Less Wrong Product & Service Recommendations

lukeprog

I have often benefited from recommendations for Things I Didn't Know I Wanted.

Given that Less Wrong is a community of unusually intelligent, critical, and self-improvement-focused people, I suspect we can generate a pretty helpful thread of product recommendations — perhaps even a monthly thread of product recommendations.

Rules:

Post one product your recommend per comment, so they can be discussed and voted on independently.
Provide a link for purchasing the product.
No books, movies, TV, games, or music. (These should go in other threads, like this one or this one.)

I'll post my own recommendations to the comments section, too.

I have often benefited from recommendations for Things I Didn't Know I Wanted.

Rules:

Post one product your recommend per comment, so they can be discussed and voted on independently.
Provide a link for purchasing the product.
No books, movies, TV, games, or music. (These should go in other threads, like this one or this one.)

I'll post my own recommendations to the comments section, too.

Microsoft Security Essentials (free antivirus)

Windows antivirus straight from Microsoft. Back in the day, Norton was the best, but it became slower and slower, and is now one of the primary causes of computer instability and slowness. I then used free services like AVG until they started being far more pushy and annoying. I stopped using AV altogether until Microsoft came out with MSE. It's extremely lightweight, as I've never noticed it slowing my system down, and it provides as good or better virus protection than the competition as shown in independent reviews.

All virus protection is about the same. All the researchers talk to each other. The difference is in the engines and the irritation factor of using the thing.

2[anonymous]14y

Apparently, Norton is no longer slow and MSE no longer offers effective protection: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/marapr-2012/ You can also check out av-comparatives.org for further antivirus tests but it doesn't test Norton nor MSE. I am not going to make any recommendations. Just regularly read the latest reports from av-test.org and av-comparatives.org and use the product that consistently produces good protection.

0Maelin14y

Seconded. I used to use Avast, when I set up my new PC I asked a friend which antivirus to use, and he suggested MSE. I thought he was kidding. But it turns out Microsoft actually have a pretty excellent antivirus solution here. It is totally nonintrusive - I'm less aware of it than any of the other ones I have used (Avast, AVG, Norton) and it just quietly does its thing. Recommended.

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