Web User - UK (2019-11-27)

WindowsDefenderismuchbetteratprotectingPCsfrommalwarethanitusedtobe

68 27 Nov-10Dec 2019

A

You’vecomeupwithanexcellent

listofprograms,allofwhichwe

wouldfullyrecommend.However,they

aremostlydesignedtofixvarioussorts

ofspecificproblemsandthereisa

sayingthat’sworthbearinginmind:“Ifit

’aintbroke,don’tfixit”.

DriverBooster,forexample,findsand

updateshardwaredriversmoreeasily

thanifyouhadtohuntdownandapply

themyourself,butitshouldonlybe

usedifyouareexperiencingahardware

problem.Thesameistrueofsomeof

theothertools.AdwCleanerandSpybot

preventorcleanspywareandadware,

butareonlyusefulifyourPCisinfected

withspywareoradware.

PegasunSystemUtilitiesand

CCleanercleancaches,cookies,

temporaryfilesandsoon.Theycanbe

usefulonanoldPCthat’saccumulated

alotofjunkfiles,butthere’slittle

benefitonanewPC.And,asexplained

inourreplytofossewayfellaonpage66,

cookiesandcachescanbeusefuland

fixproblemsinsomecircumstances.

Ouradviceistokeepthesoftwareas

alist.Ifyouhaveaproblemyouneedto

fix,downloadandusetheappropriate

tool,butdon’tinstallandrunthemallon

aPCthatisworkingproperly.

This fortnightRoland has beenwatchingalot of online TV,claiming thathe’s“evaluatingstreaming services”

AsktheExpert

Q

Ihavereadonseveraloccasions–

perhapsyou’vementioneditin

WebUser,too–thatyoushould

regularlyclearoutthetrashinyour

emailaccountanddeleteoldemails.

Whyisthis?Theyarenotdoingany

harmasfarasIcansee.Whynotjust

leavethem?IuseOutlookandGmail.

RayHolmes,viaemail

A

Onereasonforclearingoutold

emails isbecausemanypeople

usefreeonlinestorage andthespace

providediscapped.BothGoogleand

Microsoftlimityouto15GBoffree

storage, andyoucan endup usingit

allforemails,particularlyifyou

receivealot ofattachments.When

thishappens,you’ll nolongerreceive

anymessagesbecausethey’llbe

deletedonarrival. What’s more,you

mightnotrealisethis ishappening

untilyouwonderwhyanimportant

emailthatyouknowhasbeensent

failstoarrive.

Gotooutlook.comandclickthecog

iconatthetop.Click‘Viewall Outlook

settings’,thenselectGeneraland

Storagetoseetheamountofspace

used.UnlikeGoogle’s services,where

Drive,GmailandPhotossharethe

same pool,email storageiskept

separateinOneDrive.

Don’toverfill

your inbox

EMAIL

Checkthat theamountofstorageusedfor email isn’treachingfullcapacity

or youmight loseyour messages

Gotodrive.google.comandclickthe

UpgradeStoragelink ontheleft. Ignore

thesalespitchatthetopandscroll

downtothebottomtoseeyourGoogle

Driveusage.Theoverallspaceusedand

theamountusedindividuallybyGmail,

DriveandPhotosislisted.Makesure

youhaveplentyofspace.

Kasperskyshouldn’tstoptheinternet

working,butsometimesoddthingscan

happenwithsoftware,soitmaybe

worthtryinganalternativeprogram.

Testsofthelatestsecuritysoftwarecan

befoundatAV-Comparatives(www

.av-comparatives.org/consumer)and

AV-Test(www.av-test.org/en).

Theusualsuspectsareallgood

performers,suchasAvast(www.avast

.com),AVG(www.avg.com),Bitdefender

(www.bitdefender.co.uk),Avira(www

.avira.com),Norton(www.norton.com),

TrendMicro(www.trendmicro.com)

andothers.WindowsDefendernow

offersgoodmalwareprotection,butthe

otherswe’velistedofferextrasthat

aren’tavailableinMicrosoft’stool.