On Friday, I am getting cable internet service through AT&T/Roadrunner/Mediaone. I have a few questions that I hope some of you computer/cable savvy dopers can help me with before the installer shows up (I want the truth)
Security. I have Zone Alarm, do I need anything else?
They do “tracking for marketing purposes”? Can I turn it off?
They tout a “custom browser” I have a custom browser, it happens to be IE5 cusomized the way I like it. Can I opt not to install their browser?
I have a personal web page hosted by my current ISP. I’ll have to move it, can I still FTP in the same way? I’m using IE5 to FTP, but I still have WS_FTP on my computer.
Will I need to back anything up before the cablemodem is installed? I am thinking my email adress book and emails I want to save.
My current ISP is paid through the end of the month. Can I keep my current modem installed and use both?
Anything I should specifically tell the installer to do, or not to do?
As you can tell, I’m not much of a computer expert and I am very nervous about this. I don’t like the idea of anyone installing stuff on or messing with my computer, but I don’t know enough to do it myself.
That should be enough as long as you have an updated anti-virus prog. Also make sure you have the Windows security updates in place.
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If they’re doing it on their end, via a proxy server or something similar, prolly not.
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Yes you can. My cable company did the same thing, only using a custom Netscape. I declined to allow them to install it.
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As long as wherever you move it to supports FTP, yes.
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You only have to back that up if you’re switching from someone like AOL. If its a regular ISP, you don’t have to back it up, but its prolly a good idea anyways.
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As long as you have an open PCI slot for the NIC to go in or already have one installed, yes you should be able to use both. Why would you want to though?
ZoneAlarm is a great firewall. I use it on my DSL line, and it’s fantastic. You shouldn’t need anything else…just set both zones to high security.
God I hope so. If you’re getting it for a discounted rate because of it, then no, but if not, you should be able to get the service without it. Tell them you don’t want it on your machine…see what they say. If they say no, are there any other broadband ISPs in your area?
You can avoid the ‘custom browser’ by telling the guy who installs that you just want the connection set up. Tell him in no uncertain terms that you don’t want ANY software on your machine that is not absolutely vital to keeping the connection live. You could always do the software installation yourself.
You should be able to FTP the same way. I’d use WS_FTP…IEs FTP just sucks, but that’s just my opinion.
Shouldn’t need to back up anything. If you’re using Outlook Express or Eudora, you just need to add a new account. Your emails and address book won’t be touched. Again, tell them you already have an email client and don’t want a new one (unless you want to switch.)
Yup, but why would you? Once you’re on the cable modem there is absolutely NO reason to ever use your old ISP again. You should still be able to access everything you could with your old ISP.
Just the stuff that I told you. Tell them you don’t want the tracking information, and all you want installed on your machine is the connection client. (if they run straight TCP/IP, you won’t even need that.) The less crap you install from them, the better.
Thanks for the answers, I’m feeling better about this. I guess the reason I want to keep my old modem & ISP for awhile is because they have been very reliable and until I’m certain my cable is reliable I want to have a back-up ISP. Plus it’s already paid for :).
peace I have a program called Opt-out, is that the same?
I do not know about OptOut. I installed AdAware mostly because it’s a small one and someone recommended it. I actually do not care if somebody in South Shmend knows about my shopping habits. But it did remove spy folders from my HD. In theory, you can do it yourself, of course, if yoy know the names. I heard that something (GoZilla?) will not work without them, but it’s unusual and you can always reinstall the app.
Yoy can download it from http://www.lavasoft.de and see for yourself.
I keep my cable modem: I use it as a back up once in a blue moon and it allows me to send faxes (I can receive faxes by email). There are free ISP for surfing, I do not believe one is needed for fax.
Thanks Peace, I think I will just ask the installer straight out about the tracking stuff. I really don’t care who knows what DVD’s I’m buying from Amazon or whatnot, I just hate marketing in general. I removed GoZilla from my system after I heard that that program installs spyware itself. I’ll check out AdAware, thanks,
Bo
If its strictly spyware then ZA will block some of it, the rest can be killed with software. If its done on the server side(which is very possible), you’re shit out of luck. There’s nothing you can do to stop it then.
Nanook, if you are talking Spyware in general, I can only repeat what I think was said by those in the know: by Spyware a small program is meant. This pragram is a part of the main app and is installed on the HD with the rest of it. My version of ZA has nothing to do with program installation. When installed, the program records the URL of the pages I visit (not unlike the History folder) and reports them to the vendor. AdAware finds and deletes these folders. One can do it by hand, if the name is known. For instance, I knew that one of my Spyware was called Cydoor.
As Bo, I do not care if somebody learns about my shopping. I just hate the concept in general and do not like when something is installed on my PC whithout my knowledge/permission.
I have roadrunner. If you already have a network interface card then they should not need to install any software. They used to have some dumb login program but they don’t use it in San Diego any more. I think it just caused problems with no benefit to anyone.
Try not to let them install the browser but don’t get to uptight about it because you can always get rid of it.
When you are setup goto http://www.dslreports.com they have some fun tools and some info about setting up windows to inprove braodband speed, fun tools to see how fast your connection is. I got about 15% better speed following their advice.
I just DLed AdAware. Dear GOD this thing screwed up my machine. It found Cydoor and some other one. I had it remove the instances of them. It also had one other small effect…it KILLED my damn Internet connection. I have DSL and I could still authenticate and log on, but zero, zilch, nada on actually contacting any server on the internet. No email, no web, no newsgroups, nothing. I reinstalled my internet protocols and software, did a soft reinstall of Windows on top, and nothing worked. I’m back up, but only because I have a recent Ghost image of my drive, which I was able to restore and get my connection back. I am fairly pissed. I know it’s not your fault, Peace…I’m not angry with you, but with the software. And no, my DSL is not spyware or ad dependent. Use this thing with caution!
Thank God for Norton Ghost and my paranoia and consistent backups.
Jman, I’m sorry to hear your story. (Incidentally, I just caught my mistake: my post should have read: “I still keep my POTS modem”, not cable modem). I guess you went through AdAware too fast (I personally have nothing to do with this German SW). It shows you all folders which it found and is going to remove. There is a blank check option or you can check and remove folders individually. You may remove only the ones you are sure about and keep all others. Or copy some and restore them if needed.
Apparently, AdAware removed something needed for your connection. Again, I am sorry and glad that everything is restored now.
I have TW RR and tried some dslreports tweaks. Most were irrelevant, some slowed the speeds, some marginally increased them. But the speeds may matter in FTP downloads and/or gaming. They do not matter in my surfing. For instance, SDMP becomes slower to connect, to change boards, to post, etc. every day in midafternoon. Much better on weekends. If I check the speeds (by web test pages or with my installed meter/s), they could be average, more or less, in other words, actual page download has nothing to do with speeds. The overall “level” of speeds was lower, of course with POTS, but when the pages (here or elsewhere) start “to stumble”, cable would make the download only marginally faster.
It’s not your fault. I went through what it found, and nothing seemed to be out of order. I knew about the one spyware thing it found, since I’d seen it in my task list. Anyway, I’m not sure what file was removed that would have had ANY bearing on my connection, but it did. Very strange. Anyway, I just wanted to warn people. I’m just glad I had a fairly recent backup.
