Am I nuts or do others do this?

[cjm]

Am I nuts or do others do this? I just bought a second computer for the sole purpose of using it to edit photographs with Adobe Photoshop and other image software.

So I am wondering if the money I spent this past week end will be money well spent. My biggest fear being a PC guy is virus' wreaking havoc on my computer which is why I bought another one with the plan of never really connecting it to the internet except when Windows needs to register.

Anyone else have a set up like me where they keep their internet on one computer and their "work" on another? What do you think? Do you do this?

My new PC has a dual core Intel processor, 2gb RAM, video card, 320 GB HD, etc. Should probably do the trick. Especially with no SPYware wasting memory right?

[Palladium]

Ditto - I've been working like this for as long as there's been an internet. ;)

[PhotoJourno]

I think the idea for the PC/Photo/PP is great. I finally was able to get one, so my personal laptop is somewhat forgotten, but I use this dual monitor station to do most of my studio PP work.

I am not as concerned about viruses, as they are not nearly as destructive as they used to be (Specially if you keep informed and do not click on just about any file). They can, however, bog down your system and start doing weird popups when you need your concentration the most.

So congrats, I am going to vote you are nuts anyways.

Enjoy the new PC (Great specs, by the way). :)

[Jerry Klein]

I have a second computer that is devoted to video editing. Only connect to the Internet when I need to update a program.

[cjm]

I got this computer for a great price because it has Windows XP. I have tried Vista, not crazy about it yet and will wait a year before upgrading to that OS after the bugs or kinks have been fixed, if any at all.

I got a great price on this computer because it has XP. The model might be 6 months old, but big deal. It was sold as Refurbished, but right now any computer being sold with XP is called Refurbished so I am not worried about that. Especially when they have about 700 available for purchase. I am actually glad I waited until May instead of buying one in Dec/Jan like I had planned too. Now I just have to wait for the Computer to come via the post office. It is going to be a long week or two I think.

[Glenn NK]

I too have a second powerful machine that I bought for music and it works fine for digital editing.

We have three machines in one room connected to a router. What many are not aware of is that a router greatly increases the security beyond that provided by a firewall.

No.1 rule: Never, ever open e-mail from a source that you don't absolutely trust, and always have a virus scanner running full time that automatically scans all incoming e-mail. My personal preference is AVG.

But I don't think the OP is nuts - possibly paranoid.;) ;) :lol:

But hey, I used to live in Edmonton, but I left because I was getting paranoid.:lol:

[cjm]

But hey, I used to live in Edmonton, but I left because I was getting paranoid.:lol:Because the buses turned Blue and Silver?

[DocFrankenstein]

I dont' think a standalone is crazy. I'm considering one myself which is easy to do, needs minimal software and can be just formatted easily if it dies.

[RodBarker]

If you dont want another machine but want the speed of a clean install and just one app , you could always just set up another partition just for photoshop

I use three machines myself and a handfull of portable USB drives , image and 3D developement machine , Video and Web developement and another thats the internet machine , the two workstations never touch the internet .

Rod

[lostdoggy]

There is another way with having another PC taking up space, have a dedicated hdd just for photo editing that can be swap out when you are not using it. This would be a clone of your original clean install OS.

[StewartR]

Am I nuts or do others do this?Even if others do it, that doesn't mean you're not nuts. ;)

[rdsmith3]

It's your money -- spend it as you wish.

I wish I had another PC right now -- the laptop I use has a bad video controller, but that is part of the mother board, so I have to get a whole new mother board. bah.

Anyway, will you ever want to download Photoshop plug-ins, new programs, or updates for existing programs? Will you upload pictures to the internet, or photo printers? Will you e-mail pictures to friends?

For me, it would be very difficult to not have a computer connected to the internet.

[In2Photos]

It's your money -- spend it as you wish.

I wish I had another PC right now -- the laptop I use has a bad video controller, but that is part of the mother board, so I have to get a whole new mother board. bah.

Anyway, will you ever want to download Photoshop plug-ins, new programs, or updates for existing programs? Will you upload pictures to the internet, or photo printers? Will you e-mail pictures to friends?

For me, it would be very difficult to not have a computer connected to the internet.
Or to the other computer via a local network. In fact my latest PP computer became my everyday computer because I liked it so much. Now the other one (a laptop) only gets used when I want to browse the net from my couch on when I go somewhere, but never for editing.

[R_Metzel]

I would have a stand alone if I could afford it. Virus suck on PC's. I have Vista, super secure they say....:rolleyes: Tell that to the 7 trojans I got today some how. And guess where they were......Embedded in Norton Anti virus command files!:eek: I think I am the only guy who's luck is bad enough to get virus in the Anti virus software!:cry: I visit 3 websites primarily, Here, Flickr, and UW-Stevens Point website. I don't open mail from people I don't know. I don't let any sites download anything. I don't download anything other then software from corporate sites and the occasional picture on here to help someone edit. Why is this a regular thing???

People who write virus's should be hung upside down by their toenails naked and beaten with a whip dipped in glue and glass!:evil: :evil:

[In2Photos]

I would have a stand alone if I could afford it. Virus suck on PC's. I have Vista, super secure they say....:rolleyes: Tell that to the 7 trojans I got today some how. And guess where they were......Embedded in Norton Anti virus command files!:eek: I think I am the only guy who's luck is bad enough to get virus in the Anti virus software!:cry: I visit 3 websites primarily, Here, Flickr, and UW-Stevens Point website. I don't open mail from people I don't know. I don't let any sites download anything. I don't download anything other then software from corporate sites and the occasional picture on here to help someone edit. Why is this a regular thing???

People who write virus's should be hung upside down by their toenails naked and beaten with a whip dipped in glue and glass!:evil: :evil:
Maybe Norton is your problem.;) I finally ditched them completely a few months ago. In fact my laptop doesn't even have AV software on it currently.:eek:

[cosworth]

Your first mistakes was using Norton. Try avast next time. It's free and works great. Small footprint. Vista is super secure. It does what you tell it to do. If you tell it to install a virus/trojan then well...

[Glenn NK]

Your first mistakes was using Norton. Try avast next time. It's free and works great. Small footprint. Vista is super secure. It does what you tell it to do. If you tell it to install a virus/trojan then well...

Sorry to burst some bubbles, but even the computer tech where I deal thinks Norton is a piece of crap - and they sell it.

We've covered this topic a while back, and there are staunch Norton supporters that swear by it, so I won't belabour the point.

[R_Metzel]

Your first mistakes was using Norton. Try avast next time. It's free and works great. Small footprint. Vista is super secure. It does what you tell it to do. If you tell it to install a virus/trojan then well...
That is what I usually use, but this came with the bundle when I bought the computer, so I was just riding out the trial. I don't let it install anything! That is why I am confused on why I keep getting them??? I run norton, ad-aware, and spybot everyday. Last weekend I scanned before I left for the weekend, came home- riddled with virus's! :evil: Never had this problem in XP or my Mac.

[Sathi]

People who write virus's should be hung upside down by their toenails naked and beaten with a whip dipped in glue and glass!:evil: :evil:

So what would thier punishment be then? ;)

Seriously though, do a little googling on it and you will find Norton anti virus is as much of a vector for virus attack than it is a solution. That is pretty strange though about you leaving a clean PC, not touching it for 3 days, then coming back to it being infected. You sure you mean viruses though and not spyware/adware detected by spybot? Even so, with no user acion a clean PC with a firewall shouldn't pick up any addional crap. There must be some spyware on there that is not being picked up and is loading the adware back after it has been deleted.

OP maybe you should try the opposite... use your brand new machine as your PP and everyday computer, and then your old pc as a file server not connected to the internet? This way you can take advantage of your new hardware for your day to day experience, but still have the security of backups on a server not connected to the outside world. If your really are that paranoid about it maybe you should make a small partition just large enough to hold your OS and some scratch space. Then image that partition. If anything ever goes wrong like a virus you can just load the image. As long as you kept your media files elsewhere the resoration would be painless and take 5 minutes.

[sfaust]

No, you aren't nuts. All my computers are single purpose machines. I have one just for editing images, and another one just for the video work. These rarely surf the net. I have another as my admin/business workstation and also a file storage server which has the on-site archive files and data backups (identical off-site copies are stored at home on external HD's). The only one I really surf the net is my home computer.

[cskn0125]

Yep, that sounds quite like me.

I have my one workstation with dual core @ 2.8, 2gigs of Ram, 500gb HD + small externals, and video. The intention to buying this was just like you and to use for PS and any other "work related utilities".

Then my second pc is basically for messing around with.

I may soon buy a new laptop as a second station.

All completly normal my friend....haha.

[marian]

I have a second computer in my studio, that is NOT on the internet. All my image editing is done on that system. Boots up so fast, don't have worry about viruses, yadda, yadda, yadda, etc. You would be surprised to see how long a system takes to boot that is hooked to the net.

If I want to surf the net, I do that in the other room on the computer that is hooked to the internet.

[Radtech1]

Take a gander at my editing station. LINK HERE (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=262652)

DELL 30" Monitor! Beautiful 2560 x 1600 resolution - 8:5 Ratio Wide Screen
Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 chip
4 Gb Ram
DVD Writer with LightScribe
8800 GTX Graphics
Two Hot Swapable backup hard drives

and NO internet connection!

I love it.

Rad

[liza]

I have two networked computers for my business but both are connected to the internet and are used for editing and uploading images. I use Avast anti-virus software since I had so many issues with Norton and McAffee and really don't experience any problems.

[Sathi]

Take a gander at my editing station. LINK HERE (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=262652)

DELL 30" Monitor! Beautiful 2560 x 1600 resolution - 8:5 Ratio Wide Screen
Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 chip
4 Gb Ram
DVD Writer with LightScribe
8800 GTX Graphics
Two Hot Swapable backup hard drives

and NO internet connection!

I love it.

Rad

Ahaha you spent so much on your hardware you couldn't afford a desk! That first pic in your link has all the niceness sitting on the floor ;)

[RodBarker]

Take a gander at my editing station. LINK HERE (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=262652)

DELL 30" Monitor! Beautiful 2560 x 1600 resolution - 8:5 Ratio Wide Screen
Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 chip
4 Gb Ram
DVD Writer with LightScribe
8800 GTX Graphics
Two Hot Swapable backup hard drives

and NO internet connection!

I love it.

Rad

Hey Rad what do you think of that Dell 30inch monitor , I just bought one should have it in the next day or two , whats it like to calibrate with through the video card .

Rod

[Radtech1]

I use the Spyder for calibration, so I have no need to go into the video card's applett. No help, I know - Sorry.

Rad

[cjm]

Yeah I had NORTON on my current computer about a year ago. WORST thing I ever installed. It totally screwed up my system so much I had to go in safe mode to remove it because as soon as I had windows open Norton shut it down. Anti Virus? All the viruses I have ever had, never did anything as bad a Norton.

I use AVG now, it is alot better I think. But my biggest question with a company like Norton. How do they know about so many virus' unless they made a few to keep themselves in business. OK maybe that is nuts, but maybe not.

Can't wait until I get this new PC though. Here is the deal I got http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10085967&catid=24137&logon=&langid=EN Pretty good deal as around the new year I looked at this comptuer and it was $1299! It is only Refurbished because it has XP.

[DJS]

So I am wondering if the money I spent this past week end will be money well spent. My biggest fear being a PC guy is virus' wreaking havoc on my computer which is why I bought another one with the plan of never really connecting it to the internet except when Windows needs to register.


Keeping your production computer off of the Internet may not be as complete a security solution as you may expect. If the computer that is connected to the Internet is on the same network as the "secure" PC than you may still be susceptible to worms which, unlike viruses, can and will propogate over your home/office network. In order to safe-guard against this, make sure you run some sort of firewall software on your "secure" PC or just simply unplug it from your network.

Other than that, all other "common" rules apply such as not copying/sharing files amongst the 2 computers or removable media, etc.

[sandpiper]

Yes, I'm another paranoid.

My best computer isn't connected to the 'net, it is used for anything important, and all my PSing, image storage etc (image backups on another site as well of course.)

My older computer does all the internet work and is the only one connected. There is also no network connection between the two computers, I simply transfer processed work onto DVD and then stick the DVD in the internet connected machine.

The two sit either side of the monitor on my desk, sharing the same monitor and keyboard with quick switching between the two via the keyboard (ctrl,ctrl,1 selects the internet machine and ctrl,ctrl,2 selects the other).

[cjm]

I got a external HD. It is kept off 99.7% of the time.

[ohenry]

I have a dedicated computer for photo work...but then, I'm nuts.

[lostdoggy]

I HATE NORTON!!!!

Nothing but trouble!!!

[RodBarker]

One of the very best antivirus apps which has a tiny footprint is NOD32 ,, its consistantly rated in the top 3 AV in any shootout or review , Ive used it for years and its great , nothing has got past it on this machine , great app !

Rod

[cjm]

Got this new computer! Wow is this thing fast! So fast that my wireless mouse sucked so badly on it that I had to go buy a wire mouse. ;)

I dont think I am nuts, but I am going nuts trying to remember which key board to type on. Force of habbit has me using this one still.

[chloeosmom]

I have the same problem! LOL