avg free notification won't go away

[winchester73]

You might also look into Open Office:  http://www.openoffice.org/

[Toobroketopay]

SP3 is in.  Does that give me an all clear?  What should my regular maintenance schedule be, now?  What should I be regularly downloading or scanning or updating? 

[Corrine]

Hi, Toobroketopay.

Anti-Malware Scan:  You have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware on your computer now.  I suggest you update and and run a quick scan with MBAM once a week. 

Patch Tuesday:  Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of each month.  If you don't have automatic updates turned on, then you need to be alert to the notification in the system tray to install those updates.  Very often, Adobe joins Microsoft with security updates on the second Tuesday of the month.  In fact, Adobe Flash had a security update yesterday!   

If you installed Secunia on your computer rather than doing the on-line scan, you will receive a notification when your software is out of date.  On the other hand, if you used the on-line version of Secunia, then I suggest you create a reminder on your calendar to visit the Secunia site every month to ensure your system is up-to-date. 

If you don't have a regular back-up system, it is something to consider.  At minimum, if you have family pictures, music you  have purchased, important documents on your computer, back them up.  USB sticks have come way down in price and are easy to use.  CDs or DVDs would do the trick as well.   

You're done a great job, Toobroketopay, and I hope learned a bit along the way.  I'll be checking the topic on your old computer shortly. :)