Why is my computer a target?

My computer gets hacked to often to be some random event. I run a two computer system with my old XP for internet connection and my new system always offline. I use an external hard drive between them. You can only see what is on my XP computer!!!

I think all politicians are BS’ers, and am outspoken about it. I’m opinionated but do not force my way of thinking or beliefs upon anyone. I do not judge on race, culture or religion. I also know I got flaws and good points but definitely fit into the framework of rules accepted by society. And lastly I do not plan anything against any other human being or living creature. Even when poked I’ll rather look to defuse a situation before poking back. But I will stand my ground.

So I was thinking. Is there any place where I can make a mirror of my hard drive and leave it on the net? Then whoever is interested, can do their thing investigating what they are looking for. As for the profile builders with their tracking cookies, hello ar____s, you should know enough by now about me after my 20 years on the internet. Now for you Geeks, are most of you crazy? Or are all the software purposely build to take days to learn so you can sell tutorial as well? I only need a program that does the job effectively, not one to impress me that can sing, dance and do maths with thousands of options. Get over it.

Example
My perfect little 3 ball video down loader got an upgrade. It now is so impressive it all of a sudden needs some codex/converter thingy, bla , bla, bla. OK, go get it. I also found the new folder it now saves the files to. Time to set my downloads and 2gigs later with my quota of the month reached, it was time to enjoy. My videos had no sound. Do you Geeks get it?

Thanx for the “Rant Forum” got those out of my system, already feels better, have a good day

I have another system set up as a "honeypot" . This is a system with not much on it (fake files and the like) and basically open with minimal security (just enough to be a little difficult to hack) . What does happen , it records (via certain software apps) the computers connecting to this one, the location it is coming from , and an automated whois..gets fun sometimes .

There are cloud servers which allow you to transfer large files : dropbox

You could make source code available on sourceforge.net

It's even possible to add an external USB hard disk drive/memory stick to a wi-fi router, so that it can be used as a data server. It does sit outside your router firewall, with the only downside being it gives every file root permissions.

Running XP online is a sure fire way to be a target I would think. The system is no longer supported and it was always filled with security holes to begin with but now its wide open. Switch to Linux for your on line system. I am certainly no computer guru but I know using an outdated platform like XP is not the smartest line of defense.

And I would think that just an external hard drive is no security as any files you save to it from your online computer are now on you offline computer so if spyware is on one its also on the other but again I am no computer expert so I could be wrong but having them connected is a doorway for hackers. I doubt it because of your on line activity but more so because of your operating system which makes you a target. I like XP myself and use it on a lap top which never goes on line and if I move any files from it to my other computer I just use a stick drive,

a reply to: ICycle2

Windows XP is inherently insecure. Vista and later versions added firewalls and UAC to 'harden' themselves against abuse.

Unfortunately, as the programmers added security, others found work-arounds and exploits. Not all of these were malicious, some were simply by people who wanted the computers to work their way and found the security itself obstructive.

Definitely, in the ongoing game between those concerned with security and those trying to bypass it, things continue to escalate. The security becomes more obstructive, the program code bloats and doing what you want on the computer loses priority to security.

The situation with modern versions of Windows, particularly 64 bit versions, is that the loopholes are getting fewer and security is getting better,without being too much of a burden on computer use.

Windows XP is 14 years old and in that time, many (perhaps hundreds of thousands of) programmers have found exploits. That being said, XP can still be 'hardened' against attack by removing functionality which reduces its 'surface', security wise.

By far, the better option, unless you want to waste your life on security, is to use a more recent, 64 bit, operating system.

If cost is an issue, there are free to download and use modern OS's.

a reply to: DJMSN

My new system is Win7 64 bit but use megabytes just to check my e-mail. I still get XP up-dates from Microsoft that works for my specific XP but I think the problem is that the money game is forcing the lifespan of a PC to be shorter. And software is used to do it.

a reply to: ICycle2

I don't understand how you are getting support for XP when Microsoft ended support for the platform.

windows.microsoft.com...

It is a 12 plus year old platform and the security holes in it were wide even in its heyday but fully exploited now. I would take the XP machine off line and be careful about the transfer of files between the two if you are downloading lots of questionable file. Lots of malware and trojans out there specific to xp so just be aware.

And of course they want to shorten the lifespan of computers. Most people buy new system when new platform comes out but really not necessary. Just be really wary of downloading any updates as they are no longer coming from Microsoft.

originally posted by: ICycle2
a reply to: DJMSN

My new system is Win7 64 bit but use megabytes just to check my e-mail. I still get XP up-dates from Microsoft that works for my specific XP but I think the problem is that the money game is forcing the lifespan of a PC to be shorter. And software is used to do it.

Yes, programs bloat and versions churn.

Perhaps the amount of RAM required to deal with your e-mail may also have something to do with the size of your mail files. If you do not explicitly remove message, the files continue to grow. Outlook (and many other Mail programs) have ways to archive off old mail to other files. These files can then be closed so they remain on disk but do not impede the operation of the mail client. When archiving, always remember to include your sent mail, drafts and trash as well as your inbox.

If your email client connects to an IMAP service like GMAIL, then the process of archiving to speed up mail becomes less necessary but is harder to achieve.

originally posted by: ICycle2
a reply to: DJMSN

My new system is Win7 64 bit but use megabytes just to check my e-mail. I still get XP up-dates from Microsoft that works for my specific XP but I think the problem is that the money game is forcing the lifespan of a PC to be shorter. And software is used to do it.

Microsoft have ceased supporting XP and focusing on it explicitly but the underlying Windows subsystems exist in later versions which are supported. So Microsoft continues to put out updates which apply to XP, even though it is not directing any effort specifically in XP development/patching.

a reply to: DJMSN

Have a look Here

a reply to: ICycle2

Alright that's interesting. You are using a "hack" and wondering why you are being hacked. I love XP but I don't need updates to it so I use the current version I have and do not go online with the computer that I have XP on. Realize that by using the hack to imitate a piece of embedded XP is opening your computer to a whole lot of other issues. I have used software from the site you provided before as they have some neat stuff but I just don't trust anybody in this wild west of computers now a days so just be careful as they are not really updates for XP but only providing updates to a portion of the software that interacts with newer platforms. The security issues inherent in XP are still there and are still being exploited. As I said earlier I am no computer guru but do say be careful.