PC Maintanence and Security

I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about basic computer things-both hardware and software related.  However in reviewing the Firewalls tutorial I was surprised to learn that both a hardware and software firewall are recommended.  My router has a built in firewall and I've always turned off the windows firewall because it's just annoying to me (constant popups about trying to connect to the internet) and blocks things I don't think it should like file-sharing between my home network computers. Perhaps I've just never had it configured correctly. There were several tutorials in the firewall category so I watched all of them and then proceeded to turn my windows firewall back on.  I also downloaded zonealarm to my computer because it seemed to be the best choice for me.

I already have AVG free on my computer, but wish I could afford BitDefender for all of my computers and tablets.  In our house we have 2 desktops, a laptop, and 2 tablets and use wireless internet connection (which makes our information more vulnerable).  I had heard of BitDefender before, but was surprised at it capabilities noted in the tutorial. Of course when you look at the price based on number of users, I doubt I could afford it on all of our devices. I was also surprised to learn about their free editions of their software (previous versions) and their free virus removal tools.  I have bookmarked those just in case I need them someday.

The file backup options tutorial was the only one that was disappointing to me.  Right now, I have a terabyte external hardrive that I put all our videos and pictures on.  I use google docs for a lot of my school work documents since they are available web based and I don't have to take a flash drive everywhere.  For my iPhone I use iCloud to back up information.  I never really have time to do full-back ups (perhaps I have too much info on my computer to back up).  I do have my Seagate programed to auto partial backup certain folders on my computer (pics, docs, purchased program software, etc.) I don't really like the idea of storing my data on an online software program.

Overall I thought the tutorials were pretty well put together and they were short enough that I could watch a section and then come back to them later.  It was very informative and I plan on sharing a lot of the information with people I know.

While I was writing this post, my AVG sent me this and I thought I'd share it.