RomRaider

I installed XP on my test machine for fun and have been having issues with getting my XP key accepted.... GRRRRR (I do have a legal copy of XP pro). Being fed up with paying for freaking software and not being able to use it I thought I'd get one of those key gen things.

I have anit-virus software installed. Clam AV

I have anti-spyware software installed. Adaware.

I scanned and checked everything before opening and installing (except once), thinking if I did get something, I'd be able to remove it. I got something and now my maching pretty much sucks at this point. I really dont care as nothing was on that machine, but I'm just damned impressed at how fast it took to nuke my XP Pro installation

Yeah, I use Linux on all my other machines (insert typical Linux zealot quote here). I do love the fact I don't have to deal with this crap on my Linux boxes.

Any advice on programs for securing an XP pro SP1 (version 2002) machines? I'm a cheap ass (I use linux), is there some free stuff (legal) that could help me?

-Eric-

Too late to wipe and re-install.

The only thing I can suggest if you want to use XP, is getting SP2, if you have a legal Key, you can just download the update.

The main reason you don't have to deal with that crap on Linux is because you presumably don't run as admin.
So why do you run as admin on your XP box?
My wife and I run as regular users on media center (i.e. xp) and we've had zero issues for I don't know how long.. 1.5 years maybe?

Even if you do feel the need to run as admin most of the time for whatever reason, surely you would want to login as a normal user when you run a prog that you know has a high likelihood of being malicious?

Linux is awesome, but I don't think XP is nearly as bad as you make it to be.

I wasn't trying to turn this into a place for me to bash XP Linux is awesome though, and BSD.. and MacOS.. and BeOS.. and I even did like os/2. I pretty much jumped off the Windows bandwagon at around the Win98 release.

That said, I have run XP off and on for a good number of years through VMs and dual boots. I DONT run as the admin, I have a dedicated user account setup. Come now, I use an OS centered around user permissions etc. I'll be sure to check my user rights once again, though.

User permissions and rights aside, I'm still a bit put off on how easy it is these days for user land programs to gain access to the XP kernel through typical and insidious means. Browser integration with the OS with gaping security holes also are an issue. These days it seems to be easier to get your system trashed.

I'm glad you have had no issues for 1.5 years, I'm impressed. Its obvious that XP has a good number of issues that must be addressed through either updates (SP2 as previously mentioned to me) and 3rd party apps that intercept spyware and viruses.

Back to the main theme of my thread. What do you use to protect your system? Are they free?

-Eric-

I've been using Microsoft Antispyware for about a year. It's free. I just recently bought Panda Antivirus after never having AV before. I do get spyware and such every few months or so, but I deal with it.

Is that still beta? Even when it was beta I thought I read it worked pretty good. I'll check it out. Thanks mang.