Switching Software....

Hi All,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this under but here goes:

Basically what I'm looking for is a piece of software (hardware options have been ruled out by my manager) that will only allow a W2K PC to be connected to our LAN OR a Dialup connection to an ISP at any one time. It must disconnect the LAN when it starts dialing and only bring it back online when it is hungup from the net.....

I was going to sit down and try to figure out how to do this with a windows script (VBS or something else) but I'm figuring that I can't be the first person to need a solution to this problem on a Windows platform.....

Any help or direction would be great, or if someone has an alternative I'm all ears.

BTW: I know about the risk of virus's etc moving from this PC onto the LAN, but again my manager won't listen to me... I'm still trying to point this out :mad:

Again, any help would be great.

Thanks all,

DOHC

I'm guessing what he is trying to do is to prevent an infection, be it virus or worm from entering your network from the internet and that's why you make the comment about knowing about the risk.

Show him this:-

Dear Manager,

I have some 20+ years of experience in this industry much of which has been devoted to the security of large networks. The first point you need to understand is that nothing is entirely safe from infection unless it never, ever, connects to the internet. Secondly, connecting a computer to the internet that is, at that moment, isolated from the network and then reconnecting it later is exactly the same as leaving it connected to the network while accessing the internet.

What you need is a firewall on the computer that connects to the internet which, (if set up properly), will prevent worms and hacker activity while you are connected. Then you need an anti-virus application that you update immediately after you connect and before you carry out any other actions from the internet. As a further precaution I would recommend WinPatrol, (here) which checks the computer every three minutes for changes, alerts you of them and allows you to undo them if you didn't initiate them. It goes an awful long way to helping you avoid infections and the price is right, (free).

Listen to your employee, have him ask questions here and then trust the answers he returns with. That is the best and most cost effective means by which you will secure your network and it won't result in a false sense of security, (pun intended).

Thank you.

Cheers Tiger Shark, that's pretty much what I'm pushing to him but he's.... stuck in his ways and I don't think he's willing to adapt too quickly.

Another example is Enterprise Architecture that he has pulled out of the '80's dusted off and is now trying to push it to the business. I don't even know where to start telling him that it didn't work then and won't work now!

Thanks again,

DOHC

You can tell the man from me that his "idea" is the Ultimate Trojan Horse with the horse being that computer. His idea is preposterous in today's world and he needs to start listening more and thinking less. Neither you nor I do this job for giggles - I don't know about you but I am handsomely paid for my knowledge... ;) and I appear to have successfully secured my current employers network at very low cost for more than 11 years. Notice I say "appear".... That's because there are _no_ absolutes in running any network connected to the big, wide world. Your network is no different.

Also, remind him that, in computer terms, the 80's are positively pre-historic, (though I was playing with computers in the early 80's.... :eek: ), and that the methods and systems of that era are simply quaint examples of the evolution of the computer in today's world.

Managers can be dinosaurs just like the systems they remember from their youth..... But the dinosaurs are extinct. Does he want to follow?

Feel free to show him this and if you like I will provide you my email address so he can ask me questions directly......