How 2 download the media? + Virus scans

[Twisted Intestine]

Okay, I haven't downloaded anything since the Napster days really, since I'm always afraid of my computer getting viruses and dying. I'm going to have a new fast computer and internet on Tuesday, and I want to know what you guys do for downloading shit? What's the risk involved? If you're going to say "torrents", please tell me what a torrent is and where I get one.

Also, my internet comes with "Shaw security" whatever that is. I'm not sure if it's a virus scanner or just some shit. Is there a place I can get a good program to keep my computer clean of spyware etc. Or do I have to man up and go buy one?

Thanks TSM! I owe you one!

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

There are oh so many ways to obtain your media. From torrents to hosting sites to P2P etc.

I don't use torrents so I can't tell you much about em. You'd have to ask someone else for info on that. All I know is stay away from public trackers for torrents and P2P in general. They look for those more often than anything.


A couple of good antivirus programs are NOD32, malware bytes, there are some specially made for torrents but I cant remember their names.

 

[Sabre]

Adaware - keeps you free of spyware etc
Avast antivirus - self explanitry

Now for media, i personally have a premium rapidshare account and use google searches to find what i want. For example, if i was to google "Eminem Rapidshare" i would be given various sites that has rapidshare download links.

I used to torrent everything but its long waits, potential wrong files, and general annoyance put me well off it.

 

[Golgo]

Here's a rundown of what I have now. For antivirus, there's Avast, AVG, or both in conjunction, but that's not often necessary. For the various wares and such I have a-squared, Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware, along with HijackThis. I use COMODO for my firewall.

For torrents download uTorrent. From there it's a matter of finding .torrent files of what you want. It's easy.