Looking for advice/opinions please.

Hey guys, I just found this site today and I've got a few general questions to see what everyone's opinion is on a few things I've been looking into lately. I don't really know where else to put this so I'm going to try it here. If it's a bad place for it I'm sure a mod will be helpful.

First of all I recently discovered the wonder that is bit torrent, and all the goodies associated with torrent files. (Yay me, a little slow though)

In searching I've found a program called removed it's basically a hacked down version of XP Pro that is supposed to only use 64mb RAM.

My question is if any of you have used it or even heard of it, and if so, what you think. I've read lots and lots of good reviews about it at the site I found it at: Link removed-No hacks, cracks, or other possible malware posting allowed here-Ron and only a couple bad comments from people who couldn't get it working correctly.

My next question is reguarding anti-virus software. I've tried several different programs and read up on alot of other forums to try and determine what the best option is. I've come down to a few, Kaspersky, Nod32, and Bit Defender seem to be the most popular that I've heard of, (KAV and NOD I learned of on here recently) and while none of these are free, I've found that even the stingiest of computer nerds (I count myself among them) haven't minded paying for these programs. So let me know what you think in that reguard.

My final question is a question of firewalls. I know windows has a built in one, and it's pretty crappy. I also know tha Norton (symantec) has one out, as well as Zone Alarm being pretty popular. My question is this, what firewalls do you guys use and if you use more than one, why? What do you think are the best programs to run to keep a computer the safest.

I appreciate any advice/opinions and responses, as long as they are polite and helpful. I don't like being made fun of, so if you have mean comments please keep them to yourself.

Thanks again.

 

i received my nod32 free in a sweepstakes here at Wilders but in a month or two when i have to renew, i wouldnt mind paying for it as its a very powerful yet light antivirus and i like it very much. i use looknstop as a firewall for teh same reasons as nod32. i would not recommend u run two firewall as they can conflict. and lastly, only u can decide what u feel safest with. if u read around these forums, im sure u can make ur own choice and learn much about other antviruses, firewall, HIPS, and other security programs. for me, in addition to nod32 and lns, i use various hardening tools like samurai, harden-it, bugoff, and windows worm door cleaner. i also have ewido anti-malware, regrun security suite, hostsman, proxomitron, and i keep my running windows services to a minimum.

 

Reading your post, nLite (Google it) might be for you. It's easy & better to do it yourself. On your own copy. So I've heard.

 

Hi,
You don't need illegal ways to make your Windows smaller.
You can use nLite, as mentioned to make much smaller installations.
I managed to slim down the Windows installer to only about 270-280Mbs. By the way, the bottom limit is about 160Mb, which is the size of the kernel plus a little more. Look into BartPE if you're interested.
Windows XP can run from 486 DX33 with 16Mb RAM. Proven. It takes about 40 minutes to boot. It's doable, but not advisable.
Apropos anti-virii, if you don't wanna pay, but still want good av security, you can go for avg or avast in real-time, plus clamwin and bitdefender as backups. That would be more than solid. There are some other on-demand anti-virii available, too, you can try them.
Mrk

 

I was just about to Google "Apropos" AV.

 

Hi,
That's a good one ... Apropos.
When it catches a virus, it says in the message alert: "Apropos your security, I caught this virus, by the way, if you don't mind, have a look later on, will ya?"
Mrk