Ensuring that you have adequate antivirus and antispyware software running on your computers is very important – I can’t stress that enough.
I am currently working on a new book about Netbooks and one of the things that I have realised is that because most, if not all, netbooks don’t come with a DVD drive non-technical people have trouble installing software on them. It is no longer the simple case of just popping the CD or DVD into the drive and letting the software install for you.
Now I know that you can buy, or even get good free software off the Internet and download and install it, but again, a lot of people don’t know that.
Only a few days ago I was in a popular computer shop here in the UK and a young mother had a problem with a netbook she had bought because it had a virus (or so she thought), She wasn’t very technical and didn’t understand that she had to install something else on the netbook, she thought it had everything on it when she bought it. The “salesman” at the shop then told her she not only needed to BUY an AV product, but she also needed to buy an external DVD drive in order to install it. All this was going to come to roughly 50% of the cost of her netbook.
Of course, when he went to check something I jumped in and explained to her she could get some good AV software for free from the Internet or even buy the same software he was trying to sell her online and then download it straight away, thus saving her money on an external drive that she said she didn’t want or need.
Just after that I discovered that Norton have released a version of their Internet Security software specifically for netbook users – called the Norton Internet Security Netbooks Edition. This is the same software as they already have available only it comes on a USB stick.
So now all people have to do is buy this stick, plug it in and the software will be installed, and they are protected.
Even better, this version was under £20.
Since the price of USB sticks have been reduced, and software companies want to charge quite a bit for there software, it's starting to make sence to have the software on USB sticks for the netbook market.
I found this one here in Canada, http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?l…
This one is from Kapersky
thanks John 🙂
Hero to the rescue.
I despise 'salesmen' who rip of those who are not in the know. Don't they realise that by being honest and upfront they are more likely to get repeat business and then benefit from a big purchase.
Well done mate – I would have done the same but in front of the salesman……!
I'll be honest, I was going to. This poor woman looked shocked when he told her the price of what she HAD TO BUY!
I actually told her to download Microsoft Security Essentials as I really like it and it was free.
Andrew
The salesperson probably wasn't aware of the other options and was as clueless as the innocent customer.
Gary, you are probaby right, but in this case the Netbooks version was right next to the normal version!
Andrew