What internet security and malware protects are you using on your computers? I have had Norton for several years, but have gotten tired of the continual advertisements for the other services, Lifelock, e.g., they pop up on the screen after startup. Time to switch. Is Microsoft Defender on anyone's list? McAfee?
Whatever was on the IPad when we bought it.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
@imidazol97 In my mind, Microsoft Defender is more than "good enough" for most people. It is not the absolute best defense, and it is not the lightest on resources, but definitely "good enough". If you want to spend money, there are several products that I would recommend over N-o-r-t-o-n.
My personal favorite is E-s-e-t, because it is very light on resources, having the least impact on performance. The everyday cost is too high (in my opinion), but if you pay attention you can find some real bargains. My second choice is K-a-s-p-e-r-s-k-y. Once again, the everyday price is too high, but bargains can be found
On EDIT: After several trial and error attempts, the problem is "N-O-R-T-O-N"
I took care of the gas price issue. I don't buy gas. I have put gas in once in 2022 (between both cars). Had to fill up the Maverick once when I ran up to NY since I picked it up 12/31 and it still has more than half a tank. The Acura has not had gas put in since late December too (day before we went to pick up the new car). So I guess having 2 spreads out the few miles we do drive!
Yeah, something is up with the moderation tool. It's possible we've had a lot of spammers using those terms, and they've been entered into the restricted terms database.
I thought Windows 10 came with it's own security system. Mine works pretty good, even tells me it is blocking a popup, and it has a warning on some emails. It isn't very intrusive, but it seems to be OK for my needs.
I've been running Defender since I let Kaspersky lapse. No issues that I know of, all of the payments I've made to help move millions of dollars from Nigeria have gone through. Expect the money deposited to my bank account any day now.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
I've used Kaspersky Internet Security for as long as I can remember. It stops bad downloads and sites. I also run Ccleaner sometimes. It's amazing how many trackers it finds.
I've used Kaspersky Internet Security for as long as I can remember. It stops bad downloads and sites. I also run Ccleaner sometimes. It's amazing how many trackers it finds.
I've used Kaspersky Internet Security for as long as I can remember. It stops bad downloads and sites. I also run Ccleaner sometimes. It's amazing how many trackers it finds.
Some sort of "free" Macafee came on the Dell laptop I bought a couple of years ago. Even though I never configured it or said yes to anything after the free trial, it still nags at me every so often. Just went through the latest round of uninstalling it last week. Interested if it will work this time around.
Speaking of laptops, I have an old (2010 I think) Asus laptop that I set up with an external monitor and keyboard on my office desk here at home after I had some issues with it fairly early on (the power plug broke off the motherboard internally, which made it dicey to keep using it as a portable after it got repaired according to the guy who fixed it). I mostly use it for web surfing and email. It began life with Windows 7 and now has 10, but it is really struggling, especially with disk thrashing. I decided to upgrade it with a SSD this week, and having done that to another machine (another Dell) last year, figured I knew what to expect.
Not with this thing. I got the SSD drive connected yesterday morning and began the cloning process. The cloning software (Acronis) that came with the drive was really slow mostly because the Asus only has USB 2.0 ports on it, not USB 3 which is 10 times faster. But just before bedtime last night it said the cloning was successful. Today should have been the easy part, swapping the hardware. The physical swap was easy, but the Asus BIOS would not recognize the new drive. Apparently the SSD is too new for what that can handle and Asus offers no update path for it on their awful website. So after a whole lot of trials and tribulations I decided to throw in the towel, wipe the drive, and send it back to Amazon. I think the Asus is going to be retired very soon.
I have Windows 10 running on my PC so Defender is working fine as little as I use my PC. Comcast/Xfinity is my cable provider for internet and they have their own virus and malware protection for users. Same for WiFi.
Some sort of "free" Macafee came on the Dell laptop I bought a couple of years ago. Even though I never configured it or said yes to anything after the free trial, it still nags at me every so often. Just went through the latest round of uninstalling it last week. Interested if it will work this time around.
Speaking of laptops, I have an old (2010 I think) Asus laptop that I set up with an external monitor and keyboard on my office desk here at home after I had some issues with it fairly early on (the power plug broke off the motherboard internally, which made it dicey to keep using it as a portable after it got repaired according to the guy who fixed it). I mostly use it for web surfing and email. It began life with Windows 7 and now has 10, but it is really struggling, especially with disk thrashing. I decided to upgrade it with a SSD this week, and having done that to another machine (another Dell) last year, figured I knew what to expect.
Not with this thing. I got the SSD drive connected yesterday morning and began the cloning process. The cloning software (Acronis) that came with the drive was really slow mostly because the Asus only has USB 2.0 ports on it, not USB 3 which is 10 times faster. But just before bedtime last night it said the cloning was successful. Today should have been the easy part, swapping the hardware. The physical swap was easy, but the Asus BIOS would not recognize the new drive. Apparently the SSD is too new for what that can handle and Asus offers no update path for it on their awful website. So after a whole lot of trials and tribulations I decided to throw in the towel, wipe the drive, and send it back to Amazon. I think the Asus is going to be retired very soon.
There are several ways to work around the problem. The best way is to do a clean install of Windows. You can get the install media (an iso file) directly from Microsoft. Write that iso to a flash drive, using Rufus (google it), then boot from the flash drive and do a clean install of Windows on the new SSD. A clean install is always preferable. This will leave you with the necessity to reinstall all of your application software, and move across your data from the old hard drive.
Pretty much everyone who works in the business will recommend the clean install. It's more trouble, but the results are always going to be better.
My thought process now, is I'm old and get aggravated easily. And new hardware is pretty cheap, so instead of fighting continued battles on an antique (and knowing that at any time something else is likely to go) to make a hodge podge solution work I will just buy something new that does what I need.
My thought process now, is I'm old and get aggravated easily. And new hardware is pretty cheap, so instead of fighting continued battles on an antique (and knowing that at any time something else is likely to go) to make a hodge podge solution work I will just buy something new that does what I need.
can be applied to cars too of course!
Sometimes it's the challenge. As time marches on though, I'm much more inclined to agree.
@ab348 So ASUS has no update for the BIOS! I updated 2 of my laptops to SSD's last spring. I used Diskgenius to transfer the various parts of the hard drive to the SSD. On one I left off the rebuild WIN in case of failure. I think that old hard drive was originally Win 8.
There a file on there that will scavenge McAfee parts to remove them. I have used this type file for N ort on in the past when something wouldn't allow it to work right and I couldn't uninstall and reinstall.
About the Windows 10: I just did a Windows 10 refresh of all the files while keeping all my old data files AND my applications. I downloaded the file from MS to my HD as an iso. Then I mounted the iso file as if it were a separate DVD. I believe I then ran an execute file within the iso to start the operation.
I had a laptop that said it wouldn't update because it had serious missing updates and files from Windows. Turned out something had made it think the SSD was a USB drive that was being used to boot (Windows to Go).
I fixed that and went ahead and used the iso to rebuld the Windows since the error still showed after fixing the registry damage that made the comptuter think Win10 was on a USB instead of my SSD.
I did the swap from a spinny hard drive that was failing in my older Dell to a SSD last year. I forget what software I used for the file transfer (it was something from Western Digital who made the SSD) and it worked OK. When I installed the new drive Windows booted fine and then I had to do something in Disk Management to get it to work for applications and file access, but when I did that pretty much everything worked. I was surprised how Windows didn’t choke on licensing, etc., but it somehow knew what that machine had originally. Couldn’t even get close to that point this time.
Did I mention it's pothole season locally? We have a bumper crop here this year. This pic is from a local machine shop that actually fixed this one.
Hard to believe you could fix that wheel and make it like new. That is a case where I would probably go with the new one....too much could go wrong I would think and then spend hours trying to rectify the situation.
That particular machine shop is the go-to place locally for wheel repair. They mentioned in their post that they had to weld the aluminum after making it round again, then trued it up and did the machining work to make it pretty. No idea what that all costs.
Did I mention it's pothole season locally? We have a bumper crop here this year. This pic is from a local machine shop that actually fixed this one.
I hope that’s not yours. The roads around here are crumbling too. We’ve had an unusual winter where it’s fluctuated above and below freezing almost daily. That causes a lot of frost heaving and potholes.
It’s going to be 60 tomorrow followed by lows around 10 over the weekend.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
I'm not familiar with a wheel like that. Where do the lug nuts go? Is there a part removed to fix it?
Appears to be for a large truck. Has 10 lug holes right there in the middle
It's a lot bigger than it looks in the picture.
Well, it definitely didn’t come off of a pickup like @stickguy’s Maverick. I doubt his wannabe pickup could even haul that sucker around without groaning.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis Ultimate just like jmonroe's. '18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
So I do a google search and find a few that are similar; They vary from about $200 used to about $400 new. I still say, if I had a big rig and needed to replace a wheel like that, I would want to buy it new.......less chance of spending hours to get it right, it will probably be a business expense, less chance of being late with a big delivery due to wheel failure.
Brighten up your truck with new Ultra ONE® Mirror Polish wheels by Alcoa. These super light wheels save you weight at just 51lbs each. Use them for drive or trailer axles. For those of you that work your trucks hard, these wheels are able to be cleaned easily to bring them back to their glory after a hard day on the road and keep their great looks for years to come.
Size: 24.5 x 8.25 Finish: Ultra ONE® Mirror Polish Inside Only Mount: Hub Piloted Lugs: 10
There may be a malfunction in TTS land, need a code reader and expert mechanic to take a look.
The S4 land is free from problems lately.
Might need that Elantra N or similar with a DCT and 10-year warranty after all.
What’s wrong with the TTS? Hopefully not engine related with the ECU flash onboard.
It's past the 54K mile mark and it's a 2016 so way past any standard warranty flash or no flash. Again, I should have answered those extended warranty telemarketing calls!!!!
Going this afternoon to see what the codes are; "drivetrain malfunction" can apparently be many a thing from minor to major, but I don't think engine related.
'18 Porsche Macan Turbo, '16 Audi TTS, Wife's '19 VW Tiguan SEL 4-Motion
Comments
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
I’ve been running Defender since WIN 10 came out with no issues.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
In my mind, Microsoft Defender is more than "good enough" for most people. It is not the absolute best defense, and it is not the lightest on resources, but definitely "good enough". If you want to spend money, there are several products that I would recommend over N-o-r-t-o-n.
My personal favorite is E-s-e-t, because it is very light on resources, having the least impact on performance. The everyday cost is too high (in my opinion), but if you pay attention you can find some real bargains. My second choice is K-a-s-p-e-r-s-k-y. Once again, the everyday price is too high, but bargains can be found
On EDIT: After several trial and error attempts, the problem is "N-O-R-T-O-N"
Filled up with PUG at Costco this morning - $3.76 per gallon - up quite a bit from early last week.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
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Mine works pretty good, even tells me it is blocking a popup, and it has a warning on some emails.
It isn't very intrusive, but it seems to be OK for my needs.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Stuck in the past. For years it was extremely popular, then came along better and cheaper solutions.
Is AVG still around. I used that before Defender came installed by MS.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
Speaking of laptops, I have an old (2010 I think) Asus laptop that I set up with an external monitor and keyboard on my office desk here at home after I had some issues with it fairly early on (the power plug broke off the motherboard internally, which made it dicey to keep using it as a portable after it got repaired according to the guy who fixed it). I mostly use it for web surfing and email. It began life with Windows 7 and now has 10, but it is really struggling, especially with disk thrashing. I decided to upgrade it with a SSD this week, and having done that to another machine (another Dell) last year, figured I knew what to expect.
Not with this thing. I got the SSD drive connected yesterday morning and began the cloning process. The cloning software (Acronis) that came with the drive was really slow mostly because the Asus only has USB 2.0 ports on it, not USB 3 which is 10 times faster. But just before bedtime last night it said the cloning was successful. Today should have been the easy part, swapping the hardware. The physical swap was easy, but the Asus BIOS would not recognize the new drive. Apparently the SSD is too new for what that can handle and Asus offers no update path for it on their awful website. So after a whole lot of trials and tribulations I decided to throw in the towel, wipe the drive, and send it back to Amazon. I think the Asus is going to be retired very soon.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I have Windows 10 running on my PC so Defender is working fine as little as I use my PC. Comcast/Xfinity is my cable provider for internet and they have their own virus and malware protection for users. Same for WiFi.
2024 Genesis G90 Super-Charger
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
Pretty much everyone who works in the business will recommend the clean install. It's more trouble, but the results are always going to be better.
The S4 land is free from problems lately.
Might need that Elantra N or similar with a DCT and 10-year warranty after all.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
can be applied to cars too of course!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Wow that wheel took a beating. Looks like an Alcoa wheel from an older F250.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic
So ASUS has no update for the BIOS! I updated 2 of my laptops to SSD's last spring.
I used Diskgenius to transfer the various parts of the hard drive to the SSD. On one
I left off the rebuild WIN in case of failure. I think that old hard drive was originally
Win 8.
As for getting rid of McAfee leftover: https://service.mcafee.com/?articleId=TS101331&page=shell&shell=article-view
There a file on there that will scavenge McAfee parts to remove them.
I have used this type file for N ort on in the past when something wouldn't
allow it to work right and I couldn't uninstall and reinstall.
About the Windows 10: I just did a Windows 10 refresh of all the files
while keeping all my old data files AND my applications. I downloaded
the file from MS to my HD as an iso. Then I mounted the iso file as if it
were a separate DVD. I believe I then ran an execute file within the iso
to start the operation.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
I had a laptop that said it wouldn't update because it had serious missing
updates and files from Windows. Turned out something had made it think
the SSD was a USB drive that was being used to boot (Windows to Go).
I fixed that and went ahead and used the iso to rebuld the Windows
since the error still showed after fixing the registry damage that made
the comptuter think Win10 was on a USB instead of my SSD.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
not sure how old that is, but it might not be something you can easily replace.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Appears to be for a large truck. Has 10 lug holes right there in the middle
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
It’s going to be 60 tomorrow followed by lows around 10 over the weekend.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
What’s wrong with the TTS? Hopefully not engine related with the ECU flash onboard.
Appears to be for a large truck. Has 10 lug holes right there in the middle
It's a lot bigger than it looks in the picture.
2025 Forester Limited, 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport
Well, it definitely didn’t come off of a pickup like @stickguy’s Maverick. I doubt his wannabe pickup could even haul that sucker around without groaning.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
After they weld and rechrome that 10 stud wheel it weighs in at 1700 pounds.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)
Maybe you can ask jmonroe to go for a ride with to check your new Maverick accessory.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5204357
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
They vary from about $200 used to about $400 new. I still say, if I had a big rig and needed to replace a wheel like that, I would want to buy it new.......less chance of spending hours to get it right, it will probably be a business expense, less chance of being late with a big delivery due to wheel failure.
Brighten up your truck with new Ultra ONE® Mirror Polish wheels by Alcoa. These super light wheels save you weight at just 51lbs each. Use them for drive or trailer axles. For those of you that work your trucks hard, these wheels are able to be cleaned easily to bring them back to their glory after a hard day on the road and keep their great looks for years to come.
Size: 24.5 x 8.25 Finish: Ultra ONE® Mirror Polish Inside Only Mount: Hub Piloted Lugs: 10
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
What’s wrong with the TTS? Hopefully not engine related with the ECU flash onboard.
It's past the 54K mile mark and it's a 2016 so way past any standard warranty flash or no flash. Again, I should have answered those extended warranty telemarketing calls!!!!
Going this afternoon to see what the codes are; "drivetrain malfunction" can apparently be many a thing from minor to major, but I don't think engine related.
I’ll force myself.
jmonroe
'18 Legacy Limited with 3.6R (Mrs. j's)