How To Set Up Network Access Without Internet

[yelmua]

Hi everyone - I'm setting up a PC that I will use only for Audio/Video production. As such, i don't want to connect it to the Internet because firewalls, anti-virus, etc. will slow the system down. However, I do want to be able to connect to my home network for backup, file-sharing, etc.

How can I configure my PC to connect only to the network but not access the Internet? In this case, I'll be using an internal 802.11g card to access my d-link router.

Thanks in advance for any insight/advice you can offer!

Brian

[acs]

Assuming that all your PCs are connected via a router and are on the same subnet. You could give your video PC a manual IP address in the same subnet but outside the DHCP scope then set the default gateway to 192.0.0.0. This way your pc should see others on the network but not be able to get out to the network via the router's default gateway ip. Another way would be to deny access from the Video PC to the internet on the router.

[Jory]

If you're connecting through a router and you're the only person using the computer you don't have anything to worry about. The router is already blocking all incoming packets unless it was requested from inside the network, or you have some ports forwarded.

Make sure and keep it updated though. It would still be vulnerable to other computers on your network that are already infected.

[TimeCode]

Originally Posted by acs

You could give your video PC a manual IP address in the same subnet but outside the DHCP scope then set the default gateway to 192.0.0.0.

If you strictly want to keep it off the internet but allow it onto your internal network, this is the the way I'd to it too.

[tkrabec]

Set the machine up with a firewall, AV & such. Also use a Hard wired network connection, or a usb Wireless adapter. Then when ever the machine is on the network use them, when you are doing video work disable the FW, AV, etc. and disable it when you disconnect the network to work on the video.

I do video work and I have not seen a major difference with my AV enabled vs disabled, but I'm using blink on that machine.

[yelmua]

Thanks everyone for your help - all makes sense!