Dedicated SWX machine

Hi all,

I remember reading awhile back where someone loaded nothing (?) but
SolidWorks on a machine and didn't even allow it to access the
internet. I am planning on wiping my computer once (if) 2007 stabilizes
and starting over with a clean slate.
I plan to use Synergy as a software KM switch, and my laptop as the
everything but SWX mule. I would still like to use the SWX machine on
the internet for getting models online instead of going through the
network but would keep it off if deemed worthwhile.
Does anyone have advice on this subject? Is having two machines really
worth the hassle? The only reason I am looking into this is that I have
stability issues right now and want to eliminate everything but SWX
itself as the problem.

SWX 2006sp 4.1
Xi computer
2.41Ghz Athlon64 X2 Dual Core 4600+
2Gig RAM
Quadro FX1400 with correct driver

 

Sounds like a plan.

I have a similar set up. A cheap home "multimedia" type box for
internet, email, 300gb external backup drive, etc. A decent quality
laptop which only uses email when I'm on the road, and a heavy duty CAD
tower for serious stuff, and dual boot. They all can access the
internet, but they only do it to update anti-virus and for some large
FTP transfers.

I also use a KVM for 3 machines, but its all hardware, not a software
switch.

I think it's a good idea to have two machines. If one goes down, you
still need a way to get out. Also You need a place to test junkware,
games, etc.

 

I prefer the Neitzche method: "If it doesn't kill me, it will make me
stronger." I won't know if my computer is adequately protected unless I
expose it to the Internet. Of course, you risk getting killed... I
suspect that the best security precaution I've taken has been to not use IE.

I've been on the Internet for 10 years and have never had virus
problems. I've had far more trouble with hardware and with personal
stupidity.
--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com

"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - When you have
their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow.

 

I have suggested such things, and there are many ways to do it, even on
one machine.

You can always do multiple partitions on a single hard drive and have 2
booting partitions for your "CAD box". One is the partition you use
when you MUST go on the internet, and the other is the partition you
use when you do SolidWorks.

Of course, you can also plug in an extra internal or external Hard
Drive, and do the same thing. Not to mention that you can run either
an internal or external RAID setup for safety &/or Archiving, and the
newer modular units allow hot swapping. Someone in a meeting said,
"But that would cost me $3000.", and my answer was that you could spend
a lot more than that if you had the equivalent of a nuked hard drive
and had lost time, wages, and all the disk recovery service to pay for.

Go to <http://www.wiebetech.com/home.php> & check the RT5 for 5 ea 500
gb HDs for $3300.

Virtualization software will let you run two OSs simultaneously, see
<www.parallels.com> for $50.

The overall top reason for me to run minimum applications and no
Internet on the Solidworks working partition, is that I see easily
99.9% uptime. With no garbage being tossed around, Windows XP SP2
stays humming without BSOD, and SolidWorks rarely ever freezes or
quits. It makes for a much more enjoyable work regime.

Given the known problems with Win XP's Registry, malware of all types,
crap in the OS that just slows things down, including the various
"anti-whatzits", I think it is entirely logical to run your SolidWorks
like a race car with minimum overhead.

Bo

 

Thank you for your replies.

Tweaking XP is something that I will have to research, I can see where
I would benefit from it. The mention of that also reminded me of
something that I rarely do but should and that is cleaning up the SWX
temp folder. I wish that SWX had a utility that would feel like XP's
disk cleanup (maybe they do and I just don't know it).
Regarding multiple boot partitions, that is a good idea and would
definitely work, just not for me. We are a small company so I am on a
lot of different software during the course of a day. Way too many
reboots.
Running multiple OS's at the same time with software would be a
solution to that but since I have a laptop anyway, I may as well use
two machines.
In the end I have nowhere near 99.9% up-time, but I also know my
computer is a bit of a mess right now. Hopefully following some of
these tips will put me at that level.

Thanks

Brad

 

There have been cleanup discussions on this group in the past 1-2 years
for both SolidWorks and XP Pro with lots of details.

XP Tweak Guides <XPTC.pdf> by Koroush Ghazi had 166 pages in the 2005
edition I have from <www.tweakGuides.com>, and that can help a lot.
Someone might have

Black Viper used to have useful tips, tricks and methods, but that site
went down in late 2005. Someone might have copies of his work, or the
internet archives, as it was valuable, though I suspect repeated
elsewhere. He had stuff in there for all Windows versions.

SysInternals is a valuable spot for learning how to turn off or remove
services and things not needed in XP:
<http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/07/running-windows-with-no-services.html>

Could be time well spent.

Bo

 

Not to mention the need for cuffing your wrist to Billy Gates' so you
can get constant updates: Unfortunately, MS patches do NOT SEEM TO BE
VERY GOOD lately!

As in the most recent critical updates due to another HUGE hole that
affects nearly all Windows systems
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2002142,00.asp>

QUOTE:
Dave Aitel, a researcher at Immunity, said his exploits are capable of
launching attacks against firewall-protected Windows XP SP2. "A worm is
coming. This bug is just too easy to exploit," Aitel said in an
interview with eWEEK.

Aitel's company was able to reverse-engineer Microsoft's patch and
create a working exploit in less than 24 hours.

Gartner Research security analyst John Pescatore said businesses should
prepare for the worst.

"The nature of the vulnerability itself is something that should be
taken very seriously. The fact that exploits were out even before Patch
Day and now that public code is available for anyone to download and
use, that's enough to treat this as a high-priority issue," Pescatore
said. <END OF QUOTE>

And some people on the SolidWorks group wonder yet today why I only run
Mac OSX on the Internet. It takes all types, but when I can run
SolidWorks on either native XP Pro or in Virtualization mode on my
Intel Mac, why would I want to run SolidWorks on XP Pro on a system
that is exposed to the Internet?

Bo

 

Does anyone have experience/comments on software such as Registry
Mechanic?