Warlord wrote on 2021-01-18, 17:02:

Id be willing to bet a lot of people don't know what that means.

Lol dude, seriously? Is that a joke I'm missing or you're really like that? You managed to make a comment substantially more useless than the thread 😁

I'm sure you definitely know all of this already as you seem to be pretty expert on that stuff 😉 but a better practice would be to set the computer's gateway to its own IP as it will reduce timeouts. You can absolutely leave DNS as that will allow local resolve of hostnames as I suppose that's the reason you're using the hosts file. Still, real h4xx0rs access their devices by IP, hah.

Another good solution to prevent internet traffic is to set a fake proxy.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-18, 17:42:

I get any thing I have any age online. Had no issues at all. […]
Show full quote

I get any thing I have any age online. Had no issues at all.

My 286 I use as an IRC client running MS Windows 3.1 has NEVER been hacked in over 10 years.

Nore has my DEC 486DX/66 system with OS/2 v3 Warp in well over 20 years.

I could go on but I wont.

There you go, now that's a perfectly valid reason to go online. There are other similar use cases where you don't need a full blown browser setup and the oldtimer does the job like it did 20+ years ago.
With a sufficiently obscure OS (and/or maybe an obscure architecture) the risks can be acceptable.
Unless you're specifically targeted as an individual, of course. But that's an exception anyways.

The term "online" use to mean ont the computer you were sitting at. For example your OS/2 help facilities are accessed online - ie just click on the help function in the menu or on the desktopo.

mr.cat wrote on 2021-01-18, 18:00:

There you go, now that's a perfectly valid reason to go online. There are other similar use cases where you don't need a full bl […]
Show full quote

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-18, 17:42:

I get any thing I have any age online. Had no issues at all. […]
Show full quote

I get any thing I have any age online. Had no issues at all.

My 286 I use as an IRC client running MS Windows 3.1 has NEVER been hacked in over 10 years.

Nore has my DEC 486DX/66 system with OS/2 v3 Warp in well over 20 years.

I could go on but I wont.

There you go, now that's a perfectly valid reason to go online. There are other similar use cases where you don't need a full blown browser setup and the oldtimer does the job like it did 20+ years ago.
With a sufficiently obscure OS (and/or maybe an obscure architecture) the risks can be acceptable.
Unless you're specifically targeted as an individual, of course. But that's an exception anyways.

Yip. The 286 is connected 24/7 most of the time as well.

Going to BBS is fun as well as accessing old ftp sites that are still there and have been for decades.

Just pull the FTP and TELNET clients out of WfW 3.11 and run them on the 286 in Win3.1 in extended mode. Easy to do.

My XT Turbo system uses GeoWorks Pro 1.2s Terminal program to access one of my Linux boxes(old or new) via null modem cable to do similar things.

I use 127.0.0.1

All of my retro rigs are online as much as possible. You would be surprised the utility you can get out of mTCP, Links, Arachne, etc. in DOS, and various old internet programs with proxies in Windows

No, you won't get malware. That's a myth. Just don't download anything shady. Nobody cares about old versions of Windows any more -- very little ROI for a hacker!

keenmaster486 wrote on 2021-01-18, 18:33:

All of my retro rigs are online as much as possible. You would be surprised the utility you can get out of mTCP, Links, Arachne, etc. in DOS, and various old internet programs with proxies in Windows

No, you won't get malware. That's a myth. Just don't download anything shady. Nobody cares about old versions of Windows any more -- very little ROI for a hacker!

And it's damn easy to accomplish. Use your oldies how they SHOULD be used instead of just gamez consoles 😀

Automatically connected to the internet. But I'm not going to browse the net, most of the time it won't work anyway because of known reasons.

Only using it for my local ftp-server. And I'm too lazy to enter a bogus gateway/dns.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-01-18, 18:43:

And it's damn easy to accomplish. Use your oldies how they SHOULD be used instead of just gamez consoles 😀

I could say it's the first time we agree on something here.

keenmaster486 wrote on 2021-01-18, 18:33:

No, you won't get malware. That's a myth. Just don't download anything shady. Nobody cares about old versions of Windows any more -- very little ROI for a hacker!

Yes exactly, they get a much better ROI by concentrating on the big targets. User actions are what matters more in retro use.
There have been a couple of recent security issues on Win10 and Linux where user action is not needed! So modern platforms do require constant updating.
Where it gets blurry though is somewhere around WinXP(?) where you could have some modern-style use but no more updates available (well from official sources).
Any WinXP malware still floating around the web?

EDIT: Here's a previous discussion on this subject on stackexchange, might be of interest:
https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/ques … re-attacks?rq=1

XP is a little bit of a gray area, unlike 3.1 - 98 which I primarily use.

But it is increasingly fine, as nothing is written for 32-bit any more.

All of my computers are fully networked together it just makes life easier with file transfers and for downloading offline installers from GOG. I have my router very locked down as well as a hardware firewall between my router and the network switches for all the devices in the house. Only use known sources and you'll be fine.

I will just leave this here to elaborate more on mr.cat's post. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/securit … his-files-icon/

Pretty sure XP has some malwares still around, but again, user actions matters most. Just don't download anything shady and XP will be fine too. Does XP have any antivirus still being up to date these days? For both 32 or 64bit versions or just 64 bit alone?

Update 15-Jan-2021: This NTFS issue impacts older Windows XP versions as well according to new information. One user has stated that the offending "$i30" path is actually a valid path that is accessed behind the scenes any way when a user accesses C:\ directory, but that accessing it directly in the manner described above might be causing unprecedented issues.

Warlord wrote on 2021-01-18, 16:25:

dont mean to sound rude but what is the point of this thread. it's like who pets their dogs I do, let me make a thread about how i pet my dog and why i should or shouldn't then ask other if they pet or dont pet their pets.

a more sensiblke question would have maybe been "do you go online with your retro rigs?" as that is probably the far more unlikely scenario x3

Bruninho wrote on 2021-01-18, 20:10:

I will just leave this here to elaborate more on mr.cat's post. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/securit … his-files-icon/

Pretty sure XP has some malwares still around, but again, user actions matters most. Just don't download anything shady and XP will be fine too. Does XP have any antivirus still being up to date these days? For both 32 or 64bit versions or just 64 bit alone?

Update 15-Jan-2021: This NTFS issue impacts older Windows XP versions as well according to new information. One user has stated that the offending "$i30" path is actually a valid path that is accessed behind the scenes any way when a user accesses C:\ directory, but that accessing it directly in the manner described above might be causing unprecedented issues.

The keyword there is MIGHT. It MIGHT NOT.

My machines have LAN access to move files and thus internet as I made no effort to block it. The XP machine occasionally opens up Crome to get drivers but rarely uses the net seriously. The machines accessing the outside internet is really a utilitarian thing, I have better PCs for just browsing and chatting and such.

chinny22 wrote on 2021-01-18, 14:47:

Having all your computers on a network is 100% worth it, even 200%! Anything I have gets a network card. My rigs are on a swit […]
Show full quote

gerry wrote on 2021-01-18, 10:58:

however having old machines on a home network completely protected from the online world, seems like a good idea

Having all your computers on a network is 100% worth it, even 200%! Anything I have gets a network card.
My rigs are on a switch that's connected to the router. I only turn the switch on when I want the network, more due to fan noise then security but its a bonus all the same
Never go on the web with my old rigs because as you say that's a task suited better for something modern.

that seems to be the way to go, setting up a network, i can well imagine the time to set up pays back quickly in regular use

keenmaster486 wrote on 2021-01-18, 18:33:

All of my retro rigs are online as much as possible. You would be surprised the utility you can get out of mTCP, Links, Arachne, etc. in DOS, and various old internet programs with proxies in Windows

No, you won't get malware. That's a myth. Just don't download anything shady. Nobody cares about old versions of Windows any more -- very little ROI for a hacker!

I guess old OSes are now somewhat below the radar

is it that a retro pc can do those things in a dedicated way or a convenient way that wouldn't be done one a new machine, i'd still tend to think of doing online stuff only with a new(ish) machine

I'm actually posting this from a retro rig- namely, my HT NW P4 running XP.
It helps to use a lighter browser like K-Meleon, or an older version of Firefox (~52esr) with NoScript set up.(JavaScript is the main thing that makes browsing that would be fast on a Pentium 2 require a Core 2.) Additionally, I don't use Java or Flash.
There's several custom browser builds made by Roytam1 on MSFN that greatly improve browsing on XP machines.
If I'm using an SSL proxy, I can even do quite a bit of browsing on my Windows 98 box.
If you're sitting behind one or more nested NAT firewalls, and your browser isn't running much (if any) shady Flash/Java/JavaScript/whatever, you're actually pretty safe.

I've only recently started networking my old stuff. It was a novelty at first to go BBSing from the 386, but the real purpose is for LAN file sharing, and I would not be without this functionality now!

The DOS machines run FTPSRV (mTCP) and the W98 machines run WarFTP, so I can file manage both from my main PC. The Windows machines have LAN access only, not internet. I'm also toying with EtherDFS so I can mount shares from an RPi server.