Really need computer help

[Randallw]

I think I managed to turn off the right one then, as it said the sp automatically turns it off.

[Randallw]

Thermodyne, should I really replace my hosts file with yours?. Mine is only 2kb and yours is 263kb.

[Fyron]

Thermo's looks to be blocking a lot of malware and ad server domains.

If you install Spybot (best anti-spyware), you can usually lock out the hosts file from further changes.

[Thermodyne]

Randallw said:
Thermodyne, should I really replace my hosts file with yours?. Mine is only 2kb and yours is 263kb.

It blocks a lot of malware sites. Which helps to protect you from their loader programs and the redirects that result. Down side is that a lot of adds on respectable sites wont load. Which is fine by me!

[Randallw]

When you say it blocks the site do you mean nothing happens or that a message pops up?, because my software spots each attempt, but the message is as annoying as the ads. Anyway I just installed sp2 (yeah I know my fault for not doing it before) and I'll try spybot. I should point out some of the adds are just an ad in the middle of my screen and others opens a new browser window to their website. I think I'm actually getting somewhere though. If I fail I can at least tell my self I did everything I could.

Edit: I don't know is this is funny or not, but sp2 was blocking spybot from being downloaded

[Randallw]

I tried changing the host file like thermodyne said but it didn't fix it and now spytrap finds all the sites in the new hosts file changing. I ok those sites (by which I hope I am ok'ing blocking them)

[Atrocities]

Ok, so how would I take an old PC and turn it into a server or what not that my other PC's use to access the web? I was thinking about leaving it one all the time to host files and what not.

[Thermodyne]

Randallw said:
I tried changing the host file like thermodyne said but it didn't fix it and now spytrap finds all the sites in the new hosts file changing. I ok those sites (by which I hope I am ok'ing blocking them)

I would remove all of the spyware programs except the MS beta. They often don't play well togeather.

Here is a link to some new MS beta tools.
Tools
I have not had time to try them yet.

Check the following regestry key, and remove anything you find in it.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\BrowserHelperObjects\

[Thermodyne]

Atrocities said:
Ok, so how would I take an old PC and turn it into a server or what not that my other PC's use to access the web? I was thinking about leaving it one all the time to host files and what not.

Well first you need to decide if you want a firewall or a file server. The firewall should be just that and nothing else. You could also use it for web page caching or DNS caching with no loss of security.

All you need is a decent PC with two nics. Decent does not mean some POS the wasn�t reliable three years ago when you put it out in the barn.

Set the external nic to address by DHCP and hook it up to your cable/DSL modem. Set the other nic to your internal (local) address and hook it to your switch. This address is now your gateway and will be set on all of your clients. If you want, you can set up a DHCP server on the box and automatically address your workstations. But with less than 10 systems, it�s more work than it�s worth.

The best free firewall with balls is the one in FreeBSD. Just load FreeBSD (DL it) and then make some changes to the kernel and you have a firewall as good as a Sonicwall or PIX. It�ll block everything as installed so you�ll need to enter some filters, and because it�s nix, it�s all done from a cmd prompt. Here is a link with how to set it up and what filters to add.
FreeBSD firewall setup



With that said, ISA server from MS is a lot more user friendly and just as good. But you will have to pay something for it and the Server install that it runs on. If you are going to the uni, then you might be able to get it cheap.

[Xrati]

OK, I understand POS. I generally throw that stuff out. [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon25.gif[/img]

What would be minimum requirements for a "decent PC" AND what is a "nic"? [network interface card] I'm confused when it comes to abbreviations, please humor me.