programs downloadable to flash drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jo-Anne
  • Start date Start date
J

Jo-Anne

I'd like to download an antivirus program directly to a flash drive on my
old computer and then plug that drive into my new computer, copy the program
files onto the internal hard drive, and install the program--before I
connect the new computer to the internet.

Is it possible to do downloads this way?

Old computer: Windows XP Home SP3 running Norton Internet Security.
New computer: Windows XP Pro SP2 with no antivirus program as yet.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
I'd like to download an antivirus program directly to a flash drive on my
old computer and then plug that drive into my new computer, copy the program
files onto the internal hard drive, and install the program--before I
connect the new computer to the internet.

Is it possible to do downloads this way?

Old computer: Windows XP Home SP3 running Norton Internet Security.
New computer: Windows XP Pro SP2 with no antivirus program as yet.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...
Sure. Its probably the best way to make sure the PC is protected before
putting it on the internet. Even if you can't redirect the download to
save it straight to the flash drive, just download it and then use
Windows Explorer to move/copy it to the flash drive. I have every
downloaded utility (or the best) on an 8 gig flash drive. I run them
all from there to install them. You don't have to copy them to the 2nd
PC hard drive. Just run them from the flash drive. But you can copy
them to the HD too.
 
Thank you, Al! That's a relief. I was worrying about how to protect my new
computer before I connected to the internet.

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, Al! That's a relief. I was worrying about how to protect my new
computer before I connected to the internet.

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...
Its a running argument that 10 minutes between the time you officially
get on line and the time it takes to load an AV program that you will
get infected. But the safe thing is what you are doing. Or at least
your odds of getting infected are better. That and turn on the firewall.

Good luck.
 
Jo-Anne said:
I'd like to download an antivirus program directly to a flash drive on my old
computer and then plug that drive into my new computer, copy the program files
onto the internal hard drive, and install the program--before I connect the
new computer to the internet.

Is it possible to do downloads this way?

Old computer: Windows XP Home SP3 running Norton Internet Security.
New computer: Windows XP Pro SP2 with no antivirus program as yet.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

I take it you didn't purchase NIS on a disk, otherwise you would of tried to
install it on the new machine using the disk.
As long as it's the installation files it will work out ok, if it's the actual
program files that are already installed the program will fail on the new
machine. Also, depending on the type of NIS install you purchased depends on if
it will install on the new machine. If it has a single machine license it will
most likely not install, a 3 machine or more license would work. If NIS was
pre-installed as part of a package on the old machine it may not install yet you
could try if you wish, it's a 50/50 shot, but if it fails and some of the files
get installed and not removed, you may wind up with problems on the new machine.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Big_Al said:
Its a running argument that 10 minutes between the time you officially
get on line and the time it takes to load an AV program that you will
get infected. But the safe thing is what you are doing. Or at least
your odds of getting infected are better. That and turn on the firewall.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Reading Brian A.'s response, I would like to clarify that by "download
AV program" means something like Avast or AVG that is an install
program. That or you copy the Norton Install Disc to a flash. Again
to just clarify because I know some people say download programs and
really mean the copy them from C:\program files\xxx to a flash and think
they can then copy them back to another PC and make them work. You
can't do the latter.
 
Thank you, Brian! I had decided not to install Norton on the new machine,
although it's licensed for three computers, because it doesn't seem to play
nicely with other programs, including SP3. (I think you have to upgrade to
SP3 before installing Norton, or you can end up with registry problems.)
What I'm hoping to download for the new computer is the free version of
Avira AntiVir.

Jo-Anne
 
First thing I did with the new computer was check that the Windows firewall
was turned on. What I had read indicated that it wouldn't be--but it was.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
 
Thank you again, Al! Yes, I do understand that you can't just copy installed
programs to another machine and expect them to work (unlike in the old DOS
days, when a program was simply a program, not a bunch of files scattered
all over the place).

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you, Brian! I had decided not to install Norton on the new machine,
although it's licensed for three computers, because it doesn't seem to play
nicely with other programs, including SP3. (I think you have to upgrade to SP3
before installing Norton, or you can end up with registry problems.) What I'm
hoping to download for the new computer is the free version of Avira AntiVir.

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

You shouldn't have any problems in that case.

On the other hand, you didn't mention the version of NIS that you have. I use
NIS 2008 in XP Pro SP2 and don't have problems with it playing nicely with other
apps/progs. Symantec has an article which addresses an issue in regards to
upgrading to SP3, it suggests running LiveUpdate first before upgrading to SP3.
It also addresses if you have issues after upgrading to SP3 and has a tool to
remove the registry entries that cause the issues.
http://solutions.symantec.com/sdcco...4041-abac-882faf8d365f&docid=20080530144453EN

They also have articles for NIS 2006/2007 which from what I see are not
different than the NIS 2008 link provided above.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
My NIS is 2008. So you're saying that I could go ahead and install Norton on
my other computer, do Live Update, and then download and install
SP3--possibly without a problem? I wanted to avoid having to fix the
registry, even if Norton did it for me.

Are you planning to put SP3 on your computer? I was going to do that first
thing, although I'm wondering now if I should wait til it's offered as an
automatic update... (I know this is getting off the subject, but I'm just
wondering what you think.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne
 
Jo-Anne said:
My NIS is 2008. So you're saying that I could go ahead and install Norton on
my other computer, do Live Update, and then download and install SP3--possibly
without a problem? I wanted to avoid having to fix the registry, even if
Norton did it for me.
Click to expand...

I suggest creating a Restore Point or better yet a backup image if you have a
backup app such as Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost or another similar type app.
Then if something were to go awry you could restore the drive/partition to the
way it was before the issues.
Are you planning to put SP3 on your computer? I was going to do that first
thing, although I'm wondering now if I should wait til it's offered as an
automatic update... (I know this is getting off the subject, but I'm just
wondering what you think.)
Click to expand...

I have no plans to install SP3 on this machine at this moment in time, as with
any new software/hardware updates/upgrades I'll wait until the bugs are pretty
well cleared up. I do have XP Home/Pro installed in Virtual PC for guinea pig
testing purposes but NIS isn't installed on them to test out with SP3. On
another note, I do have a scheduled image backup that will run at 1:30 AM on
8/10 (an hour and a half from now) on another XP Pro SP2 machine that has NIS
2008 installed. After the image is created I'll run LiveUpdate, then install
SP3 to see what happens and report back the results.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Are you planning to put SP3 on your computer? I was going to do that first
thing, although I'm wondering now if I should wait til it's offered as an
automatic update...
Click to expand...

Prior installing anything else (incl. AV apps.) to your 'new' computer,
consider using your 'old' computer to download the ISO Image File, create a
CD from it and use the CD to install SP3 to your 'new' computer.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ce-b5fb-4488-8c50-fe22559d164e&DisplayLang=en
 
Jo-Anne said:
Thank you again, Brian! It will be good to know what happens.

Jo-Anne
Click to expand...

Done deal without a hitch, from what I see so far no issues are present which
were mentioned in the article. I also tested the major apps/progs I use on the
machine and they all have a clean bill of health. If I do find an issue
sometime/somewhere I'll post back on it.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Brian said:
I have no plans to install SP3 on this machine at this moment in time, as with
any new software/hardware updates/upgrades I'll wait until the bugs are pretty
well cleared up.
<snip>
Click to expand...

SP3 will never change Brian. It will always be SP3. And it will
always install the same and create the same issues. Microsoft will not
revise it. So don't hold your breath.
 
Thank you again! Good to know!

Jo-Anne

Brian A. said:
Done deal without a hitch, from what I see so far no issues are present
which were mentioned in the article. I also tested the major apps/progs I
use on the machine and they all have a clean bill of health. If I do find
an issue sometime/somewhere I'll post back on it.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
Click to expand...
 
Thank you, Kayman! I had been looking for a way to do this, but all I could
find was something about purchasing the CD (which I figured would take too
long). I'll do it tonight, since the download is likely to take a long time.
A few more questions:

* Will Microsoft allow me to put the image file wherever I want it on my
hard drive?
* Once I've burned it to a CD, would I install it on the new computer
directly from the CD rather than copying it to the hard drive and installing
it from the hard drive?
* Should I delete the image file from the old computer when I'm done? (Is
there any value to keeping it there?)

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne
 
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