Experimentig with XP & Steady State

I have an Itronix GoBook III that I got off eBay for $9.44 after using my eBay bucks, so I am experimenting with XP and Steady State. I would just put Linux on it, but the touchscreen has no current Linux drivers and I would like all devices to work.

So I have installed all updates (as of today), Set Automatic Updates to check for updates, but not install them, removed AntiVirus software (and told Windows that I will control AntiVirus myself, to keep the nagging red shield out of the notification area), set up Web Browsers, defragmented the hard drive, created a limited user account (with no password) and Admin account with strong password, opened all programs that I might use (to get them into Prefetch), installed Steady State, and turned on hard drive protection. We will see how this works on this computer.

I have a CF card in a PC Card adapter to store files to, since the hard drive is locked down, and I won't be able to save anything to the hard drive. I guess you could also partition the hard drive into 2 partitions, and protect one partition, but not the other. So far, I have watched a DVD, and burned a CD, saved a document to the CF card, and am typing this from the XP/Steady State limited user account. Everything seems to work well. If I try to save anything to the C: drive, it disappears when I reboot. So time will tell if this is a virus-proof way to continue using XP.

First glitch is that I don't have permission to post to the internet, so I will have to go change some setting. It protects me if nobody can write to my hard drive, but I should be able to post in forums.

 

A little further information:

When you first start SteadyState, by default 6 restrictions are checked.
I turned off all but the following 3 restrictions: (With these 3 restrictions, I could post to these forums):

Boxes checked on Computer Restrictions screen:

Prevent locked or roaming user profiles that cannot be found on the computer from logging on

Do not cache copies of locked or roaming user profiles for users who have previously logged on to this computer

Do not alow Windows to compute and store passwords using LAN Manager Hash values

Since Microsoft will no longer have security updates, I un-checked Schedule Software Updates

Then, under the Protect Hard drive section, I selected "On" and "Remove all changes at restart"

After restart, I checked to see if Firefox and Flash Player were up to date. They were not. Since a limited user account cannot install software, even without SteadyState, you need to log out of the limited account and log onto the administrator account to update software. When you restart Windows (as administrator), you will be offered the opportunity to "Save changes and continue" (or let Windows remove all changes). So updating software is not too painful.

I plan to continue experimenting with this setup, mostly because this laptop is very nice, but not a good candidate for Linux or newer Windows versions (no touchscreen drivers for anything except XP). I plan to test it further by downloading some known trashware like maybe Conduit Search, or MyWebSearch, or PC Optimizer Pro, or ScorpionSaver.

 

After googling for "download PC Optimizer Pro", I clicked on a link to download it from cnet.com. Then I clicked the big green Download button, and ended up with Advanced System Protector, Amazon 1Button App, MyPC Backup, Systweak Toolbar, and my homepage hijacked to amazon.com/websearch/.....

So after all that, I searched again for PC Optimizer Pro, and this time was able to download and install it. I also downloaded and installed Scorpion Saver. Of course I did this as administrator so I could install them. I restarted Windows, choosing to NOT save the changes to disk. When Windows restarted, there is not a trace of all that junk! Even searching the registry revealed no remnants.

Of course this is not foolproof, because you could (if logged in as administrator) still choose to commit the trashware to disk.So the administrator needs to be reasonably cautious. But, a limited user's computer could be protected very well, even without AntiVirus software installed. Just never log in as administrator (unless you really need/want to install or update something).

Pros:
Easy to install and set up
Very good protection from incidental malware and viruses

Cons:
Limited user cannot install software (at all) without administrator help
Administrator can install software or malware (if they do not know the difference)

So your very best protection continues to be common sense.

 

I may have to give that a try, is steady state still avaliable for download from microsoft?

 

I don't think from microsoft, but at cnet.

 

I have a CF-51 rolling around that is running, might give that a try.

 

Just an update. Been using this XP w/ Steady state for almost 3 weeks without any issues. I have been using it to download mods for grandsons' Minecraft. Download them on this machine, copy them to a USB drive, use the Windows 7 CF-31 to scan for virus, then install the mods. (Minecraft mods is a great way to get a virus, since there are hundreds of mods that are downloaded from sites of doubtful security.) So far, so good.