Originally Posted by drgoodtrips

That's actually the one I was looking at the most. Good to see an endorsement of it, I suppose. I haven't looked at it to see if it's open source, however.

Originally Posted by Zedrow

I've used AVG Free on all my systems for a few years now and haven't had any problems.

I've also controlled electronics I've built using ethernet, USB and serial ports either directly connected to the boards themselves or through microcontrollers (Atmel and Microchip) without any problems. Most boards I make are full duplex, both sending and receiving information, so if there was a problem I would likely have noticed it already.

You should be OK I think.

Originally Posted by drgoodtrips

Bingo! That's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the tip

Originally Posted by Zedrow

Anytime. But I would take Rakk's advice and disable the auto-update as it does seem to take over resources for a bit. Otherwise I've had no gripes.

Glad I could help.

Originally Posted by drgoodtrips

Incidentally, if you're doing chip programming, whether for hobby or for work, do you know of any discussion forums that you've found useful? All of the embedded stuff I do is for work so (1) it's fairly set in terms of process and standards and (2) money isn't an object the way it would be for personal development. So, I'm looking for somewhere I can go as a source for branching out into doing this on my own budget and thus possibly with different technologies, etc.

I could probably poke around for a while and find something interesting, but if you're already doing stuff, I thought you might know.

Thanks again

Originally Posted by Zedrow

Anytime. But I would take Rakk's advice and disable the auto-update as it does seem to take over resources for a bit. Otherwise I've had no gripes.

Glad I could help.

Originally Posted by Scribbler1

I've noticed it almost always updates my computers when I first boot up, so it's not an issue for me. And you can schedule when the update runs if you have the newest (8.0) AVG free.
Of course, if you schedule the updates to run at a time when the computer is off, it will still run on startup.

Originally Posted by Zedrow

I know we chatted about this a while ago and you weren't quite ready to jump in at that point so it's nice to see you regaining that interest.

Here are some of the sites I use both at home and at work (R&D mechatronics/robotics):

SparkFun Electronics :: Index

PICmicro Sites

Index :: AVR Freaks

I have more at work as well that I can pass on tomorrow.

You may also like: bit-tech.net Forums - Powered by vBulletin because it deals with interfacing electronics such as sensors etc... with microcontrollers and a ton of other stuff, but it isn't strictly microcontrollers so it may take a bit to find what you want. Lots of good info though.

And this might be helpful for you: USB NerdKit: AVR Programming Nerds | Geekdad from Wired.com . It's a thermostat controlled by a microcontroller. Might be a good first step.

Also I can always give you a hand if you run into any problems. If you want I can PM you my email as I don't check USPol that much from work. I wouldn't mind at all, doesn't even feel like work for me. The one catch is that I assume you will likely be programming in C while most of my programming has been in assembly but I'm sure we could get by.

Originally Posted by Zedrow

I've used AVG Free on all my systems for a few years now and haven't had any problems.

I've also controlled electronics I've built using ethernet, USB and serial ports either directly connected to the boards themselves or through microcontrollers (Atmel and Microchip) without any problems. Most boards I make are full duplex, both sending and receiving information, so if there was a problem I would likely have noticed it already.

You should be OK I think.

Originally Posted by Captain Trips

Hmmm... sounds like just the person I need to ask something (or doc ? I don't know?). I have two XP pro machines with motherboards (same MSI model) that have IEEE 1394 ports. One computer has an internet connection, the OTHER is a standalone for my kids. I don't want my kids getting on the internet. They can do that shit when they get their own place to live. Anyways, to keep windows updated on the standalone, what are the steps I need to take to hook the two machines together (other than connecting both machines together with the IEEE 1394 cable, which I have) and get the standalone to connect to the network through the connection on the network capable machine ? That way I can keep the kids standalone updated and download any other games or tools or whatnot for them when needed.

Kind of a step by step "idiots" guide :-)

I've been told it can be done, I just don't want to hook them up and screw anything up on either machine y'know ?

Originally Posted by drgoodtrips

Does anyone know of any free anti-virus software for Windows XP, specifically, (not thirty day trials or anything like that) that they would recommend? If I had my druthers, it would be open source because I have some modifications in mind, but I might take anything that happened to be free.

I've become sufficiently annoyed with Norton, McCaffee, et. al. in combination with startup methodologies, interference with certain firmware things I'd like to do locally that I've uninstalled all AV software on my machines at home. While not having any AV software isn't really a source of any worry/concern to me, I would like to get my hands on some. I'm designing a system for my home that will eventually be relatively sophisticated and might generate interest from other people, and so I'd like to build some AV into what I'm doing.

It is not essential that I be able to distribute it as part of some package/image, though that would be cool. Without recommendations, I'm simply going to try out various ones to see if they're to my liking, but I thought getting a tip might save some time.