Can a virus get into your computer slower with dial-up than if you had DSL?

Question

I install computers for a not-for-profit organization, offering the recipient 2 years of free DSL. I seriously just received a call saying they wanted to downgrade to dial-up because viruses and "worms" can be caught faster with dial-up and taken care of, than DSL. Is this craziness or realistic??

Answer 1

They're sort of right, but for the wrong reasons.

Most viruses and worms are tiny - the largest ones tend to be no larger than a few hundred kilobytes and the smallest ones take up less memory than this webpage.

Dialup or DSL makes no difference, the virus will download just as fast either way. The reason dialup can be safer is that it's not always on whereas DSL always is.

The solution to this is turning off your computer or DSL modem when you're done.

It seems silly to give up all the benefits of broadband just because of the risk of viruses - turn on automatic updates, Windows Firewall and make sure their anti-virus scanner is run regularly and your clients will be fine.

Answer 2

It's sort of true, as the transfer rates are lower with dial-up compared to DSL....but they will still get infected regardless of the speed of their connection if there is insufficient protection installed.

I assume that these are Windows XP based PCs? If so, they should have all updates installed, which will install SP2 which includes a firewall.

Then good virus protection should be installed, and most importantly, regularly updated!

I can recommend Kaspersky AV 7 - www.kaspersky.com.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The virus will take longer to download via dial-up than with DSL, but the threat is still the same. And actually it's safer with DSL if there is a router because it's harder to hack through a router than with a direct connection like dial-up.

Answer 4

A virus is a file and will take a finite amount of time to download. It follows that if your connection is only 1/20 the speed of DSL then it will take 20 times longer for it to download, so I can see the logic. However the virus will be hidden inside something else that you want, therefore you will get it regardless of how fast your connection speed is.

Answer 5

yea i belive that is true. On dial up i dont think hackers and stuff want to infect pcs. I never got a virus or trojan ever with dial up but with cable or dsl i have got my share of trojans, trojan downloaders and 1 virus i would say a number greater then 30 or more even.

Answer 6

It only takes 30 secs for ANY virus to infect your system without any security so be warned !! Broadband is so much harder to infect than dial-up with the right security in place. Dial up is an openbook for hackers ,BE WARNED !!

Answer 7

Anytime your computer starts to run slow you can do the following, run a spy ware program to clean up any spy ware that may be on your computer , run disc clean and disc defrag by going to start, programs, accessories, system tools. This will help keep you running smoothly. Always make sure your anti virus and firewall are up to date.

Answer 8

no truth to it. you can and do get viruses and spy ware with dial- up as you would get it with dsl or other hi speed connections. your customer may be having buyer's remorse.

Answer 9

Yo he comprado de muchas veces ordenadores en los sitios web y siempre he encontrado la mejor calidad, el ultimo ordenador es para una amiga, la verdad es que parece especial creado para ella porque tiene un disco duro con una excelente capacidad de almacenaje y va bastante rápido por su gran memoria y su buen procesador, muy buena compra sin duda.

Answer 10

The realistic answer is, donot, downgrade.For a list of viruses not commonly known go to
http://www.wildlist.org/faq.htm