Dialup Security and Such

[iago]

I have a friend.  He's about 70 years old, and doesn't really know much about computers, but he runs a business (2 people) from one.  He basically uses it for word processing and email.  He's on a dialup internet connection.

He also has a computer at home which he uses for web browsing and email.  He uses the same dialup connection from home.

He's having a real problem with things like Blaster and Sasser -- downloading the patches takes a long time on dialup, and he doesn't know how to anyway.  

My first thought was for him to just get a router -- once he has that, he would be safe.  But he's on dialup, so he has no incoming LAN connection, plus he has 2 seperate connections, at his house and his office.

I'm trying to think of what the easiest/cheapest way for him to do this is.  I can set it up, but it should be self-sufficient.  

The one thought I had was to install Linux, because I know he learned everything on Dos, and might actually be comfortable there.  But I worry that that'll cause more problems than it solves, although if he has Linux I'd be able to ssh to him.

Any ideas?  Buying a firewall is a little pricy, and Windows firewall does crap.  I'm open to suggestions, though!

[Falcon[anti-yL]]

I would suggest getting ZoneAlarm firewall and AVG antivirus, both are free and should keep his computer safe.

[Stealth]

Yeah, I'd recommend a free firewall, or downloading the updates as standalone EXEs and putting them on a CD or flash key to get them to him.

[Noodlez]

Microsoft gives you a free security CD with every patch, just order that and go install it for him.

[muert0]

I'm taking it that he's using windows 98?

[iago]

I'm taking it that he's using windows 98?

Yes, he's getting Blaster and Sasser on Windows 98.  It's quite a trick.

He's actually using xp on both computers.

[muert0]

Just use the built in firewall if your lookin for a fast cheap fix for a firewall. For viruses I use trendmicro's house call.
www.trendmicro.com

[iago]

Just use the built in firewall if your lookin for a fast cheap fix for a firewall. For viruses I use trendmicro's house call.
www.trendmicro.com

The builtin firewall is terrible, you can still get worms when it's on, and I haven't been able to find settings for it yet.

And TrendMicro doesn't stop you from getting Blaster every 45 seconds or so, plus he's on Dialup and it takes over a half hour to use it initially, so that's pretty much out.

[Zorm]

Id suggest getting him the free version of zonealarm as well as the patches. The patches should be small enough to fit onto a floppy even so I can't see that as a problem. Also you can turn all of the extras in zonealarm off like email/privacy protection so those don't bug him and just leave the firewall itself on to block all of the worms and such. Its also friendly enough that if he does venture out and explore zonealarm he shouldn't be able to break it in a world ending way. (My parents use zonealarm on their computers and haven't had it crash btw.)

Another option it may be possible to do im not really sure, but you may be able to setup a small dialup isp for him? No idea if you could share your internet connection in that way or not but hey its an idea!

[iago]

Another option it may be possible to do im not really sure, but you may be able to setup a small dialup isp for him? No idea if you could share your internet connection in that way or not but hey its an idea!

Actually, that's a cool idea.  He doesn't use much bandwidth, so if I *could* let him connect through me, it would be really handy.

But anyway, I'll look into this zonealarm.  I can set that to just block all incoming connections, right?  That's really all I need

[muert0]

Kerio also offers a free firewall and I think it has more options than zonealarm. Here's the link for both. But again if all you need to do is block all incoming connections I believe the windows one does it. I thought the main downfall with the windows firewall was that you couldn't block outgoing and that it had less options. When SP2 comes out it's supposed to be a big improvement over SP1. For the settings on ICF you go to the properties of your connection then turn the firewall on and the settings button at the bottom will become available. Or were you talking deeper options?
http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_download.html
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=zaskulist_download

[iago]

Ok, I finally got around to this.  I got the free ZoneAlarm, and I'm going to haul his computer to my house and plug it into the Switch to download Windows Updates and such.  I figured that's the easiest way.  I'm meeting him in 3 hours :-o

[Zakath]

It doesn't sound like he really needs ZoneAlarm for too much, but I should warn you anyway: ZA can really mess a system up. It does some really wierd stuff to it.

[iago]

Like what?  The problem is that for him, getting Windows Updates is fairly difficult, being on Dialup, so I would like to be able to block any incoming connections.  At home it's easy, since I block them at the router, but it's not quite so easy on dialup :/