Security with 98 fat32 and NTFS

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Guest

1> You have dual boot with 98 and xp
2> You use 98 to acess to internet
3> You get a virus on 98
A> do virus programmers code with this in mind to allow their package
to
cross into the NTFS region of your harddrive?
B> if 98 is damaged by a virus, would you still be able to boot
with xp?
4> if someone hacks your computer while you are on 98...can
they also acess xp? <not likely, but I'm not sure>

I'm curious because this could pose an interesting way to set up a
secure
computer.

I did try to dual boot...and when I did, I began to remember how much a pain
in the butt it was to install certain things on 98! I was trying to install
a dual boot so I could use an old scanner. I did this just to do it. Yea...I
have too much time. After I installed 98 first..as is required...I got an
error message and windows 98 would only boot in safe mode. I went through
config.sys lines one at a time...apparently there was only one driver loading
which caused my computer to not boot. <sorry, I don't recall the exact error
message>. .I just know it was related to the config.sys file.

Are there any issues with 98 and newer computers within cmos? Perhaps with
regards to usb ports or any other new perhiphials? Should one use nothing
but windows 98 disk to install drivers?

What other reasons are there to use a dual boot, other than for games or,
those of us odd enough to be willing to format the hardrive and go through
the process of installing two versions of the same operating system...simply
to use an old scanner. lol. It is interesting for some reason.

Thanks in Advance,
Lee
 
If you got a virus while in Windows 98 it would not be possible for any harm
or access to be done to the NTFS drives because W98 does not recognize NTFS
and does not see the drive. If the Windows 98 operating system is trashed
most likely you could still boot into XP as log as the system files on the
boot drive such as ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com are intact AND the MBR
is not corrupted. Though you may be able to boot into XP any infected files
that are on the FAT32 partition would be available to XP Pro though that
does not necessarily mean they would infect the XP operating system without
user intervention.

A better solution for protecting the XP operating system would be to
install a removable drive tray in your computer and have separate hard
drives [they are cheap these days] for each operating system. Then just
slide in the drive tray that you want to use before startup. You could also
disable the network connection in the XP Pro operating system. That would
leave only the possibility of external media such as floppy disks, USB flash
drives, or CD/DVD being able to infect the operating system which you would
control. Removable drive trays are also an excellent way for users to secure
their operating system and data when they can not physically secure the
computer itself - just pull out and lockup your hard drive. They are also
great for those that share a computer but want to prevent each other from
accessing the others data or otherwise mess up their operating system. The
link below shows such a device. -

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GN210&cat=HDD

Dual or triple, etc. boot operating systems are often used by us geeks to
have multiple operating systems on the computer for testing or learning
purposes. They are also used in cases where an important application will
not run on the latest operating system. Dual boot is getting less used as
alternatives such as Virtual PC are more attractive and run better now that
even "low end" computers are very powerful and have a lot of RAM. Being
able to almost instantly open your alternate operating systems is very
ool. --- Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx --- Virtual PC
2004. 45 day free trial version available for download.
 
I apprecite the information. I think I'm going to look into
that tray. I like the idea alot.
--
Things that make you go...hmmm? "Does one atom pull at all other atoms and
visa versa?"


Steven L Umbach said:
If you got a virus while in Windows 98 it would not be possible for any harm
or access to be done to the NTFS drives because W98 does not recognize NTFS
and does not see the drive. If the Windows 98 operating system is trashed
most likely you could still boot into XP as log as the system files on the
boot drive such as ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com are intact AND the MBR
is not corrupted. Though you may be able to boot into XP any infected files
that are on the FAT32 partition would be available to XP Pro though that
does not necessarily mean they would infect the XP operating system without
user intervention.

A better solution for protecting the XP operating system would be to
install a removable drive tray in your computer and have separate hard
drives [they are cheap these days] for each operating system. Then just
slide in the drive tray that you want to use before startup. You could also
disable the network connection in the XP Pro operating system. That would
leave only the possibility of external media such as floppy disks, USB flash
drives, or CD/DVD being able to infect the operating system which you would
control. Removable drive trays are also an excellent way for users to secure
their operating system and data when they can not physically secure the
computer itself - just pull out and lockup your hard drive. They are also
great for those that share a computer but want to prevent each other from
accessing the others data or otherwise mess up their operating system. The
link below shows such a device. -

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GN210&cat=HDD

Dual or triple, etc. boot operating systems are often used by us geeks to
have multiple operating systems on the computer for testing or learning
purposes. They are also used in cases where an important application will
not run on the latest operating system. Dual boot is getting less used as
alternatives such as Virtual PC are more attractive and run better now that
even "low end" computers are very powerful and have a lot of RAM. Being
able to almost instantly open your alternate operating systems is very
ool. --- Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx --- Virtual PC
2004. 45 day free trial version available for download.
Click to expand...
 
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