free anti-virus/spyware etc. protection

[johnb]

However, without doing some form of testing, how can one ever know that firewall or AV software is working at all? A negative response does not tell you much. Maybe you need to get one of your friends to send you a copy of a virus!

It is possible that I have all kinds of problems that I am not aware of but all I can say is that I have never had any indication at all that any such problem exists. As for asking a friend to send me an e-mail containing a virus - dream on.

In any case I can't help but think that it is dangerous to play about with websites (which might of course themselves have been hacked) unless you know exactly what you are doing and what the risks are.

[Dave2002]

It is possible that I have all kinds of problems that I am not aware of but all I can say is that I have never had any indication at all that any such problem exists. As for asking a friend to send me an e-mail containing a virus - dream on.

In any case I can't help but think that it is dangerous to play about with websites (which might of course themselves have been hacked) unless you know exactly what you are doing and what the risks are.

I get scared just walking out of my front door. You never know what's going to happen!

Another useful tool is Soluto - though not everyone likes it. It'll give most users a fairly good idea of all the (probably not wanted) programs and processes they have running on their machines. Generally, though not always, using it can lead to faster startup - https://www.soluto.com/

[Pianorak]

Am I naive to rely on the Windows XP Firewall and MS Security Essentials? Have used the free AVG in the past.

[johnb]

Another useful tool is Soluto - though not everyone likes it. It'll give most users a fairly good idea of all the (probably not wanted) programs and processes they have running on their machines. Generally, though not always, using it can lead to faster startup - https://www.soluto.com/

I am extremely cautious about trying out various programme on my PC until I have don't extensive research. IMO taking a casual attitude to running software is just asking for trouble - especially when there is no need for the software in the first place.

You can see what programmes and processes are running on a Windows PC by opening the Task Manager (right click on the bottom bar and select it).

[Pianorak]

. . .
You can see what programmes and processes are running on a Windows PC by opening the Task Manager (right click on the bottom bar and select it).

Just done that - 44 Processes running. So what are the implications - what should I do? Most of those processes mean nothing to me.

[johnb]

Unless you are experiencing a problem and know what you are doing - leave it alone.

If your PC is behaving very sluggishly you can open the Task Manager to see if there any processes that are hogging the CPU - you can sort the list by clicking on the headings, e.g. clicking on CPU will sort by the CPU usage percentage (you might have to click twice to get the highest usage at the top, rather than at the bottom). It might not be immediately apparent what application the process belongs to but that can usually be established by googling on the process name, e.g. the notorious ccsvchst.exe is a Norton process.

(By the way, my PC currently has 101 processes running.)