Is Having 2 PCs to Avoid Viruses from Games a Cool Idea?

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  1. kwp
    Posts : 62
    w10
       New #1

    Is Having 2 PCs to Avoid Viruses from Games a Cool Idea?


    Hi guys.. I want to d/l games... but I don't want to d/l games that may have viruses that can steal your personal data like banking, etc. Therefore is it cool to have 2 PCs? With one PC without personal data but games d/led to it? And a 2nd PC with personal data but no games d/led to?

    It seems like overkill. But I just want to be safe. Let me know what you guys think.
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  3. NTN
    Posts : 969
    W10 19045.2546
       New #2

    Always good to have two PCs. Especially if you get trouble with one of them it is much easier to fix when you could search internet with the other PC, and even copy and replace files that have been corrupt.

    Your second PC you could also dedicate to bank, insuranse etc where you have to log in with important personal data. And of course stay away from risky sites.

    Also backup-files as productkeys, different logins, passwords or other stuff that suddenly is not available anymore if the PC should crash.
    Bookmarks to sites that could be helpful of course and even driver-backups and registry-backups you could store on the other PC.
    Everything that will be helpful when you get in to panic mode....
    Copy of the recovery USB you also could store as a file on the other PC....from time to time these USBs find out that they don't bother to work anymore.

    SO IT'S AN EXTREMELY COOL IDEA YES...
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  4. kwp
    Posts : 62
    w10
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    NTN said:
    Your second PC you could also dedicate to bank, insuranse etc where you have to log in with important personal data. And of course stay away from risky sites.
    :
    Hey appreciate the reply. One thing that might jeopardize using a 2nd PC is a network virus. That is, if the 1st PC dedicated to d/ling games might get infected it could spread to the 2nd PC made for online banking. What do you think of this or suppose one can avoid in such a case?
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  6. dalchina
    Posts : 45,967
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       New #4

    Do you use 3rd party disk imaging regularly and repeatedly as is endleslly advised here?

    Imagine a PC becomes irrecoverably infected - perhaps with ransomware.

    You could then wipe it, and restore your disk image (of at least all the partitions of which Windows is comprised) - and you would be back exactly as you were before the event.

    Note: that applies to ALL data on the imaged partitions, so it can be useful to also selectvely back up fast changing data more frequently than you create images.

    You can do all the above without a 2nd PC, provided you have remembered to create the bootable disk from the imaging tool
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  7. kwp
    Posts : 62
    w10
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    dalchina said:

    Imagine a PC becomes irrecoverably infected - perhaps with ransomware.

    You could then wipe it, and restore your disk image - and you would be back exactly as you were before the event.
    [/I]
    Hi.. looks like you missed my other reply. So yes, I do use image backups.

    Now as mentioned before, could a network virus infect the 2nd PC? How likely can it happen? Fyi, the 2nd PC used for online banking ONLY will be turned off all the time except when needed for online banking.

    Looking forward to your reply.
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  8. pepanee
    Posts : 3,080
    Windows 10 Pro for the Bro
       New #6

    Your second PC should be alright as long as it has a good virus scanner. It is so very rare for an infected computer on the network to be able to connect to another non-infected PC with a general virus scanner / firewall.

    I'm currently on a network with other computers that download risky files at times. I only use Windows Defender and the Firewall that comes with Windows 10. I don't download anything ... sketchy.

    but also...
    kwp said:
    ...I don't want to d/l games that may have viruses that can steal your personal data...
    There's no company that has programmers that make games that steal your data...




    ...Be careful about pirating.
    ...and try not to discuss too much about the pirates, you're a little on the edge of the forum rules.
    (just a little heads up, so you don't get banned or anything)
    As long as you don't mention anything too specific about ... pirates. Yarrrrr

    Is Having 2 PCs to Avoid Viruses from Games a Cool Idea?-image.png

    lol
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  9. dalchina
    Posts : 45,967
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       New #7

    kwp said:
    Hi.. looks like you missed my other reply. So yes, I do use image backups.

    Now as mentioned before, could a network virus infect the 2nd PC? How likely can it happen? Fyi, the 2nd PC used for online banking ONLY will be turned off all the time except when needed for online banking.

    Looking forward to your reply.
    Thank you for your reply. So sorry to have missed your erudite submission. Good luck.
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  10. Try3
    Posts : 17,101
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.5371
       New #8

    kwp said:
    ... could a network virus infect the 2nd PC?
    Yes

    kwp said:
    ...How likely can it happen?
    Nobody knows.

    Denis
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  12. NTN
    Posts : 969
    W10 19045.2546
       New #9

    I have to admit, although I'm good at having backups available in case of a PC crash, I also have a cloned spare disk lying around for both of my PCs. These are old disks, but still fully usable.
    Might be good to have if the PC crashes one day when there is a northerly wind blowing from all sides and the demons in Murphy's law should also get amnesty that day.

    Those days do exist.
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  13. RickC
    Posts : 2,240
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2
       New #10

    I think you need one downloader box then boxes for each individual game in order to keep your games safe from cross-contamination.
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