Technical Question

[j meyer]

Hi,
because of some oddities i have to perform a virus scan on a computer that's not
connected to the Internet and has no antivirus software installed.On my other
computer,which has an Internet connection,there is an up to date antivirus sw.
My question is:can i use the virus scanner of my on line machine to scan the other
one and if so how do i have to connect the two computers for such a task?

[Tangled-Universe]

I did that too once by removing the HDD from one PC and placing it into the PC with my AV-software.

Is that an option?

[freelancah]

Hmm..download AVG, copy to usb dongle, install and scan? Or as TU said... Another option would be to hook it into a local network and share the hard drives and then scan those, but this process requires full access so the AV can delete anything it finds.

[freelancah]

If you have a router that has NAT enabled you can just unhook the internet cable and connect the other machine to the box.. This way they both get a local IP address and you can just share the drives by right clicking drives/folders and enabling sharing.

[j meyer]

T-U - too much for my technical skills,i'm afraid,but thanks anyway.

freelancah - AVG ?? usb dongle??  and see above.

Of course i could download some free antivirus sw install it and connect my
offline machine to the web and update the software,but that would be an
additional chane to catch some malware,that's why i was hoping for an easy
way to hook the offline computer to the other one just like one would do
with an external harddrive.
Anyway,thank you guys.

[rcallicotte]

Everything depends upon your AV software.  Mine at home is not able to do this.  You should have ways in the Admin tools to select a drive for scanning.  If the drive you need scanned is attached to your network and your AV software sees it, you can scan it.  Otherwise, you will need to install the AV software on the island PC.

Hi,
because of some oddities i have to perform a virus scan on a computer that's not
connected to the Internet and has no antivirus software installed.On my other
computer,which has an Internet connection,there is an up to date antivirus sw.
My question is:can i use the virus scanner of my on line machine to scan the other
one and if so how do i have to connect the two computers for such a task?

[j meyer]

The AVsoftware is able to scan external harddrives,usb sticks and other devices,
so that should be possible.
But what is the correct way to connect the 2 computers,that's where i'm lost.

[freelancah]

Do you own a router or a switch or a hub? router you probably have so the question is if it contains any extra ports so you can have more than one computer in it?

[freelancah]

direct link can also be made with a twisted pair cable but that still requires that you manually set the IP adresses to the machines.. Or actually i'm not sure if W7 can do this automatically..

[cyphyr]

Are you using Windows 7? If so you should be able to add your unprotected computer to the computer with the AV via Homegroup settings. The AV could then scan any directory you share. So
Richard

[Tangled-Universe]

T-U - too much for my technical skills,i'm afraid,but thanks anyway.

freelancah - AVG ?? usb dongle??  and see above.

Of course i could download some free antivirus sw install it and connect my
offline machine to the web and update the software,but that would be an
additional chane to catch some malware,that's why i was hoping for an easy
way to hook the offline computer to the other one just like one would do
with an external harddrive.
Anyway,thank you guys.

Well, it's really easy actually. Just open the case, unplug the powercord and eSATA from the HDD and connect it in a similar fashion into the other PC. The source PC is the example you need to follow. You don't need to mount it for such short notice. I had mine virtually upside down hanging. After that just start the PC and it will automatically recognize the new harddrive and such, like a USB but it only needs 2 plugs.
I bet you're far more technical than me, really.

[j meyer]

freelancah - i don't know what a twisted pair cable is,sorry.Maybe i could handle the IP address thing,
                if that's similar to what you have to do when setting up a new Internet access software.
                I'm not using W7,but Xp andVista.And no i can't have both computers connect to my
                modem,just one at a time.

cyphyr - i have Xp on the online machine and Vista on the other one.Judging from what i've heard
           so far it should be possible with these OSses too,but i simply don't know how and unfortunately
           i don't have computer wizzard friends i could turn to.

T-U - maybe it's easy,but i never had a computer open and i wouldn't even recognize the HDD,not to
       mention the other stuff.Furthermore i've heard terrible things can happen when you touch something
       without being grounded/earthed(don't know the correct term in english).
       I guess you'd lose that bet.

Cheers,J.


just corrected a typo

[TheBlackHole]

The hard drive should be fairly easy to recognize; just a heavy metal box without any openings. I've touched the inside of a computer plenty of times, both with and without it running and never had any issues.

[j meyer]

Thanks TBH,good to know!

Don't know yet which way it will be in the end,but you guys gave me some useful tips.
With your help i could find some more info elsewhere i hadn't found otherwise.
So,thanks again everybody,very much appreciated!

Cheerio,J.

[jaf]

J, a couple things that may help.  Before you dig into your computer, see if all your cooling fans are working.  If you have a digital camera, take a few close-ups of your motherboard -- may it will help you identify where wires/jumpers are located in case you accidentally pull one off when removing the hard drive.

I haven't worked on much hardware for a few years (retired) but in my old life as an electrical engineer, I would never give anyone advice that you can touch anything in your computer without using some caution.  At least try to hold on to the metal part of the chassis when removing the hard drive.