text: why is my computer fine, and my friend's is always messed up? we both download movies, music, etc.  i don't have anything protecting my computer.  i'm kinda careful about opening random links, but other than that don't really care too much.  my computer has never had a problem.    my friend knows much more about computers, and has all the firewalls and virus protection, and whatever else you're supposed to have, but his computer has tons of problems.    any explanation for this beyond blind luck?  i sometimes think all the protection programs are actually messing with his computer more than any virus or whatnot.  is that possible? well, if your friend doesn't have the right processor and ram, running several programs simultaneously will certainly slow it down. i would recommend to you to at least have an antivirus program just in case. then again, your sharp eye is a great prevention tool. if the file looks fishy, move on. also, if you are using a mac, and your friend is using windows, that would explain the problem. on a more philosophical note, i believe that computers can sometimes take on a personality... but its probably just the hardware being unable to handle the load of all those programs. tell your friend to try to find a reliable all-in-one antivirus/firewall program.