ShareThisAfter a few weeks of product columns I am behind in your questions. Let's get right to them.
Q. Regarding the free anti-virus product from Microsoft: I was talking to the IT guys at work and they said it was junk and I was better off paying for something because you get what you pay for when it comes to anti-virus. I know you are a big fan of this product, and mine is about to expire.
A. Your work needs better IT guys. What they are failing to understand is the changing landscape in the anti-virus world. Microsoft is pretty sick and tired of getting beat up in the non-trade press about its virus issue, and it's willing to do just about anything to clean it up. One way they did that was to buy an anti-spyware product and give it away under the name Windows Defender. Then they bought an anti-virus product and started selling it as Windows Live OneCare. Except no one bought it. Microsoft really wanted to bundle it with Windows to make sure EVERYONE had anti-virus on their machines from Day One. Except the antitrust people, the European Union and Symantec were not too happy about that idea. So Microsoft has a great incentive to offer a product that keeps its operating system safe and to get everyone to use it.
Q. My computer came with a recovery partition and not a Windows disc. How can I restore my hard drive if it fails?
A. Some manufacturers are stupid and try this little "non-media" trick to save a couple bucks on their licensing costs with Microsoft. Check and see if your model lets you create your own recovery set using a DVD or two. Some will let you, including a lot of HP models. If not, you can try to order a set through the online chat via the support site. If that fails, get a disk-imaging program like Acronis True Image and make an image of the whole disk. That way, when it fails (not if), you will be able to recover your whole drive. (You will need a USB or network drive at least as large as your existing drive.)
Q. My Dell desktop is a Pentium 4 with hyper-threading and 2 gigs of RAM. It is about 4 years old and I am wondering if I can and should upgrade to Windows 7 on it.
A. No, no, a thousand times no. First, if you run the Windows 7 compatibility tool, you will find gobs of issues and, second, it will be as slow as me in college chemistry class. It is just not worth the pain when for twice the cost of the upgrade you can get a new desktop with Windows pre-installed.
Q. If there are no drivers for my HP printer with Windows 7, am I totally out of luck?
A. You can try the generic drivers or some drivers for Vista, but your odds are long.
(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer-repair firm and a tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com)
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