or viruses from things like a USB drive.
Ad-blockers are great. I love them. They are an add-on to your browser. The browser you use will usually be Microsoft Edge (built-in to all Windows PCs…can’t get rid of it), Chrome (Google), Firefox or Opera. There are others like Brave as well (which has a built-in ad-blocker).
Very recently Chrome has disabled ad-blockers because that is how Google makes money. Firefox is usually the go-to alternative and adblockes still work there. I recommend uBlock Origin. It is a plugin for the Firefox browser. Install and (mostly) forget about it and enjoy mostly ad-free browsing including no ads on YouTube. It is available for most other browsers too (but no longer works on Chrome). It is free.
You can disable uBlock Origin on a per-site basis so sites like the SDMB can show ads and make money (if you want…up to you and easily done).
ETA: Protip - go to Ninite.com to install any of a bunch of useful programs completely free. Tick the boxes of the ones you want and click the button and they are all installed in one, easy go. https://ninite.com/ (just get the things you know you want…no need for all of it)
If it were me, and I had to do real work on a computer, the first thing I would do is wipe out Windows (if it was there, since I would not buy a copy of Microsoft Windows). Unless you have an app or game that only works under Windows.
(Then you might ask what to install instead, and I would ask what you want to do on it.)
But unless you do risky stuff, I’d suggest simply not replacing it - MS’s Windows Defender is quite adequate for everyday use, as long as you don’t click on unsolicited links or download stuff from dodgy sites.
My main problem is now that I work from home my home PC is also my work PC and I find most of the nasty things coming in are from emails with infected attachments from others who are not great about their own PC security.
I never found Defender to be sufficient for those which is why I have another AV program (but never McAfee or Norton).
This may be too much work for most but, if it were me, I would download a Windows 10 (or 11 as you like) installer onto a USB stick and completely blow away the install from the store with all its bullshit and do a clean install of Windows and then add the things I want.
It’s a lot of work though and you need to be sure you have all the drivers you need before that and also on that USB. It’ll take most of an afternoon. Worth it IMO.
Re McAfee: Uninstall it with extreme prejudice. It sucks and the Windows default protection is entirely sufficient for an ordinary user.
Re “sign up for an online account” — Microsoft really wants to mandate that all Windows users have a single official Microsoft sign-on so they can monitor your usage and build a profile and monetize your identity the same as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and all the rest. During Windows activation, they make it really difficult to skip past this step.
However, it is possible. Here’s one explanation.
This worked for me, but note that Microsoft keeps modifying the experience in response to these workarounds, trying to close the loopholes, so ymmv. You might need to find more recent guidance.
Having a Microsoft account will not, in and of itself, cost you money right out of the gate. However, it does make it easier for Microsoft to track you and market stuff to you and push ads at you, so you decide what you want to do.
To be clear: uninstalling McAfee should result in Windows Defender automatically turning on. If it doesn’t, you’ll get a warning about not having an antivirus. (And it would be McAfee’s who broke something).
And, yes, I recommend disabling OneDrive. Especially if you’re using this for any legal work. It has been known to start automatically making copies of things in the Cloud (i.e. online).
If you do need to store some files online, there are many alternatives, and you could make a thread asking for which one is the best.
I agree with Whack-A-Mole, though IMHO doing a fresh Windows install is not at all difficult or time-consuming. It takes less than 30 minutes and is virtually automatic, except for some simple set-up questions. If your new computer already has Windows installed, then it is highly unlikely that the Windows installation process will not have available or be able to download every driver you might need for your specific machine.
Don’t waste your money! In fact, uninstall it and use “Windows Security” that is already part of Windows, works great, and is FREE. I’ve never had a problem in all the years I’ve used the native Windows protection ranging all the way back to “Windows Defender” in Windows 7.
My little Chromebook is past it’s best before date and no longer updating. I wanted security for doing my banking, and I was losing functionality for certain things. See here: So, my Acer Chrombook is expiring
For personal and professional reasons I need to use MS 360 suite, for full compatibility.
What other options? I only know about Mac, Windows and Chromebook.
Put simply, I am a techno-peasant and just want a computer that I can use with my limited computer skills. I don’t know what’s under the hood (or bonnet) , so to speak. (Which is equally applicable to cars. If it gets me where I want to go, I’m good.)
Right, consensus is to uninstall McAfee. I will do that the next time I get that scare box about “your anti-virus protection has expired” (which is usually right when I’m in the middle of doing something, of course).
I really hate that Windows defaults to cloud storage. Took me way too long to figure out that’s what it was doing when I was looking for stuff I was certain I dropped into a folder and it somehow wasn’t there. I like having my stuff with my stuff. If I mess it up, it’s my fault, and I can live with that.
That’s how I feel as well. However, I will need backups. I know a lawyer who is highly tech proficient, and did a podcast recently about how AI scrapes the cloud, raising confidentiality concerns for our duty to keep client info private. I’ll ask him what he recommends for backup.
According to all MS reports I’ve seen, OneDrive (Microsoft’s cloud service used for MS 365 services) is private to you and is not scraped by their AI or any other service. This is slightly modified if you use CoPilot in that your files can be accessed (but not scraped to use for training) for your use only. MS365 also comes with 1TB of online storage via OneDrive which can also be synced to your local drive (so files can be accessed while you are offline).
I’ve also had great luck with only using Windows Defender on my PCs for the last several years. It is preinstalled and free. Disable or uninstall McAfee as has already been recommended.
Being the fanboi that I am I tend to suggest a Mac for anyone who is going to be left trying to look after their own machine. But anyone who has to use a Windows box in their daily job will at least be familiar with the wretched things. A Windows box has the advantage that finding someone to help you sort the thing out is easier.
Office 365 runs on Macs. I just finished updating tomorrow’s lecture slides in Powerpoint on my Mac.
But nothing is perfect. Choose your poison.