8 years after, Newbie Ain't Desperate Anymore

[sbolton]

God if i had just got my FIRST computer you guys would have scared me off for life talking about HOST files etc etc!

Hell here is the simple step;

>Buy a hard drive

>Install the hard drive

>Install Windows 98 - guides are all over the internet just type it in google

>Hopefully all your drivers will be installed, if not you need to write down the model and manufactor for your hard ware (mainly video card and ethernet card) Type it in google or driverguide.com and download them to some kind of portable disk

>Run windows update

Then learn and have fun :-D

The whole Security firewalls, virus scanners etc etc is soooo OVERRATED! I NEVER install any virus software, and ive been using a computer for over 10 years now and you know how many virus's i have had? 1! thats because i downloaded a wrong .exe from a crack website!

So dont believe all the hype about killer viruses etc! Get adaware and malware protection (use downloads.com to compare, sort the apps by user rating to find the best ones)

[herbalist]

The whole Security firewalls, virus scanners etc etc is soooo OVERRATED! I NEVER install any virus software, and ive been using a computer for over 10 years now and you know how many virus's i have had? 1! thats because i downloaded a wrong .exe from a crack website!

Then you have been very fortunate. Some of the biggest malware infections I've cleaned were on 98/ME units. I've seen malware on a WinME box use so much of the bandwidth that it took over 2 minutes to load any webpage, then much longer still to kill all the popups.

98 isn't targeted nearly as much as it used to be and definitely not as much as XP is, but don't make the mistake of thinking that all the malware writers have forgotten it. IE6 and WMP run on 98, and those are definitely targeted.

The two most common methods of infecting Windows are attacks that target Internet Explorer and social engineering (targeting the user). Using an alternate browser is one of the best things you can do to enhance security on Windows, from 95 thru XP. The alternates are also faster and use memory and resources more efficiently on 9X systems. Other benefits are tabbed browsing, easier configuration, and the availability of all kinds of extensions and plugins to add features and customize it to your taste.

[dencorso]

The partition image to restore a Windows 9x system is like using a cannon to kill a fly.

Yes. But it does kill the fly.

[farfigs11]

On Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 1:29 PM, 98Guy said:

You are crossing a line between the user wanting simple security, and wanting in-depth reporting and monitoring of all apps and programs. You might just as well advise the user to install wireshark too.

If someone has never used a software firewall before, then it is a real pain to configure and the cost/benefit in having it is not really good. I've asked everyone I know that runs a firewall (typically on 2K or XP systems) I've asked them if their firewall has ever detected any *real* malware and they've always said no. It's not really about security these days, it's about the technical or "power user" wanting to know every detail about every process or program running on their box. Besides, the firewall consumes system resources and reduces performance.

As far as in-bound firewalling - I agree that there are almost no known exploits for win-98 as far as in-bound network connectivity goes, but also remember too that for the past 2.5 years nobody has been testing new exploits for win-98 vulnerability. A NAT-router is cheap cheap cheap, and if your DSL or cable modem is 3 years old or newer then it probably has NAT built in. There's a lot of network junk knocking on your front door, and I'd rather keep it off my local home lan.

Given a situation where you have a NAT-router, there is VERY LITTLE left for the software firewall to do, and most of that is just to satisfy the curiosity or the (largely irrational) control needs of the user.

I had a successful install of Wireshark 0.99.4 , works good- probably because I'm using the latest KernelEx updates and stubs.  Didn't freeze when choosing menu item "capture" and then "options"