Hi guys, just a little confused as usual, hoping to have a new pc next week, don’t want to go on the net without avast, is there a way I can get it off this pc and install it on the new one? :
Download the installer from the website, put it on cd(r/w)/dvd(r/w)/floppy/thumbstick or whatever and use that to install on the new system.
Thanks Eddy, you’re a star, I never thought of that :-[
Sometimes a “genius solution” is overlooked because it is so simple and people (especially when it comes to computers) are thinking to complexed 
Susz
Eddy is just to bashful to admit that he has lots of those “genius solution”. I know he’s sent me many of them. ;D
maybe consider downloading the vps too
Don’t forget to ensure you have a copy of the latest version of your firewall as well on that CD.
See if you can get a copy of the WinXP SP2 update on CD, if you will be using XP and don’t have a new version of XP pre-installed on your new PC. This is much better/safer than going on-line for a large update whilst a bit vulnerable.
When you have the new system and before going online:
- Put Avast on it
- Put a firewall on it
Then go online and visit Windows Update and make sure you have all security patches/fixes installed for Windows as well as for MS-Office (if that is installed)
Install the applications you use and configure the system as you wish. Create a image file of the system, just in case anything goes wrong in the future. This will safe a lot of time/work if you have to restore the system.
hi eddy…what’s the best, if possible freeware, for creating an image?
I use Norton Ghost (not freeware)
But there are some freeware ones like DrvImagerXP, they are not as thorough as Ghost though.
Norton Ghost and Norton GoBack two of the best friends your computer can have. ;D
There is really no need for it, a better thing would be to streamline an installation cd of your choice (W2K/XP whatever) so that the vulnerabilities of the default installation does not affect you.
The anti virus part can wait until you get the system on the net, no virus is going to infect you unless you let it.
Recommendations for a new install:
Streamline the install cd with available updates.
Do system wide settings to your liking.
Create a restricted user account that has execution rights to other files but only write priviligies to files in your own home directory.
Connect to the net and get a firewall, disconnect and set it up.
Connect to the net and get your antivirus+updates.
Set up your e-mail accounts and whatever files you have to be able to access.
Now that is a good way of doing it, the most important part is that you have the latest updates for your OS and browser before you connect to the net and that you use a restricted rights user account at all times when you are connected or running ANY file that you have not already scanned.
Connect to the net and get a firewall, disconnect and set it up. Connect to the net and get your antivirus+updates.[b]Never go online without protection if you can avoid it.[/b] Susz [b]Do this before you start to set-up your new system.[/b] Download and add to your CD the Install program for your firewall and avast! Also download and put on CD SP2 upgrade unless you already have a Slipdisk setup for XP which includes SP2. Then after you start the new computer, install avast, install your firewall, upgrade to SP2 and then go online to get the rest of the updates. Or, you could always follow the advice of our new expert.
A slipstream will do fine, installing a separate firewall can be done from the net without problems (not required since the firewall in SP2 is enabled and fully functioning by default).
If you don’t want to create a separate user account with resticted rights, don’t bother with the firewall or AV either, if you don’t care about security, just leave it alone.
However, if you DO care about security, a restricted users account is better than a firewall and an AV product. If i would have to choose i’d take a restricted account policy over a firewall and two different av products running at the same time.
But don’t mind me, i have only done this for a decade.
Actually it is more than a decade since i got into the whole security issues thing when trying out the very first version of Slackware, i am sure my message to Patrick Volkerding is still out there somewhere in cyberspace (get well Pat!).
I saw you in the Linux forum, things seem a bit slow over there, perhaps because of the limited number of users (probably because there is no free version probably).
If you were involved in computer security more than a two decades ago then i probably know you by name.
My biggest contributions have been in OpenBSD and Netfilter (iptables).
Why did you delete your post Eddy?
Thanks everybody for your advice, will let you know how I get on…