Adventures With Windows Vista Home Premium From An XP User

I bought a new laptop last night with Windows Vista Home Premium and the first thing one should do with a new computer and uninstall all of the junk software that comes pre-loaded on most new computers.. like Norton Internet Security, etc. After that, then it's time to install all of the security software that one needs... like an antivirus (I downloaded Avast Free edition), antispyware (I'm giving Windows Defender another try since it came pre-loaded) besides the main antispyware that runs in the background (WD in my current case) like Spyware Blaster from Javacool.com, Spybot - Search & Destroy from Safernetworking.com and Ad-Aware. Then all of them have to be updated and properly installed. Then add a free firewall... my current firewall of choice... Comodo Firewall Pro.

My first adventure was with Spybot when it wouldn't let me immunize my system saying I didn't have administrator rights... although I do and I'm the only user on the laptop. After doing a little Googling, I found a Spybot forum thread http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=19135 but trying the things listed there didn't work for me either. Finally, after looking around and based on the things I read in that thread, I decided to right click on the Start Menu - All Programs - Spybot start and chose Properties. Then in one of the tabs in Properties, I was able to put a check mark in Run As Administrator and that fixed Spybot.

I'll edit and add more to this post as I come across more "Adventures".

Lenny Vasbinder
http://www.neighborhoodhomeservices.com/