Should I buy a computer to create documents and never hook it to the internet?

Doesn’t tethering require internet capabilities in the first place?

I’d use a thumb drive and monitor it regularly for viruses. I don’t see the point in buying another computer in this case since you’re just looking for a place to store files which you can do with a flash drive. I don’t see how a computer would get a virus without internet activity unless it was mistakenly downloaded to the computer through a file. It would be wiser to invest on anti-virus software instead of buying another computer that could easily be corrupted by what you are downloading from your original device.

Once you set up a network connection to another computer you may also inadvertently open a way that your no-internet machine might reach the internet if it is trying.
One thing you will miss out on is the usual initial batch of updates, the software was installed months ago and there are usually a lot of operating system updates and some application updates. Then again maybe you will never need those updates.

Wouldn’t it be a lot simpler to just get a Mac and use it for whatever you need it for?

@SloanFaunus I know from my own experience that thumb drives are no guarantee of staying virus free. Some very crafty virus embedded itself on a backup thumb drive I used that infected more than one computer here at work.

Agreed, which is why it should be monitored regularly for viruses. You can isolate the files on the thumb drive and scan them for viruses as a safety precaution before downloading the files onto the hypothetical internet free computer. Still, some viruses aren’t detectable that way which is why I’d just go with the antivirus software.

I think you would cause more work for yourself in making such an impenetrable system useful than you would in actually removing a virus.

If you want to and can afford it, by all means set up a different computer for creating and storing documents, and just don’t use it to surf random sites on the internet. Having an internet connection on that computer and using it to surf sites that you already know to be safe is not going to lead to getting viruses. There is no reason to avoid using the internet to transfer and print documents.

You could set up your firewall to block every network connection and create a single exception for the computer that you want to connect to.

@cruiser The thumb drive became infected? Good Lord this is getting ridiculous.

@JLeslie “Good Lord this is getting ridiculous”

Have you actually had a virus before?

@dappled_leaves I’m pretty sure I have had and do have viruses in my computers. All of a sudden my ipad stopped working well, I think it was likely a virus. On my work computer we are losing full folders of information. I have had malware warn me something had a virus in it. On my lap top it stopped loading the internet well suddenly also. Eventually, it died. It was quite old though.

My cell phone has now started to have trouble loading fluther. I almost never used fluther on my phone previously. The last two months I started to and now my phine has slowed down like other devices have in the past. And, yes, I wipe the history now and then and I clear out cookies and everything else you can do. About three months ago in my phone I saw an “app” appear on my home screen, looking not fully loaded. You couldn’t open it. I have no idea what it was and now it has dissapeared. I would not be surprised if that was some sort of virus.

I just want a device that I feel is safe from viruses. No matter what I need to back up important documents I guess. I was just wondering if it might be worth it to keep one computer internet free. Even email is a nightmare, because viruses can get delivered that way.

@JLeslie It’s unlikely that your iPad (running iOS) has a virus. Is your phone an iPhone or an Android? Again, if it’s an iPhone, you probably don’t have a virus.

If your other computers are slowing down over time, it may not be because of viruses. It’s probably because you have a lot of add-ons that get installed every time you use new software, and each takes a bit of time to do automatic updates, etc. even if you are not using them. You can disable these to speed things up a bit.

In general, if you think you have viruses or malware, you should take care of that as a high priority. Don’t just assume there are “viruses in there somewhere” and chalk up all of your bad experiences to them. If you don’t know how to do this yourself, take your computer in to an expert and have them look at it.

The bottom line is, the best way to “feel you are safe from viruses” is to know more about them: how they get in, how you can avoid them, how to know whether you have them, what to do if you get one. If you don’t know anything about them, you will never feel safe – with good reason.

This is not a hardware issue, unless you decide to move to a Mac. Macs are relatively quite safe from viruses, for now. But I would advocate for more knowledge, and more freedom to choose, over buying the black box that is a Mac just to feel safe from viruses.

@JLeslie

What kind of phone do you have? If it’s an iPhone, is it jailbroken?

I have an iphone. My problems have never happened over time. It is always a sudden change from one day to the next. It was true with my ipad, iphone, and Dell laptop. These things all happened years apart.

On my iphone, which is just over a year old, I have about 50 “apps.” That includes what the phone comes with like a calculator, calendar, facetime, etc.

I had a computer in the 90’s that I never hooked up to the internet.

Go to CNET for iOS Free Anti-Virus load it to the iPad and iPhone. Maintain a free anti-virus on your Dell too, like AVG. Run the anti-virus software on a regular basis, at least once a week.

To be very, very sure you won’t get a virus, you will need to keep your new computer data-sterile.
When you first turn it on, be out in the country where there is no wifi signal. Once it has booted up, disable the wifi. It will now be safe to use in your home.
Use new thumb drives to move data to the other computer. Do not reuse them.
Keep in mind that many computers come preloaded with spyware, courtesy of the government.

It would have to be completely isolated. The instant you plug a drive in (Especially via USB) or connect to any sort of network (including a LAN) to transfer data, you opened a vector of attack. The hassles of having an “airgapped” system are plentiful and still no guarantee; Bruce Schneier can tell you why. (If you don’t know who Bruce is, he’s best known for his work in Cryptography and computer security; enough so that Congress and the DoD take him seriously.)

Personally, I say it isn’t worth it. If you practice good security measures, none of your systems will get infected, and the expense and hassle of maintaining the airgap are enough that you really don’t want to do it with anything less important than trade/state secrets. In other words, it may make sense for those protecting stuff protected by ITAR, HIPAA, or other such regulations, but is pretty much not worth it for anything less.

@Buttonstc Maybe if there were no viruses for Mac, but there are. You do make a strong case for Linux or Tails though. I’ve had two viruses in over three decades of computing, and one of them was on a Mac. Whatever truth there is to the “Macs can’t get viruses” marketing is even more true of Linux as, once you look under the hood, the only real difference is that Apple uses proprietary stuff that they won’t allow anyone to see while Linux uses peer-reviewed stuff that is patched once any of the many thousands of watching eyes discover a hole.

@Tropical_Willie I was running AVG when I got the one on my PC, so I don’t trust AVG any longer. I switched to Avira for a few years before going to Avast!, both of which have better ratings on AV Comparatives than AVG or Norton.

@jerv

Afaik, there are no viruses for Mac “in the wild”. Yes, they’ve cooked them up at developer conferences but that’s a specialized environment.

I have no idea where or how the hell you ever managed to get a virus on a Mac if you were running properly updated software.

But that’s not to say that there never could be or will be a virus developed for Macs but I would imagine that the hue and cry and sheer weight of publicity about this rarity would have a fix for it coming down the pipeline pretty damn quick.

I know that about a month ago there was a big fuss about some Malware transferred by USB but that was primarily in China.

Yes they may develop viruses for Macs eventually but they will be a damn lot FEWER and far between than all the crap which assaults Windows on a regular basis.

I’m not opposed to your Linux reco, per se but for me it’s just too much of a PITA to deal with. It’s great for techies and geeks who love that kind of stuff but it’s too much for me to deal with.

I’m happy knowing that chances are slim to none that I’m going to pick up some weird “drive-by” crap just from landing on a website that I’m happy with OSX. I don’t download sketchy stuff and have been safe from any type of virus or malware for over 10 years so I’m happy with that.

I’m aware that sometime in the future that could change if Apple gets a larger user base but for now I’m quite relieved not to have to be in anxiety over Mac viruses.

@Buttonstc Don’t mistake my lack of love for Apple as me endorsing Windows; I distrust Windows even more. Macs share one flaw Windows has, in that you are totally beholden to a single, image-conscious entity to protect you from their hidden flaws in their OS. Pretty much everything in Linux is peer-reviewed in ways that would break Apple’s budget to emulate in their walled garden.
As for Linux being a PITA, well, it used to be, but it’s gotten much better over the years. If you can remember your name, time zone, and native language, you can install many modern distros, if you can use iTunes/Google Play, you can install software, and it’ll patch itself the same way OS X and Windoze do. Probably quicker too.