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protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:07 pm
by Fender
I'm going to backup all her pics and other junk and reinstall XP SP2 on her desktop. The thing is just too infested to salvage, reinstalling will be faster. I was hoping SP3 would be released by now, but it looks like that will be in the 2nd half of April.
I need to check her anti-virus license, but obviously I'll be installing some sort of anti-virus.
What's the best spyware/malware blocker now? I've used several in the past, but haven't really kept up.
Also, I've heard there's a whitelist/blacklist local DNS server you can install to block harmful traffic. Any heard of this and/or used it? I think it has a free subscription, like AdBlocker does.
She didn't have a hardware firewall, so I'll be giving her my old one.
She's using AOL, so I don't know if I can set FF as her default brower. Right now she's got about 10 different toolbars, you know the drill...
Any thing else I'm missing that can help keep her from fucking up her own computer w/o completely crippling it?
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:19 pm
by Captain
Just use Windows Firewall and keep it updated. For A/V I suggest AVG Free. Spybot S&D does the trick to prevent nasty spyware from finding a hole.
And as always, smart internet use is the most important thing. If she goes around clicking every ad, banner, or attachment email, I doubt anything is going to keep that computer clean and safe.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:38 pm
by SoM
#1 windows firewall
#2 AVG free
#3 windows defender
exactly, tell her not to click ads like you've won a million dollars
#4 dont click any ads lol, and the first 3 i've mentioned will keep ya safe.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:03 pm
by Captain
Oh fuck, forgot about Defender
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:20 pm
by Fender
Just to give you an idea of how out of date her PC is...
She still has the 2006 daylight savings time rules.
Some malware must have disabled auto-updates?
Oh... and thanks.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:56 pm
by Foo
Also, take a drive image after you've loaded it all up the way she wants it, and put her My Documents and such on a seperate drive or at least a seperate partition.
That way when the inevitable happens and it's screwed again in a few months time, you can just restore the image and find yourself 80% of the way back to a finished build in no time...
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:17 am
by Nightshade
I've been trying out Comodo firewall with Defense+, not too bad so far. Get her using Firefox w/Adblock, etc.
Definitely do the OS and Files partitions, that's saved me much data loss on more than one occasion.
*looks at new, single-partition HDD*
Uhh...bbl
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:30 am
by +JuggerNaut+
Fender wrote:I'm going to backup all her pics and other junk and reinstall XP SP2 on her desktop. The thing is just too infested to salvage, reinstalling will be faster. I was hoping SP3 would be released by now, but it looks like that will be in the 2nd half of April.
I need to check her anti-virus license, but obviously I'll be installing some sort of anti-virus.
What's the best spyware/malware blocker now? I've used several in the past, but haven't really kept up.
Also, I've heard there's a whitelist/blacklist local DNS server you can install to block harmful traffic. Any heard of this and/or used it? I think it has a free subscription, like AdBlocker does.
She didn't have a hardware firewall, so I'll be giving her my old one.
She's using AOL, so I don't know if I can set FF as her default brower. Right now she's got about 10 different toolbars, you know the drill...
Any thing else I'm missing that can help keep her from fucking up her own computer w/o completely crippling it?
sp3? how would that have helped? ffs, sandbox an OS for her.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:55 pm
by Fender
+JuggerNaut+ wrote:ffs, sandbox an OS for her.
huh?
And this is the DNS thing I was talking about.
http://opendns.org/
And where can I get a safe iso of XP Home SP2? Her restore/install disk is SP1, and I don't want to slipstream one myself.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:05 pm
by +JuggerNaut+
Fender wrote:+JuggerNaut+ wrote:ffs, sandbox an OS for her.
huh?
virtualize that bitch. p.s. opendns works well, but there are speed issues (not that she should care)
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:06 pm
by Fender
+JuggerNaut+ wrote:virtualize that bitch.
What?
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:13 pm
by +JuggerNaut+
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:01 pm
by Fender
Fender wrote:And where can I get a safe iso of XP Home SP2? Her restore/install disk is SP1, and I don't want to slipstream one myself.
???
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:36 pm
by +JuggerNaut+
???
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:16 pm
by obsidian
Um... just use windows update?
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:20 pm
by +JuggerNaut+
???
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:26 pm
by creep
---
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:09 am
by Fender
obsidian wrote:Um... just use windows update?
In my experience, one of the things that slows down a PC is the application of patches. I'd like to avoid that if possible.
So I guess everyone is saying go get an iso from pirate bay. I've got a real key, just old media.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:31 am
by Foo
Your work's IT department will prolly be able to furnish you with media since you've got a key. Depends who staffs it.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:38 am
by creep
It's not likely your key will work with an sp2 disc. But hey, you've got free time, go try it out.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:18 am
by Fender
Foo wrote:Your work's IT department will prolly be able to furnish you with media since you've got a key. Depends who staffs it.
Not for XP Home. No self-respecting IT department will have XP Home.
Fuck it. Too much hassle. I'll install her old disk and apply SP2 after the install.
Re: protecting my mother-in-law's computer from my mother-in-law
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:10 pm
by Foo
my bad, assumed it came in the MSDN/Technet/Ent Agreement packs.