EDIT: Course if you're reading this, and haven't done it, it's probably too late!
Word to the wise, make sure to run regular updates on your windows machine, as an unpatched machine can be owned in just 4 minutes, link .
That is way too long, problems can happen much quicker. One time I rebuilt an XP machine at home & I reckon it took less than 10 seconds after connecting to the Internet to download the updates to get infected with Blaster.
you need the help of an IT professional, Lou. Is there a man in the house?
What good would he be .
This is from Slashdot , El Reg are skanks like this.
Basically this relates to an unpatched Windows machine with no firewall and directly connected to t'internet (no NAT). So basically doesn't apply to anything post XP SP2.
Or even the mighty Debian
Well actually, they're both referencing an article from SANS.
The standard cablecom modem has no NAT and no Firewall as far as I'm aware.
On the other hand the Cablecom router (which plugs into the Cablecom modem) does have NAT and firewall.
It's funny you assume I was talking about macs, let's not turn this into an immediate anti-fanboy knee-jerk reaction.
I was merely pointing out there there exist other alternatives which can be significantly more secure than virtually all flavours of windows. As peachy goes on to highlight, there have also been problems with Debian.
Now, I realise that some of the increased security comes through obscurity but the more diverse the world's population of OS is, then any specific virus is less likely to become a major problem.
Since the original poster thought it prudent to pass on some advice, I decided it was a good idea to pass on some significantly better advice which benefits the whole computing population. Was I wrong to do so?
Were problems with Debian, now fixed.
(sorry, my fanboiness forced me to type that ;-))
Granted, but a properly configured Windows machine is pretty safe. Firewall, OS updates, regularly updated anti-virus software, intelligent practices while reading email and surfing and avoiding surfing in "bad neighborhoods" will make a Windows machine acceptably (IMHO) safe.
Yup - I know that, see the ninja-edit.
and some quick math on this thread suggests the mean time for a short, helpful news story to be devolved into a my-os-is-better-than-your-os debate is about 3 min (per post).
You know I hate being called Nat
And seriously, it mustn't work very well if I am on your computer right now
I found a really useful tool last week.
I needed to find a way to include 'machine specific' drivers to the installation CD. Basically as the new machine has no Floppy drive installed (and I did not want to put one in) and I needed to have the Raid-controller drivers available otherwise I could not install the OS (using RAID 0 on this machine for performance).
App is called: nlite - google: 'nlite update utility' for more info.
Basically this did the following for me:
1/ Made an image/copy locally of my current XP install CD (very old pre SP1 I think).
2/ Merged this data with SP3 (which I downloaded)
3/ Added the drivers I needed so XP would see the hard-drives.
4/ Created a new ISO Image
5/ Burnt this image to a new CD.
There are more options available, including auto-complete files etc... but for me this was enough. I could probably take this further and add the latest drivers for the hardware installed on this machine, but this might cause other issues or incompatibilties with other machines.
You probably could add post SP3 patches as well etc...
Best of all: IT IS FREE !!!!!!
I need to rebuild my other machines soon, and this will enable the build to include SP3 straight away, speeding up the install process, also all the 'backup' files etc.. that MS create.
Hope this helps.
That really looks very good for a slipstreaming SP3 into an install CD for 1 or few computers, many thanks.
BS.
I used a Windows XP for years without any firewall, patches or antiviruses. Surfing and using the internet intensively.
If you know when not to click on that OK button you are as safe as with all that machine-slowing software on.
On the other hand if you surf dangerous web sites ( read : containing free-music-dowloads, free-games, porn or others of that kind ) and click on any window that pops up then you are screwed.
Yes. Glad you found this useful. I too am glad I found this.
A good article on this is here (which I just found):
Wrong me ol' mukka. A Windows machine will be compromised by simply being network connected. My firewall blocks stacks of worm propagation attempts hourly.
You are probably part of one or more botnets at the moment.
"All your XP are belong to me"