File & Settings Transfer Wizard - 2 Questions 1

[DawnTreader]

I have several "fast" questions about Windows XP File & Settings Transfer Wizard (F.A.S.T.)

1) If there are trojans or other malware on the old PC, will they be transferred to the new machine?
2) Can a Cat5 Crossover cable be used to connect the two machines?
3) If I can do #2, what settings would I use to setup the connection?

I have a customer whose most critical machine (a 3-year old XP system)has become massively infected with pretty near everything nasty known to man. Broadband - no firewall, antivirus or antispyware. He tried to clean it up by clicking on six different trojan "antispyware" tools. Needless to say - no backups. He's terrified of losing his data - he'd be out of business - so he vetoed any kind of O/s repair or reinstall. Since it would cost him more to have me manually clean and test his machine, he's decided to just go out and buy a new box. (It gives him an excuse to get one that he's wanted for a while anyway.) So, it looks like I'll be using FAST to move his critical data, etc...

But, I'd like to know if any of the nastiness on his old unit would be moved to the new one if I use FAST?

Secondly, his physical configuration is a bit weird, and it would be simpler and "fastest" if I could just connect the two PC's using a Cat5e Crossover cable.

If I can use the crossover cable, what configuration settings would you reccomend to speed the transfer?

Thanks!


Rich

 

[Johnthephoneguy]

part of this answer depends on what he is infected with, yes it could transfer to the new machine. doesnt mean it definately will, but most likely.

 

[bobsa32]

i would recommend going to

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

and doing a scan, this will allow you to then use the cross over cable to transfer everything. Its also worth doing a backup, even if it is a backup full of viruses etc. if everything goes wrong you will still have you data, even if it is infected.

 

[NYR]

I would recommend purchasing the latest version of Norton or McAfee from somewhere, installing it and see what it finds. You can also try Ad-aware from

http://www.lavasoft.nu

which is pretty good. I agree with bobsa32 with a full backup. At least you have the data and can possibly scan ot on a second hard drive or something.

If you do use a cross-over cable, just make sure you have the same IP subnet, ex. 10.10.10.1, 10.10.10.2 respectively on each machine, ensure you can ping eachother and copy over data. Hope this helps.

 

[linney]

Files and Settings Transfer

http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

Transferring personal files
thread779-630998


Peer-to-Peer Local Networking Using CrossOver Cables

http://www.razertech.com/edge/hardware/crossover/crossover.htm

Remember to Share some folder so the computers can see each other.

Simple File Sharing- enabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm

Simple File Sharing - disabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

Have a good anti virus and other realtime security scanning on the machine receiving the files and data.