What would you install on a basic users machine?

Node

Level 3
Thread author
Verified
Aug 6, 2017
100
I'm interested to see what the generous users of MT will discuss about this. Personally I would install:
  • Brave (fast, w/ stable adblocking!)
  • Google Chrome (HTTPS Everywhere & either Adguard, AdBlocker Ultimate or uBlock Origin)
  • Unchecky
  • Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
  • UCheck

How about you guys/girls? :)
 

mlnevese

Level 26
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 3, 2015
1,531
If by basic users you mean someone with no computer knowledge I would avoid https everywhere and would set adguard to not filter https sites. Both are known to break some sites and a basic users would have no clue what's going on.

Regarding browsers Edge is more than enough if you're not going to use extensions.

Regarding protection I'd probably use Avast or Bitdefender free... If paying then Bitdefender set to autopilot.

In other words for a basic users make things as simple as possible.
 

gorblimey

Level 2
Verified
Aug 30, 2017
99
Ummmm. A little out of my depth here, I'm not familiar with W10, and unfortunately ReactOS is not yet ready--about 4 or 5 years I think.

However... I'd more or less duplicate my own box.
  • K-Meleon, Pale Moon and some IE/Edge whatever fits, preferencing IE11;
  • Gammadyne Clyton email;
  • Lotus SmartSuite for production and Foxit PDF;
  • Voodooshield with Zemana Free and M B A M Free and Glasswire for WF;
  • SuRun;
  • PeaZip;
  • Soulseek 157ns13e (be specific here, later versions don't work too well.)
I made a bad mistake with W7, I should have gone with Pro, but... M$ has a lot to answer for. I'll be installing ReactOS on my next box.

And yes, definitely set up an Admin account for installs etc, but UAC is and always will be Very Important, so a Standard User Account for each member of the family, and also a Guest Account for visitors.
 

gorblimey

Level 2
Verified
Aug 30, 2017
99
I heard about ReactOS but
AFAIK they're still aiming at W2K3, but OTOH that's not that antiquated. My experience is that anything runnable on W2K Pro will run on almost anything without compatibilty issues. And having said all that, once you have W2K3, there's no big step to enabling most current software. It's all about getting the basics right: bowl at the wicket, catch with both hands and keep the bat straight vertical.
 
D

Deleted member 178

on a basic user (aka noob) , i would use:

- SUA
- UAC at Max (they shouldn't see UAC prompts so often because they shouldn't do admin task every 10mn)
- An easy-to-use AV with minimum features/setting options. (Windows Defender, Emsisoft, etc...)
- I would install Shadow Defender or similar and teach the user how to use it.
- Chrome with Adguard is ok. no need the other extensions.

That is it.
 

Flengo

Level 2
Verified
Oct 19, 2017
52
This is what I'd do for someone with not much computer knowledge:
  • Linux Mint (Xfce Cinnamon) or Xubuntu.
  • Set up something to auto-update their packages once a week.
  • Firefox with uBlock Origin and HTTPS Everywhere.
  • Set hBlock up with a cronjob to run the script once a week - this is a script that adds malware domains, tracking sites, etc. from reputable sources to the hosts file.
  • Set up a firewall (probably ufw).
I'm sure I'd do more than that, but that's from the top of my head.
 
D

Deleted member 178

@Flengo Linux for a beginners? no way...unless they have hours of free time to ask questions on linux forums about what is sudo? why MS Office or Photoshop or the software my company use for my job can't be installed? why i can't game properly? how i install Nvidia drivers?

Linux is less geek than before but still is.
 

toto_10

Level 5
Verified
Well-known
Feb 12, 2017
245
  • UAC on deffault
  • Windows Update - Auto install
  • Avast Free (Tweaked settings)
  • Zemana Anti-Malware Free
  • CCleaner (Auto clean)
  • Google Chrome (HTTPS Everywhere and AdGuard)
  • Revo Uninstaller Free
I would also uninstall all the unnecessary Windows-apps that comes with a clean installed Windows. Further on I would tweak all pricacy settings to minimum ass possible.
 

Flengo

Level 2
Verified
Oct 19, 2017
52
@Flengo Linux for a beginners? no way...unless they have hours of free time to ask questions on linux forums about what is sudo? why MS Office or Photoshop or the software my company use for my job can't be installed? why i can't game properly? how i install Nvidia drivers?

Linux is less geek than before but still is.
For most Windows users, using Windows isn't out of necessity, it's just what comes with their computers so that's just what they're used to. Linux is very simple if you use something like Linux Mint - made with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind. Most people don't specifically need MS Office or Photoshop, they just need something to write documents which LibreOffice is perfectly fine for.

Before I start changing things on anyone's computers, I ask what they do and need with a computer then let them know what I'll be doing. I change what I do to a person's computer based on their needs.

My 11-year-old brother doesn't know much about computers and is perfectly fine with using Linux Mint with the setup I've done for him (very close to the one I listed above).
 
D

Deleted member 178

I used most distros and especially Mint and Kubuntu for quite a long time and i'm not a beginner, i found it far less convenient than Windows, and my "test users" found out the same too.
Now i can understand that some people feel the opposite but personally i wont put a beginner in front of linux.
 

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