Re: [CGUYS] How to Install Free Anti-Virus Offline

[Tom Piwowar]

You're worrying too much.  Just go download AVG or such and quit being so
paranoid.

As a Windows user you are going to have to adjust your anxiety levels. 
Just as if you had moved into a bad neighborhood, it would be impractical 
to lock yourself in and never venture out. Risk is the price of admission 
into the world of Windows. You need to learn the first names of the drug 
dealers and ladies of the night on the street corner and try to develop a 
friendly relationship. (I'm not going to ask why you did such a 
bone-headed thing in the first place.)

First question is if you really need anti-virus software. If you do your 
web browsing with OS X and use the Mac version of Office you will 
eliminate most of the risk right there. The need to run Windows should be 
for a very narrow purpose, e.g. some custom-written software. You need to 
consider if this software offers any real virus exposure. If you use it 
in a confined way you may have no real problem.

The biggest thing you need to worry about is not viruses, but invasions. 
Bad guys can reach through the Internet to take over a Windows computer. 
To protect against this you need to run the firewall that comes with 
Windows and you need a hardware firewall between your computer and the 
outside. Your Internet router may already be doing this (via NAT).



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Re: [CGUYS] How to Install Free Anti-Virus Offline

[Tom Piwowar]

First of all I bought Vista for my MacBook because there is a specific
bookkeeping program for my business that is only made for Windows that I'd
like to use, because Netflix has a new on-line movie viewing option only
available for Windows and because I anticipate similar situations occurring
occasionally in the future.

If you just stick to using the bookkeeping program you have very little 
exposure.

You will probably find the Netflix on-line movie viewing option to be so 
pathetic that it will not be an exposure for long.

So the threat vanishes.

I don't have a router -- or rather I don't have a hardware router.  My
iMac's internal AirPort card functions as a software router, using Apple's
Internet Sharing and Web Sharing.  In other words I can get on line with my
laptop by wirelessly sharing the Internet connection from my desktop, which
is wired to the modem, sans extra hardware.

Am I correct in assuming Apple's internal firewall won't function when the
machine is running Windows?

The laptop won't have Apple's firewall because you are not running OS X 
on it. The desktop will have Apple's firewall, but I don't think that 
firewall applies to a shared connection. If your desktop is providing 
NAT, then that if giving you basic firewall protection. This would 
suffice in most cases. Nevertheless, I would spend the $35 on a router or 
for a few dollars more get a WiFi router and simplify your network 
topology.



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