Is it safe to connect an unpatched windows machine if using NAT?

euser1984

Thanks.

Shane O' Malley

Short answer No. (Unless you are not using the computer to connect to the internet)

my3cents

If there is nothing on the machine of value (private info or data) then who cares, if it crashes and burns whats lost? How is the OP going to get the updates anyway.

euser1984

I just wanna access a site to get drivers...there is valuable stuff on it; in that there are photos etc.

I can't imagine any way for the machine to be compromised in this setup other than web browser vulnerabilities, flash etc.....just checking tho.

Shane O' Malley

You should be fine. As you say your vulnerabilities are web based and rely on you going to a compromised site.

Be careful where you get the drivers. Try and go to the manufacturer's web site rather that the results of a good search as many of those try to install malware.

Cheers

Shane

ED E

TBH it'd probably be faster to dl the files on your main machine and then copy via USB(1?) to the XP machine, vs browsing on it directly.