I'm planning to wipe my hard drive and put everything back on. The problem is that all the windows updates will be erased (I assume) when I format my drive. Therefore, I'll need to download them again. But if I get on the internet without patching my system first, will I get one of the worms that spreads through ports rather than e-mail? My family's home network is behind a firewall. Will that help?
I do have Norton AntiVirus, but again, I'll need to download the updated virus definitions.
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
Once you get back online, go right to windowsupdate and update your machine. After you do that, install Mcafee or Norton (or whatever). Download all the updates, repeat until done (at least with Norton).
If you want to double check that you're safe, there is an online scanning service with Mcafee that you can try to scan your machine.
For the most part, if you're behind a firewall and don't surf before you update your machine, you should be safe. If you must surf, surf safely and use Firefox.
I do use firefox...but I would have to download that too!
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
If you only open two browser windows when you finish installing, make sure that one points to the mozilla site, and the other goes to windowsupdate. This will help keep you from picking up anything nasty on your machine.
If you've got some blank CD's laying around, you can download firefox to a CD (or zip disk) and just use that to install firefox when you get done reinstalling it.
Since you're behind the firewall, all you really have to do is just limit your surfing till you can update your machine. Most problems that would seek you out (instead of you getting them by going to their site) should be stopped by your firewall.
Posted by Alai's Echo (Member # 3219) on :
Windows XP has a firewall built into it that can handily block all of those viruses that can get into your computer through ports. My friend John turned it on on my computer and it works wonderfully, and he says that he's done it for other people with dial up connections who needed something to keep them safe without spending another load of cash for a program to help. The built in firewall really works better than you would think, too. I've had not a single problem with ports since turning it on.