Hi Everyone, the main reason of creating this poll is: If i upgrade my computer, which program is the most popular (So i will trust the the prog. that has the most votes) and i will buy it.

This post has been edited by Propeng: Sep 25 2007, 02:46 PM

Lucky strike, man !
Of course, you can imagine, that, if you ask enough people, you will find the best solution.
Unfortunately, I am personnally convinced that you will find the most popular solution, not obviously the one which is the most suitable for you.
As a matter of fact, you are experiencing what is real life Democracy. Ask a lot of people what they are voting for, and you will probably obtain a solution with which you would not agree, but which is democratically elected.
Let's wait and see, who know, I would be really curious to see what will emerge from this.
For instance, if everybody votes for Linux, do you really need an antivirus ? Mc Afee says "yes, please buy one from us", of course, but some users think "no need".

Heh, nice, but I agree with yordan. For the record, my current vote for Windows XP is only because I currently have it. I'm looking to make the switch to Linux.

Anyway, remember that certain combinations go well together. For example, if you buy a new PC odds are you'll end up with some 30 day trial of antivirus XYZ, which you use until it runs out. Remember that popularity doesn't mean too much about how good the product is (within reason). Also, thoughts on putting up the option for firewalls? I know I use a generally unconventional one.

Thanks, everyone i will try to ask some more people, but i think that these poll results are enough.

Here’s the real question. What are the “tune up” utilities everyone is using? Back in the day I used to use Norton Utilities to keep everything going smoothly. My personal favorite was the Windows Cleaner.

Now days I don’t have anything and I can’t say that I can tell much of a difference. I keep antivirus and a firewall running all the time and I periodically check for spyware using SpyBot. When I first configure my machine I always set the security policies and run TweekUI form Microsoft. After installing all the programs I clean out the startup registry keys and certain services. That’s about it.

If you don’t think this is enough or you think I could see a real performance gain from running a “tune up” program let me know what you recommend. The requirements will be that it helps more than it does harm, is free, and preferable open source.

Well as for stability you want Windows XP for an OS, as for Anti-virus I am a McAfee person but usually you hear Kaspersky and AVG, As for tune up programs I use various ones such as Advance System Optimizer, RAM Def, Glary Ultilities and a program I downloaded for free at the Giveaway of the day website is Registry Easy.

As for what yordan mention about not needing anti-virus I would have to agree that some people are saying that you don't need it, unless you plan to go to questionable websites. As for tune up programs it depends really as there are a quite a few of them out there that claim this and that, but I think the only you will notice any difference with tune up programs is that you do some good wear and tear on the system to the point it get slow and you have a lot of junk on your system to see any improvement. I would though check out glary utilites though as it has some good stuff for being a small, plain GUI, program.

the most used app isn't the best application you know . A lot of people use program X because they don't know Y or Z . Don't forget YOU are the one who's going to use the application so I suggest you to test the available program (or look for reviews, testimonials, etc ...).
Personally, I'd suggest you to get WinXP+Avast+Tune Up program. WindowsXP because it's so widespread, it's mature, fast and stable. If you want, you could install Linux as your secondary OS. I would pay for an Anti-virus program, Avast, FreeAV and AVG are all good applications and they'll cost you nothing. Tuning applications are useless imho, sometimes they even make things worse than they already are. A program like CrapCleaner (CCleaner) is all you need, it removes useless files and searches for some faulty registry entries.

I agree that the most used app isn't necessarily the best. Though since we're all stating what we use, I alternate between AVG and NOD32 for antivirus protection. I don't currently run a 3rd part firewall, though probably i should. I disagree that you can have a windows system with no antivirus and be perfectly fine, unless your computer never connects to the internet, and never gets flash disks plugged in. Maybe under those circumstances, yes, but I doubt if otherwise.
For system tweaking and tuning I use X-setup Pro. Nice, very powerful program, hundreds of tweaks, divided into average user tweaks, and professional admin ones. This is not a free program, but I have it from a while back, so I keep using it. Otherwise, I just use tweakUI and do all the other changes I want myself.