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myjava
first grade
Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 18
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 Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:42 am Post subject: Ultimate antiSpyware solution |
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The most common solution to address Spyware is the installation of antispyware on your desktop. I have been thinking of this alternative solution. For surfing, why not use diskless CDs? That means you use bootable CDs from Linux then there you go, you surf without putting your hard drive at risk of possible trojans. What can you say?
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indogo
fourth grade
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 223
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:30 am Post subject: |
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My son is using just that setup and as you say its impossible to attack 
such a setup is suggested for internet cafes..libraries etc where the client gets handed their own personnel disk.
As for windows...remove IE as much as possible and active x and disable all netbios and things become a lot safer..
regards
mike
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myjava
first grade
Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 18
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:55 am Post subject: |
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This is available for Linux environment. I still have to find one for Windows. Have you tried a diskless CD for Windows?
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indogo
fourth grade
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 223
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Well i tried winternals which boots from disk to give an xp enviroment and also comes with firefox .
Main drawback was that firefox needed writable media for its settings and the software is setup for repairing pc though could be use for other things...plus it costs money!
Barts live cd is the main free alternative...he has the software and instructions to make a live cd from the windows xp cd...not tried it but apparently works ok.Older versions of windows are harder to do.
Another alternative is installing to a pen drive or flash card...windows is written to be installed/run on hard disk ie a writable medium only whereas other os are more flexible.
Linux with wine is another possiblity and there is reactos which is a windows 32 clone which runs from live cd but both of these are still needing further development.
Beos is another interesting varient...very linux like but simple giving a windows like enviroment and a good amount of software to add to it.
Google is your friend on this one..it's surprising what enterprising programmers get up to
regards
mike
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Singachea
fourth grade
Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 258
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| Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:46 am Post subject: |
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Wow Mike, you are great, and I really admire you. To me, I have to question why we need to use live OS from CD? It's really inconvenient.
I do agree with Mike that we should use IE when it's necessary and disable ActiveX and some other vulnerable functions. However, removing IE is not recommended 
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indogo
fourth grade
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 223
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| Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I have to question why we need to use live OS from CD |
well the antivirus reason above is a good one..
Unbreakable....if my 2 year old has a fiddle than a quick reboot and back in business as if never touched.
Repair and debugging...much easier to trouble shoot with a gui than with a command line console plus could provide temporary working system until the problem is solved.
Evaluating a new os /software / hardware compatibility without affecting the harddrive contents.
Your own portable os with applications ... home...work..college..abroad pop it in and you are instantly on your computor again.
| Quote: |
| However, removing IE is not recommended |
This man is quite passionate about the issue
http://www.vorck.com/remove-ie.html
and a more polite version
http://www.litepc.com/
At the moment I'm running windows 2000 with IE removed...(typing a web address in explorer does nothing)..and no outlook or messenger too.
I have a large variety of software running quite happily.
I have no antivirus etc software and no firewall and am directly on the net (plus small home network not using netbios another security nightmare)...with IE installed adware takes about 60 seconds to get in.
Those unecessary services are worth disabling too.
The result is safer faster and smaller system that a five year old can still use
I used to run 98 in a similar way (with the 95 shell) with again no problem...
Windows update is mainly for patching IE and outlook security problems so becomes a bit obsolete but can still be done manually if desired.
XP can benefit too....I'm not anti windows....the basic operating system is fine but there are improvements which can be made and I recommend this one because it does help and you would find yourself feeling much more in control of what your computor does  .
Oh and as for active x try regcontrols...its excellent and free
http://www.softcircuits.com/sw_apps.htm
You can remove most if not all windows .ocx files/registrations and everything will carry on working....third party software ones are not a security problem and can be left..eg nero uses them.
Get lean and mean
have fun
mike
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