MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - what's the significance of making Google Chrome my browser?

Under the Covers · 03-29-2013, 12:21 AM

I just had to finally jump in. Mostly I lurk, but I know whereof I speak on this (semi-retired business software support).

1. It's perfectly okay on an XP computer to change the default browser from IE to Chrome; it has absolutely no effect on Windows updates. My desktop computer is still running XP (as are my clients' work computers), and my default browser has been Firefox for some years now. What controls your updates are your settings via the Control Panel as to whether you wish to approve them before they're installed. For heaven's sake, change the default browser so you don't have to respond to that message box; nothing else is changed, and it's easily undone down the road if you wish. If you choose to do a manual Windows update, then IE will launch, so no problems there, either.

2. I run, as I've advised my clients to do, one memory-resident anti-malware program (which is not MS Essentials) and two more that are not memory-resident; they are on-call for weekly manual scans. Memory-resident means it is loaded into memory when you boot up and continues to run in the background as you work, and it generally shows up as an icon in the system tray (right side of the Windows taskbar).

The two additional AV programs are Spybot Search & Destroy (de-selecting TeaTimer when installing, which is the memory-resident part) and Malwarebytes free version, which is not memory-resident. This sort of setup has caused no problems whatsoever, and I've avoided malware infection, as there is no one program that can catch every bit of malware out there. I also use Secunia to check for important software updates -- again that is set up to run manually when I ask it to.

3. One forum where you can get just this sort of expert computer input and advice is Windows Secrets at http://windowssecrets.com/forums. There are many others out there; this is just the one I use most. That ol' Google search (or IX Quick, which doesn't track you) is also helpful for computer questions like this, leading to other equally excellent websites. (I hope I'm not breaking any rules by this suggestion -- I have no financial interest in that site and am only a user.)

Hope this helps. Good luck.

03-29-2013, 12:21 AM	#56
Under the Covers Night Reader Posts: 127 Karma: 4314 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Rocky Mountains (US) Device: Sony PRS-650	I just had to finally jump in. Mostly I lurk, but I know whereof I speak on this (semi-retired business software support). 1. It's perfectly okay on an XP computer to change the default browser from IE to Chrome; it has absolutely no effect on Windows updates. My desktop computer is still running XP (as are my clients' work computers), and my default browser has been Firefox for some years now. What controls your updates are your settings via the Control Panel as to whether you wish to approve them before they're installed. For heaven's sake, change the default browser so you don't have to respond to that message box; nothing else is changed, and it's easily undone down the road if you wish. If you choose to do a manual Windows update, then IE will launch, so no problems there, either. 2. I run, as I've advised my clients to do, one memory-resident anti-malware program (which is not MS Essentials) and two more that are not memory-resident; they are on-call for weekly manual scans. Memory-resident means it is loaded into memory when you boot up and continues to run in the background as you work, and it generally shows up as an icon in the system tray (right side of the Windows taskbar). The two additional AV programs are Spybot Search & Destroy (de-selecting TeaTimer when installing, which is the memory-resident part) and Malwarebytes free version, which is not memory-resident. This sort of setup has caused no problems whatsoever, and I've avoided malware infection, as there is no one program that can catch every bit of malware out there. I also use Secunia to check for important software updates -- again that is set up to run manually when I ask it to. 3. One forum where you can get just this sort of expert computer input and advice is Windows Secrets at http://windowssecrets.com/forums. There are many others out there; this is just the one I use most. That ol' Google search (or IX Quick, which doesn't track you) is also helpful for computer questions like this, leading to other equally excellent websites. (I hope I'm not breaking any rules by this suggestion -- I have no financial interest in that site and am only a user.) Hope this helps. Good luck.