I have always wondered how much some of the software that I use decreases the performance of my computer. The PC Spy is trying to make people aware of the worst software that is out there, and to no surprise Norton Internet Security 2006 is at the top.
Which ones are the most surprising? I would have to say seeing some of those instant messengers high on the list really shocked me. Those are supposed to be light weight programs that, in my opinion, shouldn’t even be noticeable. I was happy that BitDefender, Azureus, and OpenOffice.org all seemed to do pretty well though.
It is pretty obvious that having a large number of fonts degrades performance in Windows. I think that I’ll be going through and deleting some of the ones that came with Vista because I really don’t need 400+ fonts. Well, I may not delete them but I’ll store them in another folder in case I realize how often I really use the 400 fonts. 
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Tags: Software
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i dont have my own computer so I share one with my dad. we’ve had norton for awhile. he even got a 2 year subscription earlier this year or sometime last year. The software is so bloated. it pisses me off.
Too bad it was no test for browser. In my opinion Maxthon - win, Firefox - loose.
Take a look at Norton Internet Security 2007. I worked on this product, and this year we spent alot of time rewriting almost the entire product to make it light and tight.
The results are that Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton AntiVirus 2007 are the best performing security products on the market.
How do I use norton 2007 without screwing up my subscription?
Best advice with Norton is to find its folder on your start menu, then find the Uninstall short cut, then reboot, then find the folder on your hard drive and delete that, then search the registry and delete all references to Norton. Reboot again and then install something good like NOD32.
I have thousand’s of fonts. I learned they degrade performance a long time ago. I use a font management tool from Extensis called Suitcase. It allows you to create font sets and only load the fonts you want to use. Really great software!
Has anyone ever had a problem where the default web font suddenly becomes italicised? I had this and eventually found that somehow the standard Arial font had been replaced with a short cut and the secondary default was Arial Italic. I had to find a download of the Arial.ttf font and stick it back in. It’s happened a few times and to this day I can’t pinpoint which application did it.
Hmmm, I have never had that happen before…but that sounds awfully suspicious. It could just be an application that accidentally deletes the font after you run it. The next time it happens maybe you should think about what programs you were just running.
I never use any security software, I’m savvy enough to know how to keep myself secure without bloated security software. I also steer clear of any instant messaging programs, and use GAIM for all my instant messaging services instead, because it is simple, open source, and very light-weight, ontop of being able to edit the code yourself and download add-ons for it! I go open-source software, wherever possible, to reduce system strain, as the closed source software is closed for a reason, to hide the bloat, that usually is inefficient code, and adware/spyware that no one wants to begin with.
I have thought about using GAIM for my instant messaging but I have switched all of my friends over to Google Talk, which is very light-weight in my opinion. I used to think that Windows Live Messenger and AIM were cool before but for some reason that wore off and all of the features just annoy me now. I could care less whether someone could “Nudge” me.
As far as security software goes I have thought about running without it because, you’re right, it’s always pretty obvious when someone is “offering” you a virus. However, I’m afraid of that one time that I’ll get click happy and skip right by a dialog box that I know I should have read. I’m normally pretty good about it but I know it would happen.
All the more reason I dislike Norton products now!
I am 637 fonts as of today. I have to really go in there delete all that I don’t want.
Already have a backup, but I guess I just have too many now, especially sicne I don’t use most!
Know of any good free font management software?
In a comment above, Dave recommend Extensis tools for Font Management. It seems that all are commercial. But I am sure there are also free solutions, which maybe some of you will post here. I know about FontFrenzy, a freeware.
That FontFrenzy looks perfect! Nice find Radu.
My computer has been running sluggish (I just reformatted my harddrive) but it still ran slower before the reformat. I figured out it was zone alarm’s firewall software causing the slow down. Once I removed it was fine. I just use windows built in firewall and a free virus program.