Confused about something..

[chocogerman0]

Hi there.
I have a laptop,a desktop and a router to provide them both with an internet connection.
Back when I bought them,I ran the network setup wizard on both of them so that they could share everything with each other...

Over the years everything was fine until the desktop started getting infected with all sorts of crap from the laptop(my friends and family use the laptop to download whatever and stick a bunch of infected flash drives on it.. ).
I'd usually fix the problems before they would break the laptop but now I've had enough.

Is there anyway I could remove the network settings completely so that both computers will never be able to find or interact with each other but still get the internet connection from the same router?.. I hope I don't have to pay for and set up another internet connection just to separate them because that would be a waste of money...

I already turned off file/printer sharing for both computers but some people have told me that that won't save me from network viruses/trojans/worms..

Please help me.. I don't want to have to worry about my desktop while people rape my laptop.

 

[Shining_Lizard]

The PCs will always be in some way connected, because they are sharing the same default gateway/router. However, if you simply have software firewall/antivirus on your machine and have file/printer sharing disabled, then there is no way that they can gain access without your permission. Viruses will usually need to be triggered by a user, and this would happen simply by opening them or allowing them through. So long as you use your machine sensibly there's no reason why the laptop should affect you.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Another way to accomplish what Shining_Lizard is suggesting is to buy another cheap router and daisy chain it off you existing router and then to your computer.
So the connections would look like this:



Internet Modem ->
|
Existing Router -> Desktop
|
New Router -> Your Laptop

The new router would be connected to the existing router from a numbered port on the existing router to the WAN port on the new router. The new router would be set up for a Dynamic IP Address and a DHCP range different from what you are using on the existing router. ie: if your current router assigns say 192.168.1.x addresses then you would set the new router to assign 172.17.50.x addressing. That way your laptop and the desktop are on seperate IP address ranges and your computer is behind a router/firewall.

This will protect you from infections, but your internet connection could still be slow or down due to viruses from the desktop chewing up bandwidth, but your files would be safe.

Cheers!

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey