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Pastimes : Computer Learning -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RJL who wrote (9501)	5/7/2000 3:30:00 PM
From: appro	Respond to of 110631

What is an easy way to isolate a secondary hard drive used as a backup for primary so a virus or worm does not erase both at same time? I only need to backup once a week and I do a complete format and copy of entire 40GB drive to 30GB drive (each has two partitions). Thus I can boot from either by selecting F1 to access BIOS settings during cold boot. My question is this. Is my secondary really safe from a bug if I disable it in the BIOS settings during boot after the new copy is made? Thanks for any suggestions. Speaking of firewalls, I am learning by trial and error how important they are for home computers that use a persistent cable modem connection. It seems one cannot always depend on certain Win98 "features" staying disabled. Input from others here is appreciated. I followed Steve Gibson's excellent guide to disabling the "network bondage" of Windows "default" network settings which connect and enable everything until my systems was as secure as it could be without a firewall. Then I installed ZoneAlarm 2.1, which has an excellent software firewall for home users. After noticing a large increase in alerts, I discovered Win98 had automatically reinstalled many of the default settings I had so carefully disabled. Arrrrrrrrg! I suspected a program crash caused an improper shutdown, which then put Win98 into the "fool proofing" "found new hardware" etc. mode. On the other hand my file and printer sharing was re-enabled which may suggest a different gremlin. I did not think anything of it at the time but now I know better. I have inexpensive NDC SOHO 10/100Mbps Ethernet network switch that only gets plugged in when the cable modem is unplugged. As I get braver I may look into the suggestions here and elsewhere on how-to use my old P-150 as a hardware firewall, but for now it seems like overkill to me. Finally, for anyone just getting started with home security, I found these links to be helpful. The first three have been on this thread a few times but are worth repeating IMHO. : ) "Secure Your PC Online Part Three by Fred Langa" winmag.com follow the links there on right to parts 1 and 2 Steve Gibson's "ShieldsUp" from article above: grc.com ZoneAlarm's free firewall mentioned as good by Steve above zonelabs.com And general firewall forensics robertgraham.com which I found as part of this page on TCP/IP ports robertgraham.com