How Do I Make Things Secure for my Business Connection / Kids Internet

[bb1web]

Hi and thanks for coming in,

Tonight my son pointed out to me that the kids connection to the internet may be putting me at risk.

they had lime wire, which he says is real bad, and other assorted bad choices.

my PC hooks into a stand alone cable router which is also where the kids connect, which then hooks into the cable modem they issued to us.

Is my PC safe regardless of what the kids do with theirs? (assuming i have all my virus protection etc in place)

perhaps better said, is there any way they could cause my PC to be compromised by the things they download?

thanks again

[Doolally]

Although I don't know for certain, I suspect that providing you have the latest virus checkers and a firewall installed on your PC, you should be more or less protected from anything they have on theirs.

I don't think anyone can ever get to 100% secure but providing you have the above then I don't think you have an increased risk of anything.

I backup all of my data (not as regularly as I should) and store it on an external hard drive which I lock away in a fire-proof safe - just in case.

[bb1web]

Well the thing is that I don't have to allow them on the net, since this is our only income the kids playing on facebook takes a far second seat.

However having said that, I usually try to be considerate of things that teenagers need these days.

so if its not going to risk my PC, then they can stay online and learn the hard way with their 2nd laptop. (the first one, mine, they left plugged in during a lightning storm and sure enough zapped it. it works fine, but won't hook up to the internet.

[thepokerkeep]

To the best of my knowledge, as long as you have a firewall installed on your computer and take the usual precautions such as good AV and malware protection, you'll be ok.

I assume the router is firewalled - they usually are.

Some of the best free programs I've tested - I use all of them my computer:

Malwarebytes
Superantispyware
CCleaner
ZoneAlarm Firewall
Panda Antivirus
Spybot Search and Destroy

Putting these on your computer and on your kids machine will help keep you safe.

[universal4]

A few good points so far....

A firewall by itself is never enough.

You see, once a trojan or virus indfected the kids system, the malware is no longer in the public, it is on a trusted system INSIDE the firewall.

Windows firewall, zonealarm and other software firewalls help a lot with this, but be careful of settings such as trusting the private ip zone.

Other things you could do:

#1 GET RID OF LIMEWIRE!

Make sure you have NO wide open shares on your system.

If you have shared folders on your system they may or may not be "wide open" which means if the everyone user is on the share or folder with write permissions malware from another system could write to that folder on your system.

This is how some of the bad trojans have made their way around corporate networks....and it can all start from a single infection.

You could have a second internet connection coming in to the household.

A bit extreme, but one possibility. If you ever would consider this, I would always recommend a different provider since if either one of them ever went down you would still have a backup provider for the business.

You could actually also consider another router, although a bit more problematic when setting it up.

See #1

Bytheway, did I mention to GET RID OF LIMEWIRE! bittorrent, utorrent or any other peer-to-peer file sharing service.

To be brutally honest I have used some of the filesharing programs and have downloaded my fair share of programs (all open source and freeware of course....lol ) but I do so since I know and understand the risks involved, plus I know the course of actions to take when I get infected with one of the nasty's. (please note I did NOT use the word if in my statement above)

An interesting thread....and I look forward to more recommendations from others....

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

I am NOT a big fan of cc cleaner, although it does a pretty decent job of cleaning some areas of the drive.

Terry's list is a poretty good one, but it's ironic that a default clean with almost every single one of the programs he listed will delete the very valuable cookies that we do not want to see removed from visitors comnputers and there go our "be-back" conversions out the window.

One he didn't mention was Avast Antivirus. Free also, they will actually immediately cut a connection to a infected web page if you choose the option.

And Malware-bytes gets my 5 Star rating as one of the very best in removal. Plus it will run in safe mode, not all of them will.

Plus, if you get the Antivirus 2010 trojan program, you can go into safe mode, rename the exe, and run it from the command prompt, almost none of the others do that the last time I tested it. (in this case be sure NOT to load explorer as that nasty one runs in all windows startups EXCEPT safe mode with command prompt)

Ooops sorry offtrack a bit....

Rick
Universal4

[Betpartners]

Unfortunatly i cannot offer much advice on software etc as i have taken a different route.

My family, the same as many families use the Internet regulary and i made the conscience decision to completely seprate my internet connection with theirs.

We have two connections from two seprate ISP's, it is certainly not the best option economically having two seperate set ups but because the Internet is my living i just cannot take the chance of lapses in security.

Only I use my connection, no one else, be it friends or family.

They have their own connection and the extra cost does at least bring some peace of mind.

[pgaming]

We have two connections from two seprate ISP's

BB likely a very wise choice this would eliminate a fair bit headaches. Consider this is your business and sharing a network with your kids is a risk not worth taking.

As Rick mentioned also Limewire and other file sharing networks for the most part are backed to the rafters with bad stuff. I use a separate PC just for file sharing alone with a separate ISP.

To minimize most of worry a separate line would work IMO.

greek39