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Page modified on Sun Aug 21 2005 at 5:12:21am. webmeister
Internet security and Windows 98
For a while I used a P166 laptop running Windows 98 connected to a WiFi internet router to host this site. I still use it for development. Are you Mad? I hear you cry, or just penniless... Maybe.
Here is my advice to myself for maximising security since I insist on using such a setup.
Start out with a cleanly installed Windows system (hah!) that has never been connected to the internet. Install your firewall, firefox, and whatever software you will need to connect to the internet, etc and make a ghost image (BEFORE you connect to the internet). I think it is best to keep this restore image as clean as possible. Keep your data on a separate drive or partition or whatever.
Then every few days go back to this clean version. If you are going to install any new software, go back to your clean image and install it to that (before having connected to the internet) and make a new current ghost image. It takes less than ten minutes to do this on my system using USB storage for the ghost image.
This may seem like overkill, but it is quicker than running a halfway thorough scan for baddies and is definitely going to be 100% effective. Also fixes any windows rot problems (temporarily).
Use Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5. It is lightweight on RAM and CPU and is very stable. I have tried many firewalls and this has stood the test of time for many reasons.
Use Spybot S&D and AdAware. For getting rid of things that these two miss use Hijack This.
Although it has never found a virus on my system, sometimes I use AVG Anti-Virus. Because it has never found a virus on my system I don't bother with the constant-monitoring-in-the-background bit but just the boot-up scanner. Just in case.
Finally, although I use the above set up, I do not reccommend it. Use a proper operating system if you can. I do not know any ex-windows user who has bothered to switch to Linux (for example) who has regretted it. Life is too short to have to constantly fight with appalling products when there are freely available vastly superior alternatives. But you won't know why that is true unless you try it out because what is familiar to us becomes the norm. A computer correctly set up with a good OS and apps enables us to do good work efficiently and frees up more time to do meaningful things.
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Page modified on Sun Aug 21 2005 at 5:12:21am. Feel free to contact me to report broken links, suggest improvements, offer content, counselling, etc...
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