Rod,
I have been using Microsoft Security Essentials,
<http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx>. This is a
relatively new, free service by Microsoft, and seems to work
well. Updates may be manually
downloaded:
<http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Definitions/HowToMSE.aspx>.
Mark Minton
At 02:26 AM 4/27/2011, Rod Goke wrote:
I have a question for any of you who are knowledgeable about
computer antivirus/anti-malware software. The question is "cave
related" in that it deals with the special needs of our TSS
computers, which are somewhat different from those of most home and
business computers, because the TSS computers are not connected to
the Internet.
During the last several months, I have been working together with
Christopher Francke and David McKenzie to upgrade the computer
facilities at the Texas Speleological Survey (TSS) office. We now
have approximately 10 computers, which soon will be interconnected
with each other in a local area network, but with no connection to
the Internet. Most of these computers are Pentium 4 (or comparable
AMD processor) machines running Windows XP Professional, SP 3.
We would like to protect these computers from computer viruses or
other malware. Although there is no Internet service at the TSS
office, malware contamination is still possible, since people
sometimes bring in CDs, DVDs, flash drives, external hard drives,
laptop computers, etc., which they temporarily connect to the TSS
computers for uploading or downloading data. There is also a
possibility that people might occasionally bring in cell phones or
other wireless devices with Internet service and connect them to the
TSS computers to provide occasional temporary Internet service for
TSS. Most antivirus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware software is
designed for computers with regular Internet access, and some of it
costs significant money to install and continually update on
multiple machines. We would like to find some very inexpensive,
preferably free, protection software which we can download at home
and take to the TSS office (probably on a CD ROM or flash drive) for
installation on the TSS computers. Similarly, we would like to be
able to download updates at home and take them to the TSS computers
at the beginning of each TSS work session.
On at lease one occasion, I believe that David McKenzie did this
successfully with one of the free antivirus programs available on
the Internet, but our experience thus far has been very limited, and
no one has yet done a serious comparison of alternatives for this
kind of software, downloaded on a home machine with Internet access
and then transferred to machines without Internet access. If you
have any experience or knowledgeable recommendations in this area,
we'd like to hear from you. You can reply to me off list if you
don't think it would interest the general TexasCavers subscribers.
Thanks,
Rod Goke
[email protected]
(512) 892-4186
Please reply to [email protected]
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