Windows 98 SE machine on Cable Modem

[GullyFoyle]

I'm thinking about hooking my daughters PC up to the internet.

My setup:

Cable Modem -> Linksys RT31P2 Broadband Router (Vonage adapter) with built in switch -> My PC + Her PC

With the router, and Zone Alarm & AVG Free Anti-Virus & Cybersitter (for her protection, not the PC) on her PC, how much do I have to worry about the PC being infected/Trojan'ed/Hijacked?

Thanks for your input.

 

[racefan]

Just make sure you have a good firewall. You should have no problems. Just make sure the firewall is working before you connect to the router

 

[Churnd]

Originally posted by: racefan
Just make sure you have a good firewall. You should have no problems. Just make sure the firewall is working before you connect to the router

I concur.

 

[amdskip]

When 98 gets hijacked, it's usually worse than say xp. I would install firefox or some other alternative browser and set it up as the default to help out a little.

 

[DennyD]

And if the option is there in the router settings, definately turn on the firewall in there too. A hardware firewall (ie. router) is 100 times better than any software firewall.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: DennyD
And if the option is there in the router settings, definately turn on the firewall in there too. A hardware firewall (ie. router) is 100 times better than any software firewall.

Not true, but it's a lot easier to set up.

NAT (by itself) keeps almost any outbound attack from getting in, regardless of any other 'firewall' features (unless you have done something stupid like opening a lot of ports). But a good software firewall can stop things that the 'firewall' in a consumer-level router won't (such as stopping spyware from sending information out).

 

[GullyFoyle]

Thanks for all the replies. I feel a little more at ease now. The router does have a firewall, and I still use Zone Alarm because of the outbound notifications.
I'll think about installing Firefox too.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: amdskip
When 98 gets hijacked, it's usually worse than say xp. I would install firefox or some other alternative browser and set it up as the default to help out a little.

Actually, all other things being equal, Win98 is less vulnerable than XP because it doesn't use RPC or listen on the ports used for active directory. Just balance that against the gradual tapering off of updates.

 

[boomerang]

Also, most if not all routers these days will allow you to set up a list of blocked sites using keywords.

May be helpfull in conjunction with Cybersitter. I don't know anything about Cybersitter though. Two adults in this household.