ok.. here's my situation...

I bought a new computer a while ago and got the internet on it and all is well. I gave my old computer to my roommate and he has been using it for college reports and such. today we unhooked the modem from my computer and hooked it up to his (my old) computer computer so that he could look up some research on the web.

We want to download some "files" from limewire with the old computer. I know that there are a lot of viruses and such on this site. since we are using the old computer i dont care if the computer gets a virus, but is there any way i can unhook the modem from the old computer and hook it up to the new one and transfer the virus to my new computer? or can getting a virus or any other bad thing from lime wire slow down my internet connection and cause me problems when i hook it up to my new computer? i know this is probably a stupid question but it has me concerned.

 

I have been in IT for a while now, and I can tell you I have NEVER heard of any type of virus being transferred via a modem, nic or what ever. Now if a piece of hardware has any type of file system on it or directories to embed itself in then it's possible. But modems/nics.....etc cannot contain a virus. Software and files......yes, but not just plain hardware.

 

what is nic? so if we just share the same modem and cable internet but nothing else it wont slow down my internet or computer... right?

 

i already know he is going to be looking up **** and other stuff and end up getting viruses so i dont want them to slow up my pc. i just figured that he could slow up the internet connection somehow..

 

Sorry man, I misread your question. If you are sharing a Network together, then that is another story. Same Cable Modem and both computers connected at the same time could transfer a virus. I assume you are connecting both of your computers to a router.....right? If you are running high-speed cable, I wouldn't worry about the web surfing being slow on either computer seeing as how cable is pretty damn fast. Now, like I said earlier, it you are connecting both computers to the same modem via a router or if you are using Internet Connect Sharing, then YES if one of you gets a virus, then the other one could too. The best thing to do is make sure you have a good anti virus protector running and scan all files after download from lime wire or where ever before you launch to check for a virus. Hope this helps.

Also, a NIC is Network Interface Card. Looks like a modem, but you use it in LANS to connect to routers or switches.


One last thing, if you are just connecting the Cable Modem to his PC, then taking if off and putting it back on yours, then don't sweat it. NO virus can transfer.

EDITED FOR EXTRA INFO

 

A virus cant be stored on the modem, so dont worry about getting crap from his computer that way.

If you transfer "unknown" files from his to computer to yours, then you might run into problems...

Oh and NIC = network interface card. Its the port you plug the ethernet cable to on your computer.

 

thanks so much.. that answers my question perfectly. and i'm not using a router, just swapping the modem from pc to pc, so i'm ok it sounds like.

 

yep, you'll be fine.