Lock out internet access?

[Pandora]

I have two p.c.s (one has Windows XP and the other has Windows 98SE) in my
home office.

The two p.c.s are connected to a four port office network hub. One of the
other hub ports is connected to the internet via a router. This means that
both p.c.s have access to the internet.

What I would like is this:
(a) Windows 98 p.c. has office network access and internet access.
(b) Windows XP p.c. has office network access but NOT internet access.

(With (b), it would be useful to allow internet access on rare one-off
occasions (e.g. download updated driver) but I want it to be locked out of
the internet for 99% of the time.)

Is there a simple software switch in Windows XP that will allow traffic
to/from my 98SE computer but not the internet?

If not, is there another way? (Note: I don't really want to load Zone Alarm
or some other spyware program on the XP p.c.)

Thanks

 

[allan grossman [mvp]]

Hi, Pandora -

Yes, it's possible to restrict a Windows XP machine from
the Internet but I think your best solution would be to
apply that restriction at the router instead of on the
machine itself - it's a much simpler solution.

Give the machine a static IP address outside the router's
DHCP scope (for instance, if the router assigns IP
addresses 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.10, give the
Windows XP machine an IP address on the same subnet but
outside the DHCP scope (like 192.168.1.11) and then set
the router to deny Internet access from that IP address -
then all you have to do is reconfigure the router if you
need Internet access from that PC.

Your router's owners' manual will show you exactly how to
deny a PC access to the Internet.

The reason it's probably better to do this at the router
is that it's simpler, and if you restrict access at the
PC you'd have to do a fair bit of reconfiguring to grant
access for business needs - plus, almost anything you can
do on a Windows XP machine can be undone by a user with
administrator privileges.

Hope this helps -

 

[Mark]

I agree with Allan, a router solution is so much better
and easy to configure and change on the fly.

 

[daytripper]

I have two p.c.s (one has Windows XP and the other has Windows 98SE) in my
home office.

The two p.c.s are connected to a four port office network hub. One of the
other hub ports is connected to the internet via a router. This means that
both p.c.s have access to the internet.

What I would like is this:
(a) Windows 98 p.c. has office network access and internet access.
(b) Windows XP p.c. has office network access but NOT internet access.

(With (b), it would be useful to allow internet access on rare one-off
occasions (e.g. download updated driver) but I want it to be locked out of
the internet for 99% of the time.)

Is there a simple software switch in Windows XP that will allow traffic
to/from my 98SE computer but not the internet?

If not, is there another way? (Note: I don't really want to load Zone Alarm
or some other spyware program on the XP p.c.)

Thanks

Check the user's guide for the router: many if not most (if not all) routers
provide MAC address filters which you can set to ALLOW the node(s) you want to
have internet access (and conversely DISALLOW the node(s) you don't want to
have internet access).

With this feature you configure the router to let the 98SE machine through to
the internet and block the XP machine. Both systems will still be able to
communicate on the LAN.

Relying on any scheme that requires the XP system to maintain a certain static
IP address is pretty much doomed to fail....

/daytripper