Instead of doing all of that, why don't you just get a Mac? They are virtually virus and malware proof.
List-Post: [email protected] Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:26:12 -0500 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [Texascavers] Antivirus suggestions for TSS computers 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
