Can viruses jump between HD partitions? + more partition quesions..

[stingygrrl]

If I have 2 partitions, one for regular important things(=real area), one for online junky stuff, can a virus get from the online area to the real area??

Can someone also give me pointers to doing a partition for the first time? I have partition magic6 and win98se that I want to clean reinstall - my PC came with OEM win98 -- can I use that startup disk to boot with win98se CD ( I set my boot sequence to CD, A:, C: )- Thanks

Thanks

 

[robisc]

I don't see why a virus couldn't access another partition, of course it would depend on the virus but if your OS can see that partition there wouldn't be any reason why a virus couldn't. The startup boot disk should work with 98se or you could just boot from the CD. A far as partitions go since you have PM6 I would just install Windows then install PM and do the partition setup. I have mine stup in a dual boot configuration like this: Partition 1 for Win2k, partition 2 for Win98SE, and partition 3 for storage.

 

[stingygrrl]

Thanks- I'm printing the PM6 manual out now; hopefully that will cover most of my questions!

So then, what is the best way to isolate a section of the computer so that it's inpenetrable?

I have 2 networking kits (= 4NICs and 2 hubs), and a 2d PC- Basically, then I want 2 stand alone PCs, that can each access the internet, but not each other. I think that shouldn't be so hard?
Should I stick with win98SE or migrate to ME?
Thanks-- these are lots of questions before I do anything!

 

[robisc]

Even if you have 2 separate PCs if they are networked and can "see" each other you could still be vulnerable to a virus, again this depends on what kind of virus, remember the "I LOVE YOU" virus it was replicated across the internet through email, a little different scenario but the bottom line is that a virus can attack any physical HDD or networked drive it can reach. As far as the best way to isolate a section is to just use good viruscan tools and be careful what you download, I mean where are you dloading from? Or maybe I don't want to know. If you want to use one machine as a Proxy to the internet you could use ICS that is included with 98SE or I would use Proxy which was written by AnalogX his site link is link I don't know if this would give you the protection you need though, maybe you could build a cheap 3rd Linux PC and use it as a router go look at Freesco link. As far as 98se or ME that one would depend on who you ask but I think 98SE is less buggy right now and most of the upgrades are free from Microsoft anyway, but for a new install maybe I would try it.

 

[stingygrrl]

Hi again, - I'm d/ling from newsgroups and other websites-- I know I could be setting myself up for trouble that's why I want to isolate my real data..

I was thinking about using either the sygate software that came with the NICs kit or getting winproxy, and putting 2 nics in 1 pc. I think that makes it a proxy server.. I'm not sure.

Perhaps I'll just have 1 PC plugged into the hub at a time, so that both have internet access but aren't connected to each other, and if I need to connect them, I can do it on an as-needed basis.

Have you heard of the AVG antivirus from http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_grsft.cfm ? Is it reputable? Grisoft Linked

Thanks!

 

[robisc]

No I haven't heard of this AV software, I would just make sure that whatever version I used has a good AV engine and that there are regular updates.