OK....maybe after 24 years you'll grow out of just gaming...and open up an Office app....you know, for commercial/employment/business/livelihood....and actually have a reason to lament data loss....

Even if you have no full disk backups, a re-install is still quite a bit faster than scouring the hard disks with various different scanners.  Programs can be re-installed, and data can be restored.  But time is something that you can't get back without violating the laws of physics.

Then again, I thought I'd be dead by 30 and that didn't happen, so *shrug*

My comment was more directed at the implication that those who don't backup are all fools.  Some have valid reasons for not needing to.

Once I get to the point where I need to backup, I'll buy a WHS machine and call it a day.

That was the '24 years'....one would 'hope' by NOW you had actually made business-use of a computer and thus valued backups.

It's an irrefutable, undeniable fact that IF you do not back up.....you WILL live to regret it.

Eventually.

I know.  I was joking.  I recognize it didn't show.    Sarcasm on the internet and all that fun stuff.

I'll take my chances, until I actually have something worth backing up.  Which may never happen.

And actually, I did make business use of a computer, all of which was transacted over the internet.  I can't really backup someone elses system, so there you go.

I've had excellent luck with Seagate drives

Around the time I used them Maxtors had a real bad name because of failures, apparantly they were sent back by the dozen (even companies confirmed high failure rates) however I used atleast 6 and never had a bad cluster.

I suspect the biggest part of that is that not all factory lines have the same quality control, so it depends where your stuff was made.

I also suspect some people having problems with dying HDs have poor or overtaxed power supplies, though that obviously isn't true of everyone.

Hey guys, how's it going Do you recommend any free anti virus, anti spyware/malware software to download? And if so, care to point me in the right direction? I'm using Vista 64bit. 

Cheers

I would go over to the below link, it is for Major Geeks.  I have never had any problems with software downloaded from there.  Look on the left hand side and select 'Anti-Virus'.  You will see free and paid versions.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/

For AV, I use AVG 8.5 free. Avast! is supposed to be good too.

For clearing out spyware I've found nothing better than Malwarebytes.

I recommend one tool 100% to everyone: SpywareBlaster

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

2 great things about this tool:
1. It does not run in the background. You run it, close it, and you are protected, so no system resources loss.
2. It does not remove spyware/adware, it prevents it from even installing in the first place.

Has an undo option if you are afraid it will bork up your system. Just update and run once a week/two weeks and you're set

Thanks for the replies guys, really appreciate it. By the way with regards to Malwarebytes, will it both detect and remove any spyware found, or will it detect it, then ask you to pay for the 'full' version before it will remove it? In your collective opinion, is it worthwhile purchasing anti virus/spyware/malware software (and if so which ones), or do the 'free' versions do a decent enough job? I use my computer mainly for entertainment (games, movies, music etc) and checking email. I don't really use it to 'surf the internet' but I will go to e.g. online banking, news sites, amazon and sites that host mods for games like Sins and Fallout 3. In short I try to use common sense when using the internet, well at least I hope so

Thanks again guys 

Ah, looks like someone posted while I was creating my post! Cheers for the info!

Tip - don't frequent dodgy free software sites...

Or get a Mac

What? That's what Knoa said

Well AV programs are always a necessity in my opinion, even on a Mac. Thing is, the whole point of a virus/spyware etc is that you do not know it is there. You may think you 'surf safely' and never get a virus, but that doesn't mean there isn't one hiding in there, sending your passwords to a botmaster without you knowing it. Free AV perform just as well as the paid versions, on average. You can however decide to pay anyway, for certain premium features or just to support the developers.

Never get careless though, even with an AV program.

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A sombre but much appreciated post. Cheers for the input guys.

A sombre but much appreciated post. Cheers for the input guys.

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On a side note, does anyone else experience frequently experience problems when using the Sins forums to post? I've just tried to add this post, when I clicked 'post reply' it took maybe a minute before a got a white screen with a message saying 'forums go boooom!' and something about a pigeon.  It seems, to me at least, that the Sins website slows down more frequently than other websites I visit, and sometimes won't even load. Oh the irony if this is due to my system being infected by spyware or some such...

Woh... Not qute sure what happened there, excuse the mess guys...