|
After 17 years of only owning apple products I'm going back to PC (ASUS ROG Zephyrus m16, because it should play Baldur's gate 3). What I remember of PC ownership long ago was that they're virus-riddled, buggy machines but also that was when my brother and I , two teenage boys, were sharing a windows ME computer. The long and the short of it is, I mostly want to do very pedestrian internet things like youtube and SA and also be able to play games again. I don't have very good computer literacy, and I'd rather build good habits to avoid problems than try to fix them after they occur. Once the new laptop arrives, are there important things I can do before I ever let the internet touch it to make it more secure? Important first things to download once it is connected to the internet? Are there decent general rules to follow to beyond never trusting unsolicited emails/links/popups and keeping to known safe corners of the internet? From what I gather I should disable any and all remote access/remote desktop and continue to use two factor authentication for everything. Basic googling says that newer windows operating systems have as good of antivirus as any built in (for whatever good that's worth). Also device encryption, but I don't really understand what that does for me. Is that important because everything just gets sent to cloud storage without having a choice and I want it secure out there? Other reasons? I know very little about how modern computing really works, I just don't want to do something foolish with the machine once it gets here out of pure ignorance of the the way things work now.
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2024 03:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 3, 2024 08:44 |
|
|
Thanks to everyone for the replies! I was planning on Ublock Origin, the reminder to always keep everything up to date is a good one. 2 factor forever on everything, that habit's already baked in. No sketchy downloads from strangers (or candy). Turn on device encryption, disable UPNP and remote access. Presumable Chrome is the browser I should be using? I definitely hadn't thought of having the administrator be a separate account from my day-to-day one, but that makes a lot of sense. Re-installing the operating system is something I've never thought to do on a brand new computer. Is this advisable just because big box store will put junk on them right off the bat before selling them? Best Buy certainly wants me to have a free copy of norton 360 and use it. I don't have the computer in hand yet, but I wasn't planning to take advantage of the offer. Is there a recommendation regarding VPNs? Does the average idiot need one and if so are some services better than others? Thanks again for all of the help! MikusR posted:Baldur's gate 3 has a mac version and is also on Geforce Now My current laptop is 12 years old, I'm glad it manages to run baldur's gate 2.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2024 16:06
|
|
|
WattsvilleBlues posted:Most of the major browsers will be using the same rendering engine as Chrome so it comes mostly down to features and which company you want tracking your online activity. I use Firefox which is a good alternative. Thanks again for the advice. Still no computer in hand because the laptop that came in the box was the cheapest first gen G series asus instead of the new m16 I ordered (open box) and BestBuy wasn't about to exchange it for what I ordered despite missing it themselves, so I took the refund and then left on family vacation for a week.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2024 04:36
|
|