JJ said:
I have 2 80 gig harddrives in my desktop. I use one for everyday use but I
would like to know if there is a way to put a switch of some kind to switch
to my second one without having to open up my case and switch the cables?? I
do a lot of running around the Cyborspace and would like to use the second
80Gig HD incase I pick up any Viruses or something that would hurt my main
HD. Thanks all an have a safe an happy holiday.
I have a lot more than that. I dual boot, with Win2K Pro SP4 on a 120GB
IDE drive, and WinXP Pro SP2 booting from a RAID 0 array composed of two
250GB SATA drives, plus two more 120 GB drives and a pair of 160GB
drives. (I have more drives that are not currently installed, but could
be.)
It sounds like what you want to do is have two different drives you can
boot from. That's doable, assuming the second drive is not currently
used. Reinstall the OS, but tell it to install to the second drive. It
will create a dual boot menu. Of course, you'll have to reinstall any
software you use, too...
I find it much easier to simply not get infected in the first place.
Think of infections as a disease. Diseases infect organisms through
delivery routes called vectors (like malaria being transmitted by the
Anopheles mosquito). Close off the vector, and many problems go away.
I've been online through Windows since the 3.1 days. I have *never* had
a problem from doing so. I follow a few simple rules.
Rule 1: *Don't* use IE as your browser. (I like Firefox, but Opera is
also a good choice.) *Way* too many things target IE, and too many
security holes in it exist.
Rule 2: Run a firewall. (I'm behind a hardware firewall in my router,
and a software firewall on the desktop.)
Rule 3: Run a good anti-virus program, and keep the signatures up to
date. (I use Symantec corporate, with auto-updated signatures, but
there are plenty of other choices)
Rule 4: Don't open email attachments unless you know what they are and
who they are from. (I use GMail via the web, so attachements never
reach my PC unless I specifically choose to download them.)
Rule 5: Download only from known good sites that vet the files they make
available, and possibly scan them once downloaded to double check.
Rule 6: When in doubt, see Rule 1.
______
Dennis
