can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 And The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 OK, here's a geeky question for y'all. I plan on ordering DSL high-speed 'net access for my home this weekend. The problem is that my PC had WindowsXP installed on it when I bought it (Dec., 2002), but it hasn't been upgraded since then, and has never been on the 'net. Once the DSL stuff shows up, how do I make sure my PC is secure when I hook it up to the 'net, if I have to use the 'net to get it upgraded? Can I get a CD to upgrade WinXP before I hook it up, or can I rely on whatever firewall capabilities WinXP has to block out the bad guys enough to get the OS upgraded?Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 BradM...BE CAREFUL!This is something I dealt with last fall that led to a week of unbelievable nightmares.First of all, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN ANTI-VIRUS program installed and running. Make sure your Windows firewall is enabled. Then connect to the net. I was running just a firewall and even that didn't stop my computer to be hit with viruses IN SECONDS of connecting. I swear if I EVER meet someone who gets off on creating and spreading these nasty little f#ckers, he'll be experiencing what it feels like to have a compooper driven up his pooper many times over...Then do your Windows OS updating AS LONG AS YOUR OS IS LEGIT.If you haven't upgraded since 2002, you're looking at Windows new Service Pack 2, multitudes of fixes etc. It'll take you a few hours but then life should be good.Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Thanks. I'll make sure to pick up something like Norton Anti-Virus (or whatever it is) before I hook up.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 And if anyone doesn't know about this Anit-Virus program, it's free and is great for home-based computers.http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 i find it has a lot to do with What your doing...now, i still run windows 98, so i dont have to worry about 96% of the problems Xp users have to worry about, BUT, i dont run a firewall, and i have virus protection, but dont have it running 'behind the scenes'...if your not using peer to peer software, or downloading immense amounts of porn, you'll find the internet isn't that bad of a place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 AVG isn't all it's cracked up to be... I used it for a long time at home, then one day discovered I brought home a copy of Trend Micro Office Scan from work accidentely. It found about 12 'things' that AVG missed everytime.I would be careful with AVG if I were you.AD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Couldn't disagee with you more SecondTube. We don't use Peer to Peer or surf porn at the studio. Absolutely a NO NO as we work with children's animation for one...There's a ton of viruses going around everyday that our programs are detecting and quarantining. Definitely safer to stay on the sites you are familiar with, but there are multitudes of viruses being sent by programs trying to access computers that are on-line and running unprotected for numerous reasons...And also a very good idea to have spyware installed now especially if you access any personal accounts because of keystroke logging programs...I do miss my Windows 98 SE though. What a solid OS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Oh, and for the record, we use BitDefender at the studio for Virus Protection. Norton and McAfee are good but this one is great. Just my humble opinion as all of this stuff is personal. Hey, maybe that's why they're called Personal Computers...lame lame lame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 well...i'm been running problem free for almost three full years w/out a virus. of course i run spybot and adaware, and have nortons installed (but as i said, not running in the background) and definately no firewall....but yes, its because i run windows 98Se...if i was running XP or win2k, i'd have a bunker surrounding my computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 You're right on there...XP has been nothing but problems and even more so now with SP2 with the programs we use here.If you don't need XP, don't bother for another few years for them to fix the bugs and then discontinue it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondtube Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 thats right ...now i use at work here Win2K pro...and its a lot more stable than XP, but still...i'm not running home to install win2kpro at home...even though i'm running a P4 2.4 with 512 ddr ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 And if anyone doesn't know about this Anit-Virus program, it's free and is great for home-based computers.http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5I heartily second this recommendation. I wouldn't install Norton if it was given to me for free. I hear about way too many headaches from people who use it. AVG is tiny and won't hog your system resources. I recommend it to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 AVG is tiny and won't hog your system resources.But it also won't find certain viruses and trojans... AD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
can-o-phish Posted July 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Well, if you're not wearing the right Trojan, viruses are sure to happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headygouda Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 IMHO, you're better off defending yourself from spyware than virii. I've yet to be hit with viruses in several years but have been slowed down a few times with spyware and such. I think a regular virus and adware scan coupled with a cautious approach to surfing the net will be secure enough. I don't like how antivirus programs noticably slow down PCs..at least high-level auto protect modes. PC-Cillin is one of the better ones out there..BradM, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just get online with DSL, then go do the updates as needed. One thing I've always thought is, if everything is working, don't fix it if it ain't broken! I can't stand windows updates that end up causing me instabilities that were never there to begin with... just because your OS isn't 100% updated, doesn't mean it will automatically be attacked as soon as its 'online'. Just don't go straight to the porn and you'll be ok ;o)I think being behind a router-based hardware firewall is easier to provide the same degree of security vs. software firewalls. No need to configure and specify which programs are compatible or authorized as 'safe'.... though I'm sure each have their adv and disadv. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Ba-zing!I should add to my statement above: In my experience. As BradM says, your mileage may vary.Just be careful, because your virus checker says your system is clean doesn't make it so. It's a free virus cleaner, you get what you pay for. I found that out the hard way.AD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Brad,You can order a free copy of SP2 for XP on CD from Microsoft:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Yeah, I did that this afternoon. It said 4-6 weeks for delivery, but I'm hopeful it'll arrive sooner than that.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggzz Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 I use McAfee and it works great, it came with Firewall software that also works well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 FYI - I find that Avast (FREE) does a great job of detecting Spyware, as well as all the standard Antivirus stuff.http://www.avast.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 Yeah Brad - it'll come in about a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisley Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 (edited) I've been running AVG for quite a while and find it provides pretty good coverage... a few months back I had a problem though and on advise installed a trial version of kaspersky Lab's Anti Virus and it located quite a few infected items AVG had overlooked (including some truly sneaky files that had attatched themselves to my System Restore files)considered buying their software over that but will probably just go pick up Norton Edited July 29, 2005 by Guest sober. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headygouda Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 I also vote for kaspersky's AV. Its what I use...though I have yet to find viruses, it certainly uses less resources than NAV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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